Got out to the mill dump for a bit today.....>

[Matt in NH]

I found a nice medicine bottle that has embossing on it, it says: Geo. C. Frye Portland ME. Can't find to much information on this one so any help you guys can offer me would be greatly appreciated. This place just keeps given em....so I keep taken em home. I also found a neat brass bell, some lantern parts ( I keep the lantern parts cause they are dated & help in dating the site), and a few other older bottles with no embossing. Hope everyone is getting out to dig.


Matty

 

[Matt in NH]

heres the embossed bottle

 

[woody]

I've dug that bottle here in NH, also, Matt.
I believe there are other variations of it, too.
If you dig alot of turn of the century, 1890-1910, dumps you'll find alot of Pharmacy bottles that are native to the region you're digging.
Most of them were made by Whitall Tatum & company, although there were other manufactuers of Pharmacy and Doctor bottles.
Most are embossed with either the Pharmacy name and town in which they practiced or the Doctors name and town they practiced medicine at.
Here's one I recently dug.

 

[Matt in NH]

Woody...I'm not fussy...if it is embossed, it's a keeper. If it's not embossed, its still a keeper[] I am new to bottle hunting... I have been metal detecting for 9 years and needed a change so now I am diggin privies and old dumps for bottles. It's a lotta fun! Now I know why you guys love it so much. We should get together and dig sometime..


Matty

 

[woody]

After awhile. Matt, you'll learn to seperate the culture from your trash and you won't be bringing home as many as you did when you first started.
I used to be the same way. I'd keep everything until I realized that some bottles that were old weren't necessarily keepers because they had little monetary value to them, even though they were "old" bottles.
Most unembossed bottles I leave at the dump because of the little value they possess, even though they may have been blown in the mold. Like unembossed medicine bottles.
Even some common embossed bottles, like "Hood Sarsaparilla", I tend to leave at the dump site because I've dug so many of them over the years and they are plentiful in the bottle collecting field.
It looks like the dump your digging has good potential.
Have you dug an open pontiled bottle, yet????

 

[Oldtimer]

I too leave the "average" stuff. I leave it tipped top down so water stays out, and bury it for another digger to find in the future. Except BAKERS bottles. I smash those things with glee. They tend to be the only unbroken bottles there 90% of the time. I fix that.

Good luck on the future digs Matt.

 

[Sam_MaineBottles]

Hey Matty -

Geogre Frye was an apothecary and druggist (wholesale and retail) in Portland, Me from 1869-1920+. The bottle you found is the most common of his, it comes in both tooled lip and machine-made versions. Approximate value would be $2-4 for the tooled lip. Good luck on your future digging!

- Sam

 

[Flaschenjager]

Woody brings up a great point that many diggers must eventually learn. Oldtimer I too turn all whole bottles I leave behind, upside down and near large trees if possible, to prevent breakage from freezing. This will make future diggers happier, even though we have taken home the good stuff[].

I try to tell newer people who go digging, bring home everything (embossed or unusual) you can if you are unsure. Research your finds and throw away or recycle them if they are discovered junk at a later date. You may regret leaving something behind that may be destroyed by development or never have the chance to return again.

 

[Gunsmoke47]

Here is something Pitfinder and I have started doing with a lot of our common, plain bottles: We give them away to people who show a little bit of intrest in what we do. A lot of people couldn't care less about an old bottle, but there are quite a few who, if given a little history lesson on the bottle or site it was dug from, enjoy receiving one. Who knows, maybe we can get the bottle bug to bite someone else![] Besides, I still can't bring myself to leave a complete, undamaged bottle in the ground! Happy Diggin, Kelley

 

[old digger]

Now there is a great ideal, how come I never thought of it[] so much better than putting them back for who knows what to happen to them, when we really start cleaning out I'll sure keep that in mind. Another thought for those of you who sale, why not take along a small lot to give away to children, with parents permission of course, my Dad used to sale rocks and jewlery he made, he always had a little box of give aways and also put things of little value out front for as he said "sticky little fingers". Geeeee I'd nearly forgotten that. THANKS for the memories![]