tigue710
Well-Known Member
Hey folks, Some of you may know part of this story from the other forum, about a year and a half ago. Last summer I met a family at a yard sale who had a bunch of good bottles I bought. There were Warners, a Stoddard panel med, just a bunch of good stuff. Seeing the people didnt know anything about bottles I had to know just how the came into having them. It had turned out that they owned a farm house, and adjoining their house was an old barn. They said their kids used to lift up the floor boards and find all kinds of cool stuff under them, including bottles. In fact recently right before they sold the house the had put down a new floor and picked up all the remaining bottles before hand. Now two things came to mind.... one they sold the place, s*&%, and two they picked them all up? Now I knew if they were on top, then they also would be buried, so I asked if they dug, and the said no! Needless to say I quickly got the address and tracked down the current owner! Which was a problem. The current owner was a large development company who was buying the whole road to build condo's, and most of the time these people dont let you near the place. After a few nagging phone calls the guy finally gave me the go ahead to check the place out luckily, which is uncommon for a big company. Well down to the house I went and upon arriving I decided I would check the attic first, as the people said they thought they had one more box they might have left there. Me and the girlfriend found a side door open and walked in only to find furniture, guitars, all kinds of crap! We got out of there not knowing what was up. A few return visits later I met the owner of the goods. It turned out he was a surveyor for the company and was temporarily staying in the house. (In the barn which had no access through the foundation), he also had a bunch of crap piled up so I could not pull the floor. He did say that he would move it all over and out of the way for me, then he would call and I could dig! And time rolled on, and on and on! Now since early spring I have been stopping by every week trying to catch the guy as he did not return any phone calls. Summer came and no guy. His stuff was still there though. I checked back with the developer and it turns out this guy was not with the company, ti seems he must of been some con hiding out there! But still he was not to be found. I started leaving notes, and they piled up.
Today after stopping in again and seeing my note from two months ago was still in the door I decided screw it, I'm getting those bottles. I pulled my saw out and dust started flying! After opening up a 6x3 hole on one side I accessed the situation. The barn was about 15 feet by 25 feet, with a two feet of crawl space from the floor to the dirt, (about a foot and half not including the joists), and as I looked around it was all garbage! The people who lived here somehow shoved all of their garbage under this thing, and it was a foot deep, and full of bottles! I'm certain there is a lot I missed even after the whole day under there as it was cramped and just un accessible in some areas....
I dont even now where to begin, at points I was just moving cans and other debris and filling a box with bottles, some places I dug and found bottles a foot and a half deep in the dirt, a lot of the time was spent moving rocks and debris so I could crawl on my belly over to more bottles... In one spot was a pile of broken Whitney jars, I kept pulling them out but they all were broken, then under the pile was a paneled bottle, I wiped it and saw Columbian ink, thump-thump-thump, it couldnt be, I pulled it out, whole, a pint size Harrisons Columbian Ink, pontiled!!!!! Put that right in the truck! Then the Warners were flying, and 6 hoods sarsaparillas, and all kinds of stuff! Then I saw the base of a bitters, thinking it was Hostetters as I has seen a few broken I snatched it and went to put it back behind me in the box. Then I noticed it had a triangle shoulder, sure enough a nice Doyles hop bitters! The bottles just kept coming, nice Vet bottles and a bunch of local monograms including two super rare New London druggists with eagle and pedestals!
Man o man, what a dig, I'm going to have to go back and give it a good once more over, but I'll tell you, it starts to hurt being on your belly all day... pic's aint to good, but what the heck!
O man, so much I forgot about while writing this, a bunch of nice strapside flasks, a big ol globe tobacco jar that was between two rocks, which were leaning on it and survived! The cool little mysterious pain cure... and of course my early Christmas bring himself, a glass Santa candy container, baldy cracked but whole! Thanks Santa....
here is one of the druggists, and two Christmas bulbs?
Today after stopping in again and seeing my note from two months ago was still in the door I decided screw it, I'm getting those bottles. I pulled my saw out and dust started flying! After opening up a 6x3 hole on one side I accessed the situation. The barn was about 15 feet by 25 feet, with a two feet of crawl space from the floor to the dirt, (about a foot and half not including the joists), and as I looked around it was all garbage! The people who lived here somehow shoved all of their garbage under this thing, and it was a foot deep, and full of bottles! I'm certain there is a lot I missed even after the whole day under there as it was cramped and just un accessible in some areas....
I dont even now where to begin, at points I was just moving cans and other debris and filling a box with bottles, some places I dug and found bottles a foot and a half deep in the dirt, a lot of the time was spent moving rocks and debris so I could crawl on my belly over to more bottles... In one spot was a pile of broken Whitney jars, I kept pulling them out but they all were broken, then under the pile was a paneled bottle, I wiped it and saw Columbian ink, thump-thump-thump, it couldnt be, I pulled it out, whole, a pint size Harrisons Columbian Ink, pontiled!!!!! Put that right in the truck! Then the Warners were flying, and 6 hoods sarsaparillas, and all kinds of stuff! Then I saw the base of a bitters, thinking it was Hostetters as I has seen a few broken I snatched it and went to put it back behind me in the box. Then I noticed it had a triangle shoulder, sure enough a nice Doyles hop bitters! The bottles just kept coming, nice Vet bottles and a bunch of local monograms including two super rare New London druggists with eagle and pedestals!
Man o man, what a dig, I'm going to have to go back and give it a good once more over, but I'll tell you, it starts to hurt being on your belly all day... pic's aint to good, but what the heck!
O man, so much I forgot about while writing this, a bunch of nice strapside flasks, a big ol globe tobacco jar that was between two rocks, which were leaning on it and survived! The cool little mysterious pain cure... and of course my early Christmas bring himself, a glass Santa candy container, baldy cracked but whole! Thanks Santa....
here is one of the druggists, and two Christmas bulbs?
