Old pic of a great day of digging in Philly

[XRdsRev]

Here is an old pic of myself and my friend Ralph M. taken after a Philly dig back in the day when it wasn't that hard to get into decent pits. The bottle on the top shelf center is an amber open pontil G.A. Kohl Lambertville NJ...a super rare bottle. I believe that the one that just sold in the Poletop Auction for $6000 is this same exact bottle since the lip chip is pretty much identical to the one we dug. Just to the right of the Kohl is a blue sided iron pontil Heiss which I still have packed away somewhere. Best of luck digging !!

 

[KBbottles]

The Lambertville Kohl is a real gem! A truly stunning and rare bottle.

 

[blobbottlebob]

Wow. Your one dig is probably better than 15 years of collecting (for me). Nice.

 

[Oldihtractor]

Digs like that still happen in Philly Just the other day I heard about a hole producing 40 something sodas mostly pontiled.. and just last year one with over 200 sodas.. you just gotta get out n DIG..

The first privy I dug in philly produced like 20 something sodas.. sure hooked me fast..

 

[Oldihtractor]

here's my first privy..

 

[DIGS CHESCO]

Inspriring!! I always wondered if the construction of the Vine St Expressway presented digging opertunities "back in the day"? Were you digging that area then XRdsRev?

 

[pa digger]

The Amber Kohl from Lambertville, NJ that you dug years ago is a killer bottle to dig! What are the other ones in the picture that you dug?

Here is the story on the amber Kohl that sold in the Poletop auction 63. I know 100% that it is not the one that you dug years ago as I was the consignor of that bottle. The Kohl was dug in early '04 by a young guy that knew nothing about bottles. He was working for a contractor and they were doing a renovation on an old home in the New Hope, PA area.

They were building a porch on the back of the home. As they were excavating in the back of the property, they hit some great bottles. Bottles were being flung in the air as they were being found. At the end of the day, he thought to himself, "Hey, these look pretty old and could or might be worth something".

I was glad that at least he made the wise decision to save most of the ones that did not get damaged. Here are some of the ones that were found: 1) 2 amber Kohl's (one broken), 2) 1 green Kohl (open pontil with a broken neck), 3) 2 yellow open pontil umbrella ink wells, 4) 1 blue W. Heiss jr's superior mineral waters with an eagle an shield on the back, 5) 1 green iron pontil GA Kohl Lambertville, 6) 1 green GA Kohl Easton PA, and around 10 open pontil colored medicines from Philladelphia.

These are just some of the ones that i know of were found. A bottle book was bought and after looking at the book, it was known that there were a lot of great bottles. Some were listed on E bay (amber kohl, the green open pontil kohl with the top missing, 1 of the yellow inks). There was a second one that while being cleaned in the sink. I was talking with him on the phone about the amber kohl. At that time, it fell out of his hand and shattered on the floor. He was so nonchalant about the whole thing and said that he had another one in the same color. He also listed the open pontil medicines on E bay. From what I recall, he sold one of those for $800. I do know that a couple of them went for $2,500. He kept the blue Philly Heiss eagle soda, and the only reason was his girlfriend at the time liked it.

Here is a little history on GA Kohl in the research that I did. Some bottles are listed in the pole top auction 63 catalog for those that do not have this catalog. George A Kohl lived in Bucksville, Pennsylvania and operated a small brewery in Easton, Pennsylvania. The brewery was located in under what is now state Rt 22 in Easton Pennsylvania right before you get to the Phillipsburg, NJ bridge side. George A Kohl's products were sold in both Easton, Pa and Lambertville, NJ.

As far as I know there are less then a handful open pontil or iron pontil amber GA Kohl's known (the one that I sold in auction 63 had a small sliver on the top). Another one that I saw in a NJ collection had a repaired top and this is probably the one that you dug. Am I right? There is another Kohl in a NJ collection that is severely damaged. Charlie D bought an amber Kohl many years ago while he was in a bar in New Hope Pa for $200. That collection has been sold recently.

There are also less then a handful of amber smooth base kohl's that exist. There is 1 open pontil broken green kohl that I saw in a Nj collection, and it came from the same source as the one that I had owned. There are also a dozen or so blue GA Kohl's known. I have one that was never in the ground and it may be the best example known. Charlie D also told me that a blue Kohl is known in an open pontil, but i cannot confirm this as I have never seen a picture of that one. So for now it is just a rumor till it is confirmed.

On a scale of rareness from 1 to 10 #1 being the rarest 10 being pretty common

amber open or iron pontil Lambertville NJ scale 1
amber smooth base Lambertville NJ scale 2
green open pontil Lambertville NJ scale 1
blue iron pontil Lambertville NJ scale 3
green iron pontil's Lambertville NJ scale 4 to 6
green smooth base Lambertville NJ scale 6 to 10
green iron pontil Easton PA scale 4

I also have some very exciting future news for the pa soda/mineral water collectors. I have been working some time on a website dedicated to this. Now for the downside, I have decided not to continue with this project as many of you already know about Todd Mechow's sodas and beers, and bottle den web sites.

Both of these web sites are dedicated to all the known soda and mineral water bottles from all 50 states and are a great resource to any collectors that collect them . I find it pointless to continue with this project and for this reason find no need for a 3rd site dedicated to the same thing.

Now for the upside of things, I am working on a book that will be dedicated to only Pa colored soda and mineral water bottles. As some of you know Todd Mechow has a pretty extensive book out on philadelphia pa soda and beer bottles that are known. My idea is the same concept with a bit of a different twist, and that is all info i am going to disclose of.

I am always looking for any info or good color pictures for my book of colored pa soda/mineral waters bottles, that i do not already have. If anyone has any information or pictures that they would like to contribute to this project. please feel free to contact me. This is not going to be an overnight thing, butt I am still not content with what I have at this time for the project. I might be less then half way there information wise and I am still bouncing around different concepts for the layout. When I fell that i have enough material for this project then things should roll pretty smoothly.

Always looking for PA Colored soda mineral waters that i do not have. My main interest are coal region and early Philadelphia bottles.
I buy, sell, trade, collect, dig


Later,

PA Digger

 

[pa digger]

My blue Kohl

 

[pa digger]

A pic with the amber kohl and the blue one

 

[pa digger]

a green easton kohl pony