Newbie- found dump site

[pinxbinx]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and new to bottles and collecting old things in general, but I've fallen in love with beautiful things of the past (like coins, bottles, globes, books, etc.) We recently bought 6 acres of land. While exploring the property, we have found several dump sites with old metal and glass bottles. A lot of the bottles look worthless, but are kind of neat anyway. For example, I found this pretty blue glass bottle, but it doesn't look very old. My question is: Is it worth the time trying to dig up treasures or does this spot look like junk? We cleared some of the land, and I am not sure if I should gather up those bottles before we clear more. There is an antique Jeep back there that my husband is going to have pulled out, which means we have to clear a path right where those bottles are at. Also, how worried should I be about dangers when digging through piles of old leaves to gather bottles/jars/etc? I'm thinking about things like snakes... From looking at what you can see in the photo, how old would you estimate this stuff at? No one has lived on this property for at least 15 and the previous owners don't think the owners before them lived here either (meaning the property has been vacant for probably 30 years or so).

I plan on keeping the interesting looking ones regardless of their value, but I was curious how much time I should invest in digging these bottles/jars up. I know there are old salt shakers out there and huge jugs (looks like whiskey or cider jugs) but mostly old food looking jars without lids.

 

[Dansalata]

THAT GREEN BOTTLE LOOKS COOL..IF ITS NOT BROKEN I WOULD DEFINITELY KEEP IT..THERE COULD BE SOME GOODIES IN THERE..IT LOOKS 40-50S TO ME BUT THERE COULD BE OLDER STUFF AND ..ACL POP BOTTLES CAN BE VERY COLLECTIBLE..ACL IS APPLIED COLOR LABEL..ALSO COKES PEPSI ETC..AND OLD GLASS MILK BOTTLES..BEER CANS ARE COLLECTIBLE TOO..THERE ARE POSSIBILITIES AND FUN!!! BY THE WAY WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!

 

[RED Matthews]

Hello pinxbinx; The thing to realize is that if the bottle or jar does not have vertical seams on the finish (The top of the bottle) it might be older and mouth blown. If it has a rough or round pontilling mark on the bottom, it is definitely mouth blown.
If it has a threaded finish (top) and a round bead under the thread that tells you it was made on an (ABM) Automatic Bottle Machine. A lot of these are collectable if they are interesting and collectable. So there is a lot to be learned. The people here will help you.
RED Matthews

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Welcome

That green bottle is a "prune Juice"

 

[pinxbinx]

Thanks both of you. Those are on the back of the property in a wooded area that is hard to get to, but I just went on a nature walk (photography my favorite hobby) and took a lot of pictures of the piles. They are spread out quite a ways. The blue bottle says Phillips Milk of Magnesia Tablets on the bottom. The Juice one says water on the other side. There are two of those. Those three are the coolest looking ones that I saw, but there are bottles everywhere. It looks like they may have buried them at one time because you can see some sticking out of the ground. Unfortunately, this really cool bottle was broken that was sticking out of the ground.

 

[deenodean]

Welcome to the bottle world. Take lots of pictures of your bottles and post them , the experts on this site will tell u what's good and not. If you find a pile with a few bottles sticking out , more than likely there are many more buried. The crocks and jars you found sound exciting, please post your finds..

 

[PASodas]

Welcome pinxbinx, sounds like you may have found a "tractor dump" or surface dump where items were simply discarded in a pile in an out-of-the-way place as they probably did not have trash removal. Sounds like it hasn't been touched for some time however the older stuff will obviously be at the bottom of the piles. Aside from snakes and possibly yellow jackets (bees) if they exist in your area, I would don sturdy work boots and leather gloves as broken glass is quite sharp. I would recommend using a long handled potato rake initially to save your back, however, metal will scratch glass, so exercise caution if you begin to turn up some early stuff. Good luck and I'm glad you enjoy photography so we can enjoy the experience as well.

 

[pinxbinx]

Thanks. I took more photos, but not all of the bottles can easily be reached, so I couldn't get really close ups of a lot, but I did get some. I found one that is Andeker beer. I think it is 1970s from what I can find. There are cool things on the surface, but not sure what's under the ground. They probably aren't valuable as far as money goes, but they all tell a story. Should I post the new photos on this thread?

 

[Bottles r LEET]

Yes, that would be great.

 

[pinxbinx]

Here is another picture. I can only post one at a time.