Fingers healed - Trying to post dive finds again :

[downeastdigger]

Eric suggested I click on "full version", or something like that, so I'm trying that now. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to list all my photos at once now here, or if I can still "submit post" with a comment accompanying each photo, like before. I'll list the pontiled Kidders Ink and the Granitonic photo again as my guinea pig. Here goes :]

 

[downeastdigger]

Ok, now trying for a second posting (my trouble last time)

 

[downeastdigger]

Pearl's White Glycerine (cracked). See if this works

 

[downeastdigger]

OK, I get it, I have to got to the top, and click "reply to post" each time, not "quick reply". Ok, I'll try some more. Nothing earth shattering, but it was a fun dive, so I took a bunch of photos. The spot I'm at is in a small river. I put in at a foot bridge, then swam for about an hour upstream, through lots and lots of logs and fallen underwater trees. The river comes up behind an old house with an original plaque on it, that says "the Old Slaughterhouse 1786". I figured I'd find a bunch of bones down there, but the only sign of a slaughterhouse I've found so far is a small brass cow bell. Here's some of the stuff after the first tank or two

 

[downeastdigger]

From the hour's swim, I picked up a few bottles along the way, including a Dr. Pierce's Indian Restorative Bitters, (smooth base aqua) in great condition. I then found a SECOND one, up stream near the main debris field behind the slaughterhouse. Most of everything down there is broken china and ironstone and white pottery, many broken bowls and plates, all in layers about 8 feet down, digging in the mud which is about 2 feet thick of this china and trash. The bottles are mostly wedged in between that stuff, mostly common 1880s unembossed aqua stuff or very common. Thats how I cut and infected my fingertips, digging through that stuff. I dont use dive gloves, I use fairly heavy rubber gloves, which are only so so in terms of warmth, but are much better for digging and finding small things and not losing them in the silt.Most all of the pieces of this iron pontiled Townsends were among the best shards I've found so far.

 

[downeastdigger]

I once dove in a river out near my friend Mark (Cazdigger) in upstate NY, and it was behind a butcher shop on a river. I went in, and the first thing I pulled out was an old cast iron meat grinder. Then a minute later I worked my way down and came face to face with a big skull and horns of a big old bull. yuck ! Skeeved me out too bad and I got out of the water. Not like it could do anything to me, but it just gave me the willies. Sue me.Here's some inks, unfortunately the umbrella was aqua smooth base and chipped.

 

[downeastdigger]

wrong pick

 

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A good sampling of the stuff I'm finding down there...

 

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I've grown to really lust after Mochaware like this. This was an early mug in a worm pattern with great color. This site looks like a "dump" that was dumped in one whole mass into the bank of the river at the same time, it's all in a pile in the bank, like a solid wall, as apposed to scattered in an area all along the bottom, like most sites.That being the case, I'm not holding out a lot of hope that I will find a whole piece of this soft type of pottery like this. I'll keep this shard on my shelf though :]

 

[downeastdigger]

ruby art glass shard. Not sure at all what this was