Yeah, Rick- the Mason jar is clear. I also had not seen the embossing before. I usually do an entire clown routine in the pit around any mason jars or jelly jars, but once in a while something catches my eye as weird. I try to be picky about it, because my girlfriend does not want me filling the joint up with the tacky glass. The fruit jars always screw me up on judgement calls, though. I described shards of a couple once at a club meeting and everybody started yelling at me all at once because I didn't even keep the shards. Needless to say, I am a little jar shy now.
cobaltbot- thanks for the reference information and the value information. More than anything the value just serves as an indicator of rarity. Most of my beloved sodas and beers are probably worth 10 bucks a piece.
treeguyfred- thanks. Those whiskey flasks are a very hot item around here. They are one of the universal people pleasers. That's why it was the only broken one in the pit. I have a weird thing about the good broken ones though. I hate them, and yet I love them for keeping me humble. Nobody likes an uppity re-privy digger. I try to really KNOW my station. I am present in it.
MINNESOTA DIGGER- The hutch on the left is embossed "J.S. Gilbreath & Son Denver", and dates from 1889-1896, and the one on the right is a very common "HANIGAN Bros DENVER, Colo". The neck on that one is really long, and although I am not really sure that means much with the number of bottles they churned out on any day, it also kinda makes me wonder if that is not a really early type from maybe ca. 1880. Most of the Hanigans are very standardized, and very common. Either way, they must have made a damn good soda.
