RIBottleguy
Well-Known Member
Two days ago I finally got back to a spot I was saving for cooler weather, although I let it get a little too cool! It's a large town dump dating from ca. 1900-early 1930s. The deal I have with the landowner is $1 per good (undamaged) bottle I want to keep, plus he has to be there (which he is quite often). He has had problems with people trespassing to dig in the past, so he checks regularly for signs of activity. (I'm just saying this to discourage any potential site hijacking. So, tempted as some might be, please refrain from trying to locate this dump, he will chase you out with a shotgun!)Anyway, I started digging in a newer part of the dump to warm up. I didn't find much besides a cobalt R. DeAngelis medicine (these are like Bromo-Seltzers in this dump). At one point I noticed a gleam in the dirt, and picking it up I saw it was a ring! I wiped off the inside and saw a stamp that said 14k!!! I have never dug gold before, so this was a really exciting first. It wasn't easy, but I texted the landowner and he came over right away. He was so happy with the find that he offered to dig me a hole with his backhoe. He picked a spot that I wasn't particularly keen on, but in a matter of minutes he hit the old layer. As uneasy as I was about using a backhoe to get out fragile bottles, it went surprisingly well. It was also exciting to watch the backhoe do all the hard work, and have bottles just pop out of the ground like candy. The dump varies in depth from 1-3 feet on average. I got a bunch of sodas, some medicines, a few ginger beers, and a few other neat keepers. I wasn't planning to come back the next day, but the spot was so promising I decided to. Day 2 was warmer but featured on and off rain. The landowner did some prep work on the site, cutting up a few downed trees that were in the way of our planned dig path. Meanwhile I worked the hole the good old fashioned way, unearthing two more ginger beers for a total of 6. Once he was ready, I tried having him skim the cap off the dump. It was slow going with my long handled 3-prong rake, so I eventually took the gamble and asked him to dig deep. A few members of the Little Rhody Bottle Club joined me later on, despite the inclement weather. After a small lull in finding bottles, he hit another pocket. Once he took a scoop and the bucket came up loaded with soda bottles. Despite being soaked by the end of the day, we were all happy with our finds, and I had to make two trips to get the keeper bottles. The ring that started it all:
Italian bottle with a guy carrying firewood, sadly cracked :-(
Ink, and two of the abundant DeAngelis bottles
A nice Ferro China Milano
This was a real crier. Identical to the Ferro China above, but marked DeAngelis Chemical Industrial Co. Providence, RI! This would have been the rarest DeAngelis bottle yet. Fingers crossed!
Cute pharmacy and a damaged but gutsy blob
More blobs
Cobalt in excess
Davis with the whole front panel indented, and a Canadian med.
Roger Williams Bottling Co., the crown is my 13th variant from this company!
Plain English soda, but man, what an applied top!
A nice late toss, applied top quart whiskey
This was an exciting find, Queen Cordial Co. Providence, RI. Unlisted!