jgas
Silver Member
- Apr 23, 2008
- 3,793
- 2,469
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- 1
- Detector(s) used
- DFX, Pro 6000XL, SunRay Probe, Centech Pinpointer
Hello once more all treasure nuts. Good to be back posting once again after the thaw. Well I hear more snow is on the way here in the Midwest. So once we saw a 60 degree day we headed out.
Setting the stage for ya I scoped out a Circa 1860 home that had two smaller homes just behind it that date to possibly 1880s. I tell ya I probed the place a couple of times, blisters on hands, hard as asphalt ground and nary a pit around. I gave up on it for two years. Fast forward to this week. I decided we had an overwhelming amount of rain this past season so I was dreaming of ground that my probe wouldn’t actually scream at me in agony!
Low and behold it was a bit softer. I was able to criss cross the yard and use my maps and overlays to zero in on the privy, or so I thought. So I marked it out and needed to wait for my buddy(Companion) to get started. So I called Don and he was all in for a dig. I thought to myself there’s no way to match the Rock Rose bottle I snagged earlier this year. But we don’t hesitate when we are on ground that has a possibility for some nice finds.
So let the digging begin. I brought my trusty (Shovel) and all the gear for a nice clean dig. We started in and within a couple of feet we knew we weren’t in a privy but a cistern. Ugh. Not cool. At least so we thought. We felt a ton of glass and as I was tossing shovel loads of dirt out, here pops out a half pint embossed milk. Woohoooo!!! Now we gotta keep digging. Ya know for most diggers I think even 1920s milks really get the juices flowing. Not old but still great to find.
So we trudged onward through brick and ash and dirt. Then one after another after another after another, milks were popping like spring mushrooms. All embossed. Mostly local ones but the occasional Chicago or Evanston Illinois milks were showing up. It was nuts. Plus a boat load of fruit jars from that era. Nothing earth shattering but still cool, and whole. So we finished up the cistern and then probed right behind it.
Would ya put a privy right next to a cistern? I think not! So after we covered the cistern we started on the next one. Started down into the depths and hit a huge layer of tar with pea gravel stuck all over it. Hard as a rock but we broke through. Don was in the pit about 4 feet down and he tossed up a base of a bottle that said Dyottville. Oh boy we knew we had an older pit now. Those juices that were flowing earlier turned into a flood now. He got to 5 feet and low and behold a water pipe was right through the middle of the privy. Even worse there was a sewage line right under the water line. A 10 incher of all things. At that level he started tossing up pieces of scroll flasks and iron Pontil pedal jars. 1850s pit for sure. Yeah, we have a chance!!!
He was getting fried from digging for a while so he decided to let me in on the chance. But as he moved and picked up his foot, right under his boot was an S. Finley’s Nervine. Open Pontil. I believe it’s from South Bend Indiana. If anyone else knows more please let us in on it.
So he got his great find, now it was my turn. I tossed out parts of a quart scroll flask and more jars. All smashed from the pipe work that went right through the use layer. But then as I was searching under the pipe out pops an open Pontil umbrella ink. Sweet!! I was smoked by now so I let Don back in. He had an area to do that was literally next to the cistern wall that we had just dug.
Now comes the strange part. I was watching him dig as I was using the flashlight to help him see. I said hey man, you need to pull out a Travelers Companion or something!!! No more than 10 seconds later he freaking pulls one out. Holy Cow. Open Pontil Traveler’s Companion half pint fire polished lip. In primo condition. Cloud nine time for us. We don’t get the chance to dig too many Pontil bottles so this is even more sweet! Wow. It looks to be a GXIV type but I don’t see it listed in the McKearen book. Hopefully someone can identify the mold for us.
So we started out with a shovel, a Companion and ended up with a Traveler! What a day. Sorry for the long post. Storytelling gets a bit winded after awhile. Thanks for looking. And good luck out there everyone and be safe. Jgas.
Setting the stage for ya I scoped out a Circa 1860 home that had two smaller homes just behind it that date to possibly 1880s. I tell ya I probed the place a couple of times, blisters on hands, hard as asphalt ground and nary a pit around. I gave up on it for two years. Fast forward to this week. I decided we had an overwhelming amount of rain this past season so I was dreaming of ground that my probe wouldn’t actually scream at me in agony!
Low and behold it was a bit softer. I was able to criss cross the yard and use my maps and overlays to zero in on the privy, or so I thought. So I marked it out and needed to wait for my buddy(Companion) to get started. So I called Don and he was all in for a dig. I thought to myself there’s no way to match the Rock Rose bottle I snagged earlier this year. But we don’t hesitate when we are on ground that has a possibility for some nice finds.
So let the digging begin. I brought my trusty (Shovel) and all the gear for a nice clean dig. We started in and within a couple of feet we knew we weren’t in a privy but a cistern. Ugh. Not cool. At least so we thought. We felt a ton of glass and as I was tossing shovel loads of dirt out, here pops out a half pint embossed milk. Woohoooo!!! Now we gotta keep digging. Ya know for most diggers I think even 1920s milks really get the juices flowing. Not old but still great to find.
So we trudged onward through brick and ash and dirt. Then one after another after another after another, milks were popping like spring mushrooms. All embossed. Mostly local ones but the occasional Chicago or Evanston Illinois milks were showing up. It was nuts. Plus a boat load of fruit jars from that era. Nothing earth shattering but still cool, and whole. So we finished up the cistern and then probed right behind it.
Would ya put a privy right next to a cistern? I think not! So after we covered the cistern we started on the next one. Started down into the depths and hit a huge layer of tar with pea gravel stuck all over it. Hard as a rock but we broke through. Don was in the pit about 4 feet down and he tossed up a base of a bottle that said Dyottville. Oh boy we knew we had an older pit now. Those juices that were flowing earlier turned into a flood now. He got to 5 feet and low and behold a water pipe was right through the middle of the privy. Even worse there was a sewage line right under the water line. A 10 incher of all things. At that level he started tossing up pieces of scroll flasks and iron Pontil pedal jars. 1850s pit for sure. Yeah, we have a chance!!!
He was getting fried from digging for a while so he decided to let me in on the chance. But as he moved and picked up his foot, right under his boot was an S. Finley’s Nervine. Open Pontil. I believe it’s from South Bend Indiana. If anyone else knows more please let us in on it.
So he got his great find, now it was my turn. I tossed out parts of a quart scroll flask and more jars. All smashed from the pipe work that went right through the use layer. But then as I was searching under the pipe out pops an open Pontil umbrella ink. Sweet!! I was smoked by now so I let Don back in. He had an area to do that was literally next to the cistern wall that we had just dug.
Now comes the strange part. I was watching him dig as I was using the flashlight to help him see. I said hey man, you need to pull out a Travelers Companion or something!!! No more than 10 seconds later he freaking pulls one out. Holy Cow. Open Pontil Traveler’s Companion half pint fire polished lip. In primo condition. Cloud nine time for us. We don’t get the chance to dig too many Pontil bottles so this is even more sweet! Wow. It looks to be a GXIV type but I don’t see it listed in the McKearen book. Hopefully someone can identify the mold for us.
So we started out with a shovel, a Companion and ended up with a Traveler! What a day. Sorry for the long post. Storytelling gets a bit winded after awhile. Thanks for looking. And good luck out there everyone and be safe. Jgas.
