Double Eagle / E.C. Booz / Scroll Quarts

[yacorie]

Buying a bottle is just that a purchase. A self dug bottle is like finding buried treasure.

it sure is. my point is only that if we only collected what we found - most of us would be very limited.

it was much easier to find the good stuff in the 50s-80s which is why so many of the great finds from digging we’re back then

 

[ROBBYBOBBY64]

For me it was the 80s totally.

 

[Roaddie]

I agree, ROBBYBOBBY64. There is nothing like digging your own, cleaning them up, and enjoying them. Or, getting into an old house and searching (obviously, with permission) the basement for all of bottles and cans that the previous owner stashed down there. That can be a gold mine and there is a rush in finding something really old or rare.

 

[willong]

Guys, I detect some rancor and elitism surfacing from both sides of this dig vs. buy issue.

Personally, the treasure hunt aspect of digging is what always appealed to me most about antique bottles. It was particularly true because it gave me another excuse to spend time in the western woods and mountains where I searched for old logging camps, homesteads and mines without having to knock on doors and seek permissions. All the while I recognized that, generally speaking, more "valuable" bottles were consistently coming out of eastern municipal dumps and privies and continue to do so today. (The exception was, of course, the heyday of notorious "Gold Rush" era digs such as--despite a comment made here about the youth of CA sites--the early California gold camps; Virginia City, NV; construction camps of the Transcontinental Railroad and the like.

However, I also appreciate other items such as fine firearms and antique microscopes that one simply cannot acquire by digging anywhere.

I appreciate those who likewise enjoy items that interest me; if they acquire part, or even all, of their collection via purchase it does not diminish their passion. Some, like several members of this forum, are a wealth of freely-offered knowledge. None of that knowledge could be directly purchased. However much money one might have spent on books and other references, it took a considerably greater investment of time to develop the expertise that some of the members here share so generously. The good-hearted encouragement they offer newly interested glass fanciers is also exemplary.

I come here mostly for the same reason that I watch remote hunting adventures and backpacking videos on YouTube: the vicarious enjoyment of pursuits that I cannot enjoy personally anywhere near as often or as fruitfully as I would prefer. Acquiring extra knowledge is a perk; and I thank those who share it.

 

[westKYdigger]

the joy is in the hunt.

 

[hemihampton]

I can say this Clasped Hands Flask I dug recently has much more value to me then some of the ones I bought. I do both, Dig them & Buy the ones I can't seem to dig. What sucks is when you buy one you can't seem to dig & right after buying you then dig one.

LEON.

 

[GLASSHOPPER55]

it’s a much harder thing to do to find the old bottles like people did decades ago. Yes, people still find them and yes they will continue to be found.....but they were much easier to find years ago. Most of the old time diggers you this waywill tell you the same

Me for one. I started in 1969 and I have a much harder time finding old dumps nowdays. Yes we have more resources but a lot of areas are now off limits due to urban sprawl and the big bottle craze of the early 70s uncovered a lot of old glass. And, people nowdays are much more loathe to let a stranger dig on their property (liability, etc). Many old-timers I knew are gone now and their collections sold.