How did you get started?

[cyberdigger]

I was about 5 yrs old walking one of the creeks running through town when I found a neat little bottle that had a weird shape and bubbles in the glass, so I brought it home. It became my favorite possession.. I drank water from it, I made it whistle, I carried it everywhere. Then one evening my parents brought me along to a dinner party.. there was a gentleman named Brendan Byrne, he looked really important to me, and he paid attention to me, asked me questions I didn't really understand, so I unpocketed my prized find and showed him the bottle. For several very interesting moments after that, the subject at this spiffy adult party was antique bottles. I became an obsessed 5 year old creek digger that night. []

 

[T D]

This topic comes up from time to time, and I'm sure I've answered it before, but it always interests me to hear other people's attraction to bottles. My 1st real interest was picking up soft drink bottles in the late 60's and 70's from the side of the road and turning them in for a deposit. (Bottles were more plentiful around street signs, folks throwing them at the signs, you know). My second real interest started with hobbleskirt Cokes and looking for different towns on the bottom. Isn't it funny how we all were excited when we would find "far away" bottles. (Now of course we look for locals!) Then I got started on ACLs when I discovered that there were those out there that weren't Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, or Fanta. I used to think that I would have more different ACLs than anyone in the world...then you realize how impossible and stupid that notion is. I now stick to regional and hard to find ACLs, or those themes that interest me. THEN came OLD STUFF. I've been digging for about 2 years now and wish I had started 30 years ago. I wise old bottle guy told me years ago that your interests will morph into different stuff as you go along...

 

[VTdigger]

Cool site Red.
Since I've started digging I've became interested not only in old bottles but Pottery, both old and newer specifically Local potters Norton and Fenton, all sorts of hand blown glass, Fenton Glass, Cushman Furniture from North Bennington, brass/copper tags from machinary and basically anything that's old. It's way more fun to find it that buy it since I can't afford that much on it. I've found some things from local history that even though there not in that good shape I wouldn't trade for anything.

 

[Gromit0299]

I love hearing everyone's stories. It'd definitely a high when you dig something up. Red, when I first read your story, a month or so ago, I told my husband that I wanted to visit some glass museums. I could see him kind of look at me like, "really, nerd?" But he has no room to talk. The man makes custom lock picks as a hobby, so [8|] [8D]. I remember when I was a kid, I had coke can. It was some special edition, prettied up can that I was saving. Well, my mother had hired a maid service, and they threw the can away (which was odd, because it was on a high up shelf, that ran the perimeter of my room. perhaps they thought they would find contra-band, nope, just a girl who liked pretty colors). I was SO upset. I've collected various things throughout the years. I love old glass. I love new glass. I love colored glass. I have a two and a four year old. These two things aren't really meshing well together right now.

I also remember when I was younger, looking for sea glass with my great aunt and uncle and I LOVED it. If I go to the beach now, I still look for sea glass. Now it's all popular and you can buy it in pottery barn, but I remember looking for cobalt blue because it was nearly impossible to find at that time. I have an old vintage canning jar of beach glass. I guess it's always run in me somewhere.

So did you just start digging in the woods? Or do you have a science (for your non-privy diggers, Rick, I know you're basically all "I'm here to dig up your old outhouse. You will let me." [])

 

[Penn Digger]

ORIGINAL: RED Matthews

Hello all you bottle finders. It is enjoyable to read about how others got the bug. I think I covered my history in coverage in my homepage. After helping my Mom create a little rock garden with an old piece of mirror for a pond with stones around it and various rocks and plants - my parents visited some friends of theirs and they let me play around if I stayed in the yard. In that yard, I found the woman's rock garden. It had a good two dozen pieces of different colored and formed glass pieces, that just sparkled in the sun light. I ran into the house all excited for a seven or eight year old boy. I told my Mom she had to come out and see their rock and flower garden. They all did and the man enjoyed my excitement. When we left to go home - the man gave me a box with six or seven pieces of glass in it. He told me to take them home for our rock garden. I still have those pieces of glass, and have collected glass ever since. Now 82 yoa. I have studied and worked in the glass industry all of these years. What a start it was.
RED Matthews

Red,

You are awesome! Glad to have met you and love to read your posts, keep them coming kid!

T

 

[ironmountain]

I've always loved collecting things and doing research.

A couple of years ago we were at the wife's family farm in Houghton. (now our deer camp). It dates to the mid 1800's. My son and father in law were deer hunting. it was the first year they had the youth deer hunt for 10-12 yr olds accompanied by an adult .I thought grandpa and grandson hunting together would be a great bonding experience for them.

While they were hunting I had 2 of my nephews with me both age 10. They wanted to metal detect the backyard. Grabbed my F2 and off we went. I haven't hit that area much due to the sheer size of it(normally we just hit it up for copper since float copper is so prevalent there).

I have 1 mile from the house west to lake superior and 1 mile north to lake superior...tons of private land that we have access to...anyway....we were detecting and i saw a pile of old bread bags in a 10' across depression in the ground. We went to investigate and found a huge pile of brown beer bottles and some with Bosch labels on them.

Nephews were all geeked. I sent them back to the house to get some 5gal buckets. We put a few messed up beer cans and a few of the bottles with labels for them to take home.

I asked my father in law about that hole and he said that it was a hole that was supposed to be a well for the root cellar (which is about 20' away) but they gave up on it. He said it's about 24' deep and is full of nothing but bottles and such. His grandfather and great uncle dug it...father in law is 63, so it was turn of the century-ish. I got interested and started hauling stuff out.

Father in law and mother in law then informed me of the 2 original privy sites and where there quite a few more dumps. I started wandering with my daughter and we came upon one that was huge...200-300yds long and 15-20ish feet wide. We only got 1' down and the width of the start of this ravine. There are still bottles sticking out of the sides we haven't even touched yet.

We ended up finding about 20 local ACL's still intact and still great labeling. I brought them home, started doing research and was intrigued. Next time we went up there I found another old privy and finally started digging that one...it was a 2-holer. ended up going about 6' down then we had to leave. Father in law told me (after me going crazy finding all of these mini dumps) that the original dump was across the yard near where you could see rows from the original farm near the original house that was there before the current house/camp was built. dug around there and went about 5' down and came home with a bunch of milks, acl's and cap guns and misc stuff my kids wanted.
Fast forward and I now have 3-4 large boxes and some bags full of acl's and milks (most of them Michigan/Wisc). Still looking for the older bottles. The amount of digging I need to do will take me 20years at this farm...Hunting/MD'ing/Digging= good times.

 

[jerrypev]

If you live in South East Pennsylvania you live in the bottle digging capitol of the US. There are more bottles dug in SE PA than any place I know. They must pop out of the ground as you're walking along.

 

[Gromit0299]

ORIGINAL: jerrypev

If you live in South East Pennsylvania you live in the bottle digging capitol of the US. There are more bottles dug in SE PA than any place I know. They must pop out of the ground as you're walking along.

Ooooooooooh, you mean I have to go outside??? []

Seriously, though, I've been walking through woods, next to creeks. Nothing. Though, I did just get a metal detector. Nothing fancy. Hopefully that will help.

 

[RICKJJ59W]

I am typing on a blueberry so deal wit [8D]the typos.

I started when I was 14,my grandmother owned an antique store in the Pocono mountains,she used to take me and my brother Steve to a loaded milk bottle dump. I mentioned my "mum mum" in every story I wrote for AB€GC. She was the inspiration that started me on this mad quest to dig up old glass. I know she is there when I am digging,who do you think showed me where the puce eagle was
[]

 

[Dugout]

I was brought up digging, detecting, & artifact hunting and many times the weekends were spent like this picture demonstrates. I wouldn't have changed it for the world, even if I had to do the dishes. So I guess you could say I inherited the love for these hobbies. A big thanks to my parents!