More pottery from the river bank...

[antique214]

As much as I wanted to wait until warm weather, I could not resist further exploring the area I pulled the first pottery bottle. I managed to get through a small spot in the steep river bank on my day off with a hell of a lot of effort. It was completely worth the brute effort. To my disbelief, 2 more old pottery items. The first was a 'D W De Freest' ginger beer with a nice blue 'R' painted on one side of the shoulder and a stamp on the other side of the shoulder with the name embossed in blue. a few hours later in the dig my shovel made the unmistakable sound of a large stoneware jug like sweet bottle digging music. As I went to uncover it, the blank side was showing and I was really hoping the other side had something on it and that it wasn't cracked. After carefully prying it loose from both sides I plucked it and spun it around to reveal a very old hand painted advertisement. It has a stamp saying it is from Fort Edward Stoneware Company. The hand painted cobalt blue cursive reads 'J.J Duffy 458 River St, Troy NY'. After researching the name I found some later stenciled advertising stoneware for the same business but no hand painted ones like this. I am almost certain that it was for an old funeral home after looking into the history of the name. I would greatly appreciate any information to verify what type of business 'J.J. Duffy' was, the rarity of this piece and any other background info. Thanks again and best of luck. It's been one hell of a week.

 

[digger dun]

whoa...good diggins there, bud.

 

[cowseatmaize]

I think he was a liquor merchant The Troy Directory: Also Cohoes and Waterford, Watervliet and ..., Volume 74

 

[cowseatmaize]

... but he could have been both. That wasn't uncommon. []

 

[cowseatmaize]

Last one, promise or lie. I have to decide later. []
Representative Young Irish-Americans of Troy, N.Y." from 1889

 

[sandchip]

Wow, that's one killer jug. No more pictures?

 

[sunrunner]

if you are up near troy n y then your in the right place for that stuff.

 

[Plumbata]

Sweet, I'm glad that going back paid off! Was there any glass or bottles or does the spot only contain stoneware? Whatever the case, it looks like you have a prime spot for future digging, congrats on the finds.

 

[antique214]

I'm really hoping this does not post as a new thread but I have no other way to post more pictures. Last thing I want to do is clog forum up with too many posts. Hopefully not the case but just wanted to post some more shots and answer a few questions. I saw another top half of a DeFreest ginger beer. Some broken glass, rust and ash. Pulled a couple glass bottles but nothing to great but still a few I kept. The usual stuff you'd find everywhere in most dumps. A large bromo-seltzer. Got a nice local medicine bottle 'Mongrief & Francis' with a nice monogram seal on the top side of the embossed panel. A W&W sewing machine oil bottle. A Franklin Howes Instant Relief New York. I got a brown bixby ink with the patent date with an unfortunate small chip on the lip(still displays nicely enough). Got a nice Galvin's Root Beer concentrate out of Pittsburgh PA(competitor of Hire's for a short time). In almost same style as a Hire's only a slightly taller bottle. Here's a few more pictures including a shot of the DeFreest ginger beer before it was exhumed. All in all a fun memorable dig with hopefully more to come from spot.

 

[antique214]

Entombed Defreest ginger beer: