Old Sachem Dig

[Bixby Bill]

Many, many years ago my two digging buddies and I were digging in an old city dump here in CT one winter. It was 13 feet deep, and one day I was there by myself digging out one corner that was all ash. There were no signs of anything, so I was hogging away to get through it when all of a sudden the whole side of a barrel bitters was uncovered. We had found pieces of broken Old Sachems here in colors from ambers to a light green, but they were all broken.I hoped that a whole one would come out of here, and here it was staring back at me, about 10 feet down. I removed it and saw that it wasn`t damaged, but the best part was that it was moss green! I sat down for a few minutes just staring at it, and then tried to find some more, but that was all that was to come out of that corner. I collected my other finds, a couple local hutches and a quart Hotchkiss` Sons C. & E. Saratoga, and went home. It had a lot of case wear but no damage at all on it. I eventually traded it off and I hear that it has passed through several collectors since then, but I`ll never forget the feeing of being the first one to see it in 100 years!

 

[bottlediger]

GREAT post, GREAT picture, and GREAT bottle! Do you have any pics of that bad boy cleaned up, even though you sold it? I wouldnt let that thing go if I dug it, wow what a find. Only found a few pieces of barrel bitters over the years, got to be a couple whole ones out there for me []

Digger Ry

 

[GuntherHess]

looks like a salt mine...

 

[bottlediger]

Im suprised you didnt say this again Matt -

you sure that isn't just a sweet potato?


Digger Ry

 

[Bixby Bill]

I`m afraid that I never took a picture of it cleaned up, I had a chance to trade it for a Phelp`s Arcanum and another bottle, and my digging friend had a blueish green Willington blueberry bottle that he dug at the same dump that the person with the Phelp`s wanted,and he wanted the Old Sachem, so we had a 3 way trade. At least I still have the pictures so I can prove that I actually did dig one! It looks like a salt mine because the ground is freezing and it is all white ash, plus the picture was taken with a 35 mm and had to be scanned and reduced to get it in here so it isn`t as clear as I hoped it would be. Thanks for your comments!

 

[bottlediger]

Those Phelps bottles are very very nice as well, do you have a picture of that!?! If you dont have a pic, what style did you get? What about that Willington blueberry bottle?!? Nice stuff, nice stuff indeed

Digger Ry

 

[Bixby Bill]

The Phelps was the commoner round one with the indented panels. The blueberry bottle was a surprise, my friend was into a vein of glass where barrels of bottles must have been dumped in, of course most of it was broken. I was up top resting when he yelled that he found a green blueberry bottle, I told him that they don`t come in green, only amber and aqua, and then he passed it up to me and it sure was a beauty. I guess that if you`re going to dig bottles you might as well dig the better colors!

 

[GuntherHess]

Even the more common Phelps cylinder (Swaim's style) is still a great bottle in my mind.

 

[earlyglass]

I have seen the blueberry bottles in a blue-green and a yellow-green. They are beautiful. If I remember correctly, some of those color variants have a pontil base, unlike the ambers which are always smooth base.

Even the "little brother" Phelps has become a scarce, desirable, and valuable bottle. It is nothing compared to the big one, but still a few thousand anyways. More than anything, they are a beautiful medicine bottle, and fairly local for me (Worcester).

Does anyone have any concrete evidence as to where the Phelps were produced? I have found shards of the I. Newton bottle at Stoddard, and I believe that some of the Swaim's may have been produced there as well, however I haven't found any evidence of the Phelps. Worcester is right in the middle... it could have been NH, CT or NY for that matter!

Probably the same moldmaker, based upon the characteristics of the bottles. Panels are indented, font is very similar...

Well, back to the post... great bottles Bill!

Mike

 

[keemakoo]

Awesome! Have always wanted to dig one of those barrel bitters. Jim