New from Ohio

[yard_scavenger]

I'm not really a bottle collector, aside from a few unique beer/liquor bottles I've saved over the years after tactically removing the inner liquids. But I bought a new place a couple years ago and there is a storm runoff through my property that has been dumping large amounts of glass. How much exactly? After two trips to the dump with my truck, I bought a trailer just to fill up with all the broken glass that washes up. But I've saved any intact bottles I come across, I have about 3 boxes full now. Most (if not all) has been local to the dayton area. One of my coolest finds so far is an amber 7.5oz coke bottle from 1911-1915. I took some of the bottles to my local historical society who've shown interest in several of my finds. Met the grandson of the owner of an old bottling company, (i had a few with the company name on it) who told me that company was sold in about 1920 and these would've been before that. I have a few I believe are pre-1900s based on what I've been able to look up.
Other things I've found in the water have been porcelain doll, a coin purse (circa 1920s), lionel train (40s I'd guess), horse shoes, and lots of car parts. Property was controlled by a chop shop gang about 80s years ago.

I'm looking for better ways to clean the bottles. Right now I just use soap and a tootbrush, but many of these are just unreachable inside. I've tried soaking bottles in vinegar for several days and have also tried CLR. I'm not interested in investing in a bottle tumbler.

 

[East_Tn_Bottle_Guy]

I've used iron-out toilet/sink cleaner for rust stains before. To get inside of some of the taller bottles I use a bottle brush. They're not expensive you can buy them at the grocery store or Amazon. Can you post some pics of your finds?

 

[yard_scavenger]

Here's just a few I have pics of so far. The blue one is bromo seltzer from emerson drug co. The other says dad chemical co.

 

[Hezezilla]

Awesome finds! Welcome to the group! I'm kind of jelly of your success as my area is devoid of any serious bottle dumps! God Bless!

 

[East_Tn_Bottle_Guy]

Here's just a few I have pics of so far. The blue one is bromo seltzer from emerson drug co. The other says dad chemical co.

The Bromo looks goodUnfortunately to get the haze/rainbow out of the 2nd bottle, your going to need a tumbler. The rainbow might look cool in a window though. The amber Cokes are typically pretty tough to find, so that's a good find. It looks like there is a hole in the shoulder though? If that's the case then the case wear (the scratches on the embossing where bottles in a case would have rubbed against each other) is just going to have to stay because the bottle cant be tumbled. Hope this helps. And good luck with future cleaning.

 

[yard_scavenger]

It's a good chip out of the coke bottle but it does not go all the way through. The glass is so thick it's still holds water.