Plumbata
Well-Known Member
Hey there, I haven't pulled out anything spectacular lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't had fun trying!
This semester here at UIUC I have found 3 new dumps so far, but none of them are particularly large or old. One sucks and is from the early 20s, and one I have already dug out. I re-investigated a dump I had found in 2007, and with my continually evolving observational skills I have pinpointed where I will dig when my most recent and promising third dump discovery (This past early tuesday morning) becomes exhausted or inaccessable.
Here is a dig from last week. I found a dump thanks to some groundhogs, but it ended up being a thin layer from the 1920s under tons of pavers. I wasted some good energy trying to open it up. The 8 inch bromo made it barely tolerable.
On the return from the uneventful dig shown above, I stumbled upon a great Bonsai tree candidate that was growing from the rocky railroad grade. Probably only 3 or 4 years old, and it definitely needs to be pruned back more, but I am waiting until I "understand" the form of the tree adequately enough to start weighting the branches and pruning more extensively. It seems pretty happy in my little brown crock thjough! I have various Suiseki stones I've collected which will be incorporated into the design once the tree is stabilized and after I get some moss patches to throw in there. I guess that's the Japanese in me. [
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Here is the last dig at the 1910-1915 dump i've spent the most time at this semester, and which is effectively dug-out now. These are the paltry results of 1.5 hours of digging and scratching away, which pales in comparison to the yields obtained in August when I found the place. It was easy digging and good fun while it lasted!
This was dug on Tuesday, technically, at 1:40 to about 3:10 in the morning. I had my head-mounted LED light so I could see pretty well.
Sperm Sewing Machine Oil
Nifty little Diamond Ink. It is handblown, unlike most of the 20 or so other ones I've found. Common, but I kinda like it.
It became pretty clear that i had dug out the dump, so I packed up and started driving around the 1860s part of town looking at the houses and planning for a future privy-digging permission-gathering adventure. I was about to head back to the Apt. when I remembered an area that I had been meaning to check out, so I packed a little garden digging claw in my backpack and went to investigate the location.
I should have brought more tools! I found a nice 1905-1910 ash and refuse dump, and in 40 minutes of inefficient scratching I came out with the following. The glyco-thymoline was partially melted and cracked, the mixing bowl is cracked, and what would have been the best find of the year was broken. [&o][&o][&o]
My 2nd blown Champaign soda.
This is what is left of a very rare, hand-blown "University Of Illinois" half pint milk bottle. The machine made 1920s ones go for 300 or so (dug shards of them too), and I am not sure that blown ones are known to exist. I got the contact info for a local collector and will run it by him, and probably ask a few of my professors as well. This seriously would have made my frigging year, but even as-is I am very pleased to have found evidence that my school had blown bottles produced. That is just plain cool! []
As you all might imagine, the milk bottle discovery got my blood boiling, so the excitement resulting from the possibility of another being in there, as well as contemplating ergonomic structural improvements which could be made to digging tools, kept me up in bed until past 6 AM.
Yesterday, in a state of sleep-deprivation, I slogged through my classes, crapped out a few pages of homework, and then prepared for another evening of digging, with better tools this time (like a shovel and shortened hoe). I made it out there at 9:50 and left by 11:20 because I got spooked, and my girlfriend who got back from work at 10 wondered where I was (tends to happen pretty often to companions of diggers if they aren't along for the event, hehe). I wasn't digging the entire time (cig break, talking on phone, etc), otherwise I would have another amber beer (possibly embossed, as it was cylindrical, not one of the unembossed tapered-body blobs below) which I left partially exposed. I will be going back to get it later today though, have no worries! []
Results of 75 minutes of digging:
(including 2 unembossed flasks, 2 unembossed applied blobs (might be the later improved process) and 2 Ketchups marked "Shrewsbury Tomato Ketchup E C Hazard & Co New York" on the base. Dunno why I kept them all.)
Crude Caldwells Syrup Pepsin, Jayne's vermifuge, and 2 Druggists! I love druggists! []
Odd figural embossed on the bottom "The P.L. Abbey Co. Kalamazoo Mich" Was it medicine? Alcohol?
Cool 6 ounce pharmacy bottle from "Rising & Lange East Side Drug Store Champaign, ILL" which was also a store which dealt in educational textbooks! It is probably from 1906 and after.
Crappy photo of a nifty 2 ounce pharmacy bottle from "Rising & Clinkenbeard East Side Drug Store Champaign, ILL" It is probably from Before 1906, as the business was listed in the 1904 directory. I guess Clinkenbeard pursued a career elsewhere and was replaced by Lange.
Here is the 1 gallon 2-toned shouldered jug. There are a few things i find odd about this: The shouldering is reminiscent of "newer" western stoneware-type jugs, but the mouth is stubby like rounded brown jugs. The body is also shorter like the brown jugs, and a little wider than the "newer" 2-toned jugs. Also, the glaze on the top part is uniform and dark brown, while the glaze on the body is not uniform in color, seems to be lighter, and has more of a "shine" to it. Anyone know where/by whom it was made and the possible age?
Well, that's it until I get what i dig later today cleaned! [] If I find a complete UIUC milk, I can call it the "bottle-digging diploma" I got from the university in addition to the regular one I hope to get. I bet you can guess which one I would appreciate more. []
This semester here at UIUC I have found 3 new dumps so far, but none of them are particularly large or old. One sucks and is from the early 20s, and one I have already dug out. I re-investigated a dump I had found in 2007, and with my continually evolving observational skills I have pinpointed where I will dig when my most recent and promising third dump discovery (This past early tuesday morning) becomes exhausted or inaccessable.
Here is a dig from last week. I found a dump thanks to some groundhogs, but it ended up being a thin layer from the 1920s under tons of pavers. I wasted some good energy trying to open it up. The 8 inch bromo made it barely tolerable.
On the return from the uneventful dig shown above, I stumbled upon a great Bonsai tree candidate that was growing from the rocky railroad grade. Probably only 3 or 4 years old, and it definitely needs to be pruned back more, but I am waiting until I "understand" the form of the tree adequately enough to start weighting the branches and pruning more extensively. It seems pretty happy in my little brown crock thjough! I have various Suiseki stones I've collected which will be incorporated into the design once the tree is stabilized and after I get some moss patches to throw in there. I guess that's the Japanese in me. [
]
Here is the last dig at the 1910-1915 dump i've spent the most time at this semester, and which is effectively dug-out now. These are the paltry results of 1.5 hours of digging and scratching away, which pales in comparison to the yields obtained in August when I found the place. It was easy digging and good fun while it lasted!
This was dug on Tuesday, technically, at 1:40 to about 3:10 in the morning. I had my head-mounted LED light so I could see pretty well.
Sperm Sewing Machine Oil
Nifty little Diamond Ink. It is handblown, unlike most of the 20 or so other ones I've found. Common, but I kinda like it.
It became pretty clear that i had dug out the dump, so I packed up and started driving around the 1860s part of town looking at the houses and planning for a future privy-digging permission-gathering adventure. I was about to head back to the Apt. when I remembered an area that I had been meaning to check out, so I packed a little garden digging claw in my backpack and went to investigate the location.
I should have brought more tools! I found a nice 1905-1910 ash and refuse dump, and in 40 minutes of inefficient scratching I came out with the following. The glyco-thymoline was partially melted and cracked, the mixing bowl is cracked, and what would have been the best find of the year was broken. [&o][&o][&o]
My 2nd blown Champaign soda.
This is what is left of a very rare, hand-blown "University Of Illinois" half pint milk bottle. The machine made 1920s ones go for 300 or so (dug shards of them too), and I am not sure that blown ones are known to exist. I got the contact info for a local collector and will run it by him, and probably ask a few of my professors as well. This seriously would have made my frigging year, but even as-is I am very pleased to have found evidence that my school had blown bottles produced. That is just plain cool! [
]
As you all might imagine, the milk bottle discovery got my blood boiling, so the excitement resulting from the possibility of another being in there, as well as contemplating ergonomic structural improvements which could be made to digging tools, kept me up in bed until past 6 AM.
Yesterday, in a state of sleep-deprivation, I slogged through my classes, crapped out a few pages of homework, and then prepared for another evening of digging, with better tools this time (like a shovel and shortened hoe). I made it out there at 9:50 and left by 11:20 because I got spooked, and my girlfriend who got back from work at 10 wondered where I was (tends to happen pretty often to companions of diggers if they aren't along for the event, hehe). I wasn't digging the entire time (cig break, talking on phone, etc), otherwise I would have another amber beer (possibly embossed, as it was cylindrical, not one of the unembossed tapered-body blobs below) which I left partially exposed. I will be going back to get it later today though, have no worries! [
]Results of 75 minutes of digging:
(including 2 unembossed flasks, 2 unembossed applied blobs (might be the later improved process) and 2 Ketchups marked "Shrewsbury Tomato Ketchup E C Hazard & Co New York" on the base. Dunno why I kept them all.)
Crude Caldwells Syrup Pepsin, Jayne's vermifuge, and 2 Druggists! I love druggists! [
]
Odd figural embossed on the bottom "The P.L. Abbey Co. Kalamazoo Mich" Was it medicine? Alcohol?
Cool 6 ounce pharmacy bottle from "Rising & Lange East Side Drug Store Champaign, ILL" which was also a store which dealt in educational textbooks! It is probably from 1906 and after.
Crappy photo of a nifty 2 ounce pharmacy bottle from "Rising & Clinkenbeard East Side Drug Store Champaign, ILL" It is probably from Before 1906, as the business was listed in the 1904 directory. I guess Clinkenbeard pursued a career elsewhere and was replaced by Lange.
Here is the 1 gallon 2-toned shouldered jug. There are a few things i find odd about this: The shouldering is reminiscent of "newer" western stoneware-type jugs, but the mouth is stubby like rounded brown jugs. The body is also shorter like the brown jugs, and a little wider than the "newer" 2-toned jugs. Also, the glaze on the top part is uniform and dark brown, while the glaze on the body is not uniform in color, seems to be lighter, and has more of a "shine" to it. Anyone know where/by whom it was made and the possible age?
Well, that's it until I get what i dig later today cleaned! [
] If I find a complete UIUC milk, I can call it the "bottle-digging diploma" I got from the university in addition to the regular one I hope to get. I bet you can guess which one I would appreciate more. []
