Galveston Dig

[hemihampton]

My last dig was cool and rainy. I appreciated the weather with summer just around the corner.

I probed out a promising spot near the side walk. Turned out to be a trashpit. I recovered around 50 bottles, mostly slick whisky flasks, but also some perfumes and cures.

I did find one local bottle in the pit, a Galveston Mignon hutch.

Also, I had never dug a poison. This dig I dug 5, including what I have been told is a scarcer KR-9.

I like that Stearns from Detroit, long way from home. Some of those Poisons could be from Detroit if they say P D & Co. on bottom. There is a Rare Coffin shaped Poison from Detroit. Leon.

 

[webe142]

I like that Stearns from Detroit, long way from home. Some of those Poisons could be from Detroit if they say P D & Co. on bottom. There is a Rare Coffin shaped Poison from Detroit. Leon.

Hemihampton, good call. The KR9 is marked that way.

 

[swpender]

View attachment Texas soda bottle history .pdf
Ran across this and thought you might enjoy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[nhpharm]

A bit late posting, but went out a couple weekends ago to a new lot. Unfortunately much of the lot is covered with a cement slab and the maps are not much help as they don't show anything identifiable as a privy, but we probed out a few holes (trash pits) and managed to come up with some goodies nonetheless. Ended up with 2 Galveston hutch sodas (including a very nice example of the backwards N "Cortes" hutch), a Warners (sadly cracked but always fun to dig), an early (1870's) Galveston pharmacy bottle, a previously unknown Galveston 1 Gill milk bottle (beat up but will look fine on the shelf) and a great pottery caviar jar from New York. Lots of broken beer bottles on this lot but only came up with one whole one. Anyways, we'll be back at the same lot Sunday hopefully.

 

[nhpharm]

Went out Sunday for a dig with the boys and my digging partner. My younger son wanted to dig a hole near his last hole, so we punched a pretty random hole next to where he dug last trip and he came up with a nice 1860's Mitchell's Eye Salve bottle. My older son I put on a hole I probed out that felt promising...he was complaining at first because it was full of oysters and water but he pulled out a WOG hutch soda and a really cool glass advertising panel advertising the Barry-Wehmiller Company, which is still around but at the time sold pasteurizing systems and conveyor systems for bottling works. I dug a hole that ended up full of wood and not much else, but as I was getting it wrapped up, I pulled out one of my favorite bottles from Galveston...a Sweet Revenge! My digging partner had gotten into a huge privy so we worked on that for the rest of the day; it was a nice 1890's pit and for my pick I took home a gorgeous Preston pharmacy bottle and a really cool Victor, Colorado pharmacy bottle. I also managed to figure out where the earlier privy was so that'll be what I'll be digging next time!

 

[webe142]

Last time out, my probe found something that felt interesting. Turned out to be a privy. I was super thrilled to find a local flask in the fill layer.

I was making steady progress, but was having a hard time working through a high water table. After several hours, I still hadn't reached depth or found the fourth wall. Luckily nhpharm was around to help finish it out. Pulled out some great stuff.

There were over 30 of these small bottles. Seemed like a cross between a a Vaseline and a shoe polish bottle. If anyone has any ideas on what they might have been.......


Enjoy the pics.

 

[webe142]

I went out again this weekend and mostly dug along the exterior of the privy from the trip before. I was rewarded with two distinct trash pits. One was full of wood and broken beer bottles, but I did pull a nice local cure (PRESTON'S HED-AKE CURE) and hutch. The other was a newer trashpit, where I pulled a rare variant of a local crown.

 

[nhpharm]

Went back down to Galveston last Sunday to continue on the lot we dug the privy on the previous outing. I got into the privy I had found the previous week and managed to get it dug out, though it was a real mess...there is a water main leak about 3-4' away, the lot is very sandy, and one wall of the privy was completely gone. There was a 6" use layer down from 6.5-7' that was loaded with bottles, primarily 1870's beers. There was evidence of some earlier stuff as well-I'd guess this went from 1865-1875 or so. Nonetheless, I dug a Baylor pharmacy bottle and a Cortes & Son aqua blob that I was very excited about-first one of those I have dug damage free. There was a New Orleans hair dye bottle and some other odds and ends in the hole as well. Out of the top I got a Galveston Mignon hutch in a mold variation that is quite scarce.

My older son managed to find a privy in a very random spot on the lot, but it only had a 2" or so use layer and literally only had one bottle...a neat little ink.

My younger son dug a couple of holes but they didn't turn up much until right at the end of the day, when I pulled one of the Preuss druggist bottles from his hole. Has some slight damage but is still one of the best Galveston pharmacy bottles in my opinion. Overall it was a great day!

 

[CanadianBottles]

I always like coming back to this thread to see what new you've been finding, there's a lot of great stuff there! It's interesting seeing how much UK stuff you've been finding, reminds me more of the sort of things that show up in Canadian dumps moreso than most of what I see posted on here.

 

[nhpharm]

Yeah...Galveston was a big port city and many of the beer and food bottles are British, especially in the earlier pits.