Plumbata
Well-Known Member
I managed to get out and dig this past Thursday at my main dump area, taking my brother along since he has slowly been warming up to this digging business and wanted to do something strenuous that day. He has pulled some nice ones the few times he has dug before and he managed a nice druggist Thursday as well.
The spot we chose to dig in the dump was recently pillaged by someone who enjoys chewing tobacco, in a spot 10 or 20 yards west of the extent of my digging in the 1920s-early 30s part of the dumping grounds. It was full of annoying concrete rubble, but a decent bit of material survived below the 'crete and above the burned layer, enough to justify further digging. We went to the dump intending to dig in the 1910s section, but the digging in this spot looked a lot easier so plans were changed and away we dug!
The latest milk base was from 1930, so the deposit was likely no more recent than 1931 or so, and in the deeper parts only a few years older. The usual worthwhile finds from the area and age are milks and sodas as well as some stoneware, but this spot had some nice BIM pharms and a bunch of cobalt glass. The finds were pleasing and although the age isn't great, and it is interesting seeing what people in Peoria were throwing away during the depression before the end of prohibition.
14 cobalts including 2 nice Wyeth dose bottles, a local kist soda and arctic soda water, some common ABM meds, and a few BIMs to make it worthwhile. I got 3 masons, a few blank milks, and some other things not pictured.
This was actually in the creek, perhaps tossed by the previous digger, but I liked it and took it back. It is a BIM "Whiteoak Cream Salad Dressing" and on the base it is marked "Pat'd. 1-29-07" which seemed to be a later date for a BIM bottle mold patent.
BIM "Rocko-Ryo" bottle. It has fruit embossed around the neck and has 2 embossed panels, identical except for orientation. Anyone know what this stuff was?
Here is a good scarce milk, probably mid 1920s, which is embossed "Central City Dairy Co. Peoria, Ill". When it came out I thought i had added a good milk to the collection, but it soon revealed a crack in the top. Naturally, the other common milks came out fine.
1 ounce "C.A. Bowman & Co. Druggists & Chemists Peoria, ILL" pharmacy bottle. My bro pulled this out of a higher layer as he was caving in an area. It is a nice one, probably 25+ years older than the stuff around it, but I already have one in this size. It was a very nice find considering the era we were in though, and probably the latest throw in the zone we excavated.
Here is the 2nd intact "Best and Jordan Peoria" pharmacy bottle I've found, and it is essentially flawless. the other side has a panel near the top which reads "Best and Jordan" I've only seen them in the late 20s-early 30s deposits, none in the 1910s, early 20s, or mid to late 30s areas, and even so I have only seen 4 separate ones, 2 of them intact. They seem rather scarce (they wont turn up in privys people choose to dig, and thus are seemingly absent from the local market) and for me represent an excellent reason to dig the newer stuff. About as good as an 80 year old pharm can get, barring the colored western ones of the same age!
Here it is with the 1/2 ounce that was dug late last year, and a broken intermediate size dug thursday and kept for my records. I have searched the internet for info and i can't find a single reference to the business. Makes me wonder.
As for other digging finds, the only other decent dig lately was chipped out of the frozen ground in Champaign, IL a few months ago, and is a nice example of a bottle that i have only found shattered or with the top knocked off before. It was the only thing that came out, and was good enough to satisfy my craving for a dig. It is later than the version on the left, which is pre-1904 according to the makers mark and was pulled out of a creek a few years ago with the slugplate visible, probably resting in the same position for 50 years or more.
"Twin City Bottling Works Urbana, ILL"
The spot we chose to dig in the dump was recently pillaged by someone who enjoys chewing tobacco, in a spot 10 or 20 yards west of the extent of my digging in the 1920s-early 30s part of the dumping grounds. It was full of annoying concrete rubble, but a decent bit of material survived below the 'crete and above the burned layer, enough to justify further digging. We went to the dump intending to dig in the 1910s section, but the digging in this spot looked a lot easier so plans were changed and away we dug!
The latest milk base was from 1930, so the deposit was likely no more recent than 1931 or so, and in the deeper parts only a few years older. The usual worthwhile finds from the area and age are milks and sodas as well as some stoneware, but this spot had some nice BIM pharms and a bunch of cobalt glass. The finds were pleasing and although the age isn't great, and it is interesting seeing what people in Peoria were throwing away during the depression before the end of prohibition.
14 cobalts including 2 nice Wyeth dose bottles, a local kist soda and arctic soda water, some common ABM meds, and a few BIMs to make it worthwhile. I got 3 masons, a few blank milks, and some other things not pictured.
This was actually in the creek, perhaps tossed by the previous digger, but I liked it and took it back. It is a BIM "Whiteoak Cream Salad Dressing" and on the base it is marked "Pat'd. 1-29-07" which seemed to be a later date for a BIM bottle mold patent.
BIM "Rocko-Ryo" bottle. It has fruit embossed around the neck and has 2 embossed panels, identical except for orientation. Anyone know what this stuff was?
Here is a good scarce milk, probably mid 1920s, which is embossed "Central City Dairy Co. Peoria, Ill". When it came out I thought i had added a good milk to the collection, but it soon revealed a crack in the top. Naturally, the other common milks came out fine.
1 ounce "C.A. Bowman & Co. Druggists & Chemists Peoria, ILL" pharmacy bottle. My bro pulled this out of a higher layer as he was caving in an area. It is a nice one, probably 25+ years older than the stuff around it, but I already have one in this size. It was a very nice find considering the era we were in though, and probably the latest throw in the zone we excavated.
Here is the 2nd intact "Best and Jordan Peoria" pharmacy bottle I've found, and it is essentially flawless. the other side has a panel near the top which reads "Best and Jordan" I've only seen them in the late 20s-early 30s deposits, none in the 1910s, early 20s, or mid to late 30s areas, and even so I have only seen 4 separate ones, 2 of them intact. They seem rather scarce (they wont turn up in privys people choose to dig, and thus are seemingly absent from the local market) and for me represent an excellent reason to dig the newer stuff. About as good as an 80 year old pharm can get, barring the colored western ones of the same age!
Here it is with the 1/2 ounce that was dug late last year, and a broken intermediate size dug thursday and kept for my records. I have searched the internet for info and i can't find a single reference to the business. Makes me wonder.
As for other digging finds, the only other decent dig lately was chipped out of the frozen ground in Champaign, IL a few months ago, and is a nice example of a bottle that i have only found shattered or with the top knocked off before. It was the only thing that came out, and was good enough to satisfy my craving for a dig. It is later than the version on the left, which is pre-1904 according to the makers mark and was pulled out of a creek a few years ago with the slugplate visible, probably resting in the same position for 50 years or more.
"Twin City Bottling Works Urbana, ILL"
