Galveston Dig

[nhpharm]

Went out yesterday…dug a privy I found last time I was out and it ended up being completely empty…someone filled it with sawdust and there was one broken 1870’s bottle in one corner. Probed what felt like an oyster pit…discovered they had dug a hole for a barrel privy and filled around the outside of the barrel with oysters. Dug the barrel privy and it ended up being pretty big (started 3’ down and went to 7’ down and super wet)…found the three attached blobs from Galveston in it. Over the moon! I’ve never dug the middle version of the Cortes whole so super happy to find an addition to the collection…and it has a great amber swirl in the glass too.
I average 1 blob a year digging so this is pretty much a record for me. 8 hours of digging in the heat between the two privies but definitely worth it!

 

[nhpharm]

Here are all of the finds from Sunday (minus a few that went back in the hole).

 

[midway49]

Good Stuff! Thanks for your reports.

 

[nhpharm]

Went out digging on Sunday...it was quite hot. Nonetheless, I probed a hole that felt like it had iron in it about 4' down, so I opened it up. Ended up being a broken up cast iron stove in the hole. Under it were a couple of late 1860s' bottles, including the prize of the day...a Dr. S.W. Leak's Vegetable Tonic. Never seen or heard of the bottle before but a little research indicates that it was exclusively sold by J.K. Moore of Galveston, Texas in 1868...I found advertising starting in March of 1868 and ending in June of 1868. Still trying to figure out who Dr. Leak was...there are some references to a Dr. Leak in Indianola so may be him but still searching for confirmation. Super excited to add this super early Texas medicine to my collection! Pretty much the only bottle I found all day!

 

[nhpharm]

Here is an advertisement from the May 3, 1868 Galveston Daily News.

 

[nhpharm]

Another day digging in the brutal heat...and honestly not much to show for it except some heartbreakers. Digging an area with a thin layer of trash down fairly shallow. Found a broken Constitutional Beverage bottle, a broken rare G. Krausse bottle from Galveston, a few pretty rare broken hutch sodas, and that was about it except for some dollar bottles. Highlight was probably the nice pot lid, though a pretty common example and the early squat blackglass beer. Lots of snuff bottles and other odds and ends.

 

[midway49]

Thanks for your reports. Love to see them!

 

[hemihampton]

Bummer on the Broken Hutch's. What was the big amber broken top kinda looking like a Bitters Top? LEON.

 

[nhpharm]

It was a Constitutional Beverage bottle. Would have looked like this whole.

 

[sandchip]

Those Olmsteads are beauties. I used to have a yellow one many years ago. Wish I had it back!