Your Best Heartbreaker

[Jim]

Another view showing some other pieces. It was horrible to dig all of these bottles and ceramics broken, but things like this just go to show that there are still some really nice finds to be made.

I offer a very generous reward to anyone who finds me the Soult & Zerbe or Mrs. F. Bossinger in one piece. ~Jim

 

[RedGinger]

That yelloware... geez. Thought it was mochaware. That is a heartbreaker for sure.

 

[Jim]

Sure is []. Even though it's usually broken, yellowware is one of my favorite things to find in the pits. We usually only see it in the older pits (1870s or earlier). I know there are a few nice whole yellowware pieces waiting for me somewhere. ~Jim

 

[deepwoods]

Caz, I live outside Rochester. The way I heard the story, the guy that dug those H Lakes was one of those old time purist diggers who just loved to dig old bottles and didnt care all that much about "book value" etc. Supposedly he found them under and stuffed in a bunch of old rusted out buckets and tubs. After he'd dug the seventeen or whatever it was he took four or five with him and left the rest at the site thinking a) they must have been fairly common, and b) he only needed so many. After he showed them to a collector, he was told they were very rare, so he hiked back to the site and retrieved the rest of them. Ya gotta love it. Whats great about rare old bottles is that it's not that uncommon for them to found in caches like that; which is why I fully expect to dig a dozen Lewis Cough Syrups or Wyncoops Cures at some point this year. Go ahead and laugh.

 

[downeastdigger]

Hi Doug, man what a gorgeous whiskey ! You dont get more beautiful glass than that. We just got a friggin slush storm today with more snow on the way How did you get 3 permissions in January!? or were they in the same yard.
I did a talk at a historical society last night, and got 2 permissions and some leads.
Bram

 

[Jim]

Ahh, SickRick's a good guy. He has a twisted sense of humor just like I do, can't hold that against him. We're all here to have fun, and even with the occasional bantering, there's nobody here that I really, truly don't like.

Matt, I have another similar plate that is more complete that came from the same pit as that one. I always thought they were PA-made. I'll try to find my pic of it and post it. Any idea on the age of the other piece? It came from a 40s-50s pontil pit. ~Jim

 

[Jim]

Here it is. I spent a LONG time picking through the fill for the missing triangles, but to no avail. It's still a decent reconstructed piece, and I'm glad to have recovered as much of it as I did. This and the other one in the previous post came from the very bottom of a 70s pit, but I'm sure they were late throws. ~Jim

 

[appliedlips]

Bram,

Thanks.Great job on the permissions and helping out the historical society.My pits were leftovers,in other words they were newer pits that didn't feel crunchy and on nasty lots that I didn't have to worry about screwing up from chopping frost.If I dig the older holes on a lot and the owner is cool I'll put the newer ones off for a rainy day or skip them.If they probe "glassy" for a couple feet I dig them right away.The weather has been very crappy for door knocking lately,here too.

 

[appliedlips]

Nice stuff Jim.That Lewiston pontilled soda is a top notch crier.The pottery is great also,there was alot of beautiful yellowware made in Ohio,sadly it's always busted it seems like.You guys have some beautiful redware.

 

[PhilaBottles]

Jim, your slip plates look like the typical 1840s-50s Philadelphia style stuff. Now that doesnt mean a Philadelphia apprentice didnt move out your way and used the same decoration style. What are the sizes on the slip plates? I would also be interested in purchasing the slip decorated ones. Yes, you just read that correctly. The other bowl might be Central PA made and around the same time period. It kind of has a Bennington look.

Matt