My First Bottle Dump

[romeo-1]

Earlier this week I was detecting along the tidal river near my house and noticed a couple bottles in the mud during low tide. I picked up a couple bottles and made the decision to go back there today with a decent digging tool. Well, back I went and I spent a couple hours there this morning digging into the bank. Found several decent bottles but not sure of the age...except for one.

I'm thinking late 1800s to the early 1900s. The green decorated bottle had "GILT EDGE DRESSING" embossed on the side and "May 18, 1890" on the bottom, stamped twice. There is also an "EMPIRE LINIMENT" bottle and a tiny "SEELY" bottle. Is this a good dump and are these bottle collectible? Any idea what the long slender bottle would have held? Thanks for looking.

[jgas]

Looks like some perfumes and maybe some polish bottles...or maybe that nice green one is an ink. Nice looking finds. I would go back and dig a bigger area for sure! Congrats on the finds. jgas

[romeo-1]

Looks like some perfumes and maybe some polish bottles...or maybe that nice green one is an ink. Nice looking finds. I would go back and dig a bigger area for sure! Congrats on the finds. jgas

Thanks...and yes, I'll be going back. I know that I haven't even scratched the surface. For every complete bottle I found I found 10 broke.

Any hints on cleaning?

[creeper71]

Looks like some perfumes and maybe some polish bottles...or maybe that nice green one is an ink. Nice looking finds. I would go back and dig a bigger area for sure! Congrats on the finds. jgas

Thanks...and yes, I'll be going back. I know that I haven't even scratched the surface. For every complete bottle I found I found 10 broke.

Any hints on cleaning?

You'll want to invest in a set of bottle brushes , windex an if that don't clean them you'll want to go to the store an buy The Works Toliet cleaner.. get a good size bucket an put toliet cleaner in each bottle an lightly drop into the bucket an let sit for 3 days or more keep covers so nothing drinks the water.. after 3 days or so pull the bottles out an dump the water in them back into the bucket an rinse in clean fresh water..if there is any dirt left on them you'll use the brushes to clean the dirt offf.. When using the toliet cleaner always wear gloves or you will burn your skin...

[Harry Pristis]

Looks like some perfumes and maybe some polish bottles...or maybe that nice green one is an ink. Nice looking finds. I would go back and dig a bigger area for sure! Congrats on the finds. jgas

Thanks...and yes, I'll be going back. I know that I haven't even scratched the surface. For every complete bottle I found I found 10 broke.

Any hints on cleaning?

The slender green vial was used for toilet water.

I fill a bottle with tepid tap-water to which I add a tiny amount of laundry detergent (because it is non-sudsing) and a dollup of laundry bleach. I let it soak for a few hours.

Whatever residue is left I remove with a home-made brush. I use a stiff wire coat-hanger for this purpose. I cut the hook portion away. I bend the smallest possible loop on one end of the wine and a large loop on the other. The larger loop will be the handle.

I cut a lengthwise strip of scrubbing pad (a Scotch-Brite knockoff from the dollar store) wide enough to generously cover the small loop. I roll the strip of scrubbing pad around the small loop and secure it tightly with several wraps of thin copper wire. String or a rubber band could be substituted for the copper wire. The copper is too soft to scratch the glass, but is relatively impervious to chemicals.

If you wish to use a commercial bottle brush, try this. I affix a small patch (about the size of the brush diameter) of scrubbing pad to the tip of the brush using polyurethane cement (Plumbers Goop, Shoe Goop, etc.). This patch not only makes the brush more effective in corners and at the bottom of the bottle, it also cushions the tip of the wire brush from any "hammer effect" in manipulating the brush inside the bottle.

[River Rat]

Have no clue on the bottles, but they're really neat looking. Hope you find many more.

http://books.google.com/books?id=TLP...NIMENT&f=false

http://www.google.com/#q=GILT+EDGE+D...2cd7f3589c676f

http://reviews.ebay.com/Vintage-Seel...00000004538419

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[size=14pt][font=comic sans ms]The slender green vial was used for toilet water.
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Harry I know you are the true expert when it comes to bottles but is it possible the slender green one is a Caper's bottle ?
Thanx,
Jim

[Harry Pristis]

Harry I know you are the true expert when it comes to bottles but is it possible the slender green one is a Caper's bottle ?
Thanx,
Jim

Jim . . . In this case, the vial seems too slender to have accommodated a reasonable number of capers. I have seen more than a few of these for sale as "lavender water" or "lilac water" or "rose water" containers.

I don't recall seeing a capers bottle slimmer than these below.

[epackage]

Thanx Harry, I figured you would know better than me, they miss your insights at ABN for sure.....Jim