RIBottleguy
Well-Known Member
Ever since we got about 8" of snow early last week it has made me pretty restless. It was taking forever to melt, but by today it was only two inches deep. I decided it was acceptable and headed out to my small town dump site. Lucky for me there were only small surface areas of frost, which made it easy to remove in flat chunks. Digging uphill quickly petered out, so I decided to head into the dump, which I feared was dug out. Luckily for me this was not the case! I found a few BIM slicks pretty fast, then an intact RI soda! I can't say how many broken sodas have come out of this dump, so it was a good sign. I quickly found a nice applied lip Gordon's Dry Gin. Next up was a local Enoch W. Vars Pharmacist from Niantic. A fancy Larkin Co. Buffalo kept things interesting.
The density of bottles was great, but the location was less than ideal. I had to mow down tons of Japanese Barberry, which is very thorny, and then negotiate my way through 1.5 feet of root-clogged 1930-40s material. I didn't have any hand clippers, so this was pretty difficult. I used a small scratcher to dig under most of the roots, so I could then chop them with my shovel without fear of demolishing a bottle. As it got dark I dug a small tunnel into the sweet spot, listening for that telltale clink. The last bottle of the day fell from the roof of my hole, and I was excited to see it was a midget fruit jar! I've never dug one, and this Mason's CFJCo. Patent Nov. 30th 1858 was perfect. It even had the contents inside!
Future digs will be tough, but at least I have the guarantee of finding bottles!
The finds:
L-R rear: Larkin Co. Buffalo, Larkin Glycerol, California Fig Syrup, tippy and bubbly olive oil, J.H. Blackler (flag) Westerly RI, Mason's midget, Gordon's Dry Gin
Front: Slick, Enoch W. Vars Niantic, Ames Premium Co. Lynn Mass., mini bottle, mini pitcher, two cosmetic tins.
The contents smelled as good as they looked.
This disc of wax was in the jar. All I could think of was it separated from whatever was in the jar?
The density of bottles was great, but the location was less than ideal. I had to mow down tons of Japanese Barberry, which is very thorny, and then negotiate my way through 1.5 feet of root-clogged 1930-40s material. I didn't have any hand clippers, so this was pretty difficult. I used a small scratcher to dig under most of the roots, so I could then chop them with my shovel without fear of demolishing a bottle. As it got dark I dug a small tunnel into the sweet spot, listening for that telltale clink. The last bottle of the day fell from the roof of my hole, and I was excited to see it was a midget fruit jar! I've never dug one, and this Mason's CFJCo. Patent Nov. 30th 1858 was perfect. It even had the contents inside!
Future digs will be tough, but at least I have the guarantee of finding bottles!
The finds:
L-R rear: Larkin Co. Buffalo, Larkin Glycerol, California Fig Syrup, tippy and bubbly olive oil, J.H. Blackler (flag) Westerly RI, Mason's midget, Gordon's Dry Gin
Front: Slick, Enoch W. Vars Niantic, Ames Premium Co. Lynn Mass., mini bottle, mini pitcher, two cosmetic tins.
The contents smelled as good as they looked.
This disc of wax was in the jar. All I could think of was it separated from whatever was in the jar?
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