Beautiful day in Virginia for relics on the river! My FIRST US Box Plate!

[DocBeav]

Headed out early today to link up with Gigmaster (you can see his videos on his youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG4NUVdXsueqs5Ftvn8p0NA) and went out to one of his spots on the river. It started out a bit slow with just a few 3 ring minnie balls that were popping up but not much of note till Steve dug a roached large cent and I had a small pewter flat button. We kept roaming back and forth in the water and the banks and I got a mixed but steady signal and started hacking into the rocks. After the first couple of scoops out comes an old but modern whiskey bottle and when I saw it I thought, "Ok, so I'm digging the cap....dammit....lol...might as well finish and get it out of the hole" I knelt down with the "Garrett Carrot" and once I got the signal I kinda pushed it down into the rocks and levered it up some and out flips an oval shaped piece of lead. I THOUGHT it might have been a plate and when I washed it in the water still looking at the lead to see if I could see any letter impressions (still not realizing I was looking at the BACK of it) then I flipped it over. There it was!...... the FRONT side of a slightly roached but my first (and beautiful) US box plate!



It was a great day! Thanks to Gigmaster for taking me along and once again taking me to a place when I could check off a major bucket list item! Thanks again Steve!

The rest of the day's finds included a couple 3 ringers, one with a star inside the cone, two that were "pulled" and a Williams cleaner bullet. I got a 3 good sized lead balls that are all impacted and look they have dimpling on them that makes me think they were packed together in a canister or grape shot type of round.



I also found a lead salt shaker top, small pewter button and a silver Washington quarter.



There was a ton old old broken glass out there but I did manage to salvage two nice ones. One is just a Coke bottle marked "Norton VA", think it may be from the 50's and an awesome looking Ball Mason jar that has some nice bubble and imperfections in it. The logo and style is from between 1896-1910. The wife likes it and it will now be a new flower vase.



Thanks for looking and here are the rest of the pictures and finds:

 

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[vpnavy]

Nice finds!

 

[ScubaDetector]

I don't know much about civil war stuff but I know Coke bottles a bit. I believe your bottle is newer than the year 2000 because of the ring between the city and state. There is a 4 digit number near the bottom on the side. Can you read it? I find a lot of them every year underwater and only save the Christmas Cokes Patent Dec. 25 1923 and older.

Very nice plate and bullets also

 

[against the wind]

Great hunt.
That plate is wild.
Congratulations

 

[DocBeav]

the numbers are 57-33, are those the ones you mean?

I don't know much about civil war stuff but I know Coke bottles a bit. I believe your bottle is newer than the year 2000 because of the ring between the city and state. There is a 4 digit number near the bottom on the side. Can you read it? I find a lot of them every year underwater and only save the Christmas Cokes Patent Dec. 25 1923 and older.

Very nice plate and bullets also

 

[relic nut]

Congrats on a great hunt. Those plates are getting harder to come by. Nice save!

HH, RN

 

[NHBandit]

I don't know much about civil war stuff but I know Coke bottles a bit. I believe your bottle is newer than the year 2000 because of the ring between the city and state. There is a 4 digit number near the bottom on the side. Can you read it? I find a lot of them every year underwater and only save the Christmas Cokes Patent Dec. 25 1923 and older.

Very nice plate and bullets also

The coke bottle is not one of the modern re-issues. It's a 1950s or 60s bottle. They are heavier and the design of the base is much thicker than the repros since they were intended to be refilled many times. Also the repros I've seen use the Christmas patent date as part of their design.
Below the Coca Cola script on the side of the bottle there is a date code that I can't quite make out. It should look something like this.. 57 53. The first 2 numbers are the year so my example would be a 1957 bottle. If yours says 6 1/2 oz it was used from 58-65. If it's 6oz it's a little older. The C inside a circle on the base tells me it was made by Owens Corning glass company. Common bottle worth 2-3 bucks but a nice one.

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on some very nice finds

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Yeah, "Doc", y'all did GOOD!

 

[wolf74623]

seen your reply and was wondering if you could give me advise - I often find old coke and pepsi bottles as well as other brands digging house sites and I normally leave them there because I know nothing about them but often wonder which ones are the keepers worth something - most of them seem to be from the 50-60s but then again I don't know - one that I left looked like a coke bottle but the color was clear and thicker and I think it said soda water or something like that , many thanks for any info

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice. Congrats on your first Box Plate, and all the rest of those finds.

 

[fishstick]

Big CONGRATZ on the plate!!!!!!! She's a BEAUT!!!!!!!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats on a sweet set of finds. Very nice variety.

The box plate is killer.

 

[diggervet]

congratulations on the nice plate!

 

[ScubaDetector]

The coke bottle is not one of the modern re-issues. It's a 1950s or 60s bottle. They are heavier and the design of the base is much thicker than the repros since they were intended to be refilled many times. Also the repros I've seen use the Christmas patent date as part of their design.
Below the Coca Cola script on the side of the bottle there is a date code that I can't quite make out. It should look something like this.. 57 53. The first 2 numbers are the year so my example would be a 1957 bottle. If yours says 6 1/2 oz it was used from 58-65. If it's 6oz it's a little older. The C inside a circle on the base tells me it was made by Owens Corning glass company. Common bottle worth 2-3 bucks but a nice one.

Unfortunately all my bottles are home in Michigan and I am in Utah. This site says the ones with the city and state in a circle are REPO's:

http://www.antiquebottles.com/coke/

I was wrong on the year. His is 1989 and not later.

As I posted. I have read extensively on them when I was finding and collecting them and I threw all the ones away that had the city and state in a circle. I know the older ones because I have whole milk crate full of Christmas cokes and ones patented in 1915. I also threw out the older ones that hav a patent date of D-bla bla bla bla.

I find them underwater all the time. I guess the best thing to do is take it to a knowledgeable antique store and ask. I am not here to burst anyone's bubbles but to give solid information. There are a LOT of Coke collectors out there.

 

[JBnNC]

Very nice hunt, congrats on the box plate!

 

[seabee89]

Very cool Stuff!

 

[treblehunter]

Sweet, I hope to find a military plate some day, congrats!

 

[joeyfresh]

Awesome finds John. I'm glad to see the riverfront sites paying off

 

[NHBandit]

Unfortunately all my bottles are home in Michigan and I am in Utah. This site says the ones with the city and state in a circle are REPO's:

Antique Coke Bottles

I was wrong on the year. His is 1989 and not later.

As I posted. I have read extensively on them when I was finding and collecting them and I threw all the ones away that had the city and state in a circle. I know the older ones because I have whole milk crate full of Christmas cokes and ones patented in 1915. I also threw out the older ones that hav a patent date of D-bla bla bla bla.

I find them underwater all the time. I guess the best thing to do is take it to a knowledgeable antique store and ask. I am not here to burst anyone's bubbles but to give solid information. There are a LOT of Coke collectors out there.

It's all good. Pick up a copy of The Coke Bottle Checklist from the Coca Cola Bottle Collectors Club. It's written by Bill Porter and available from him. He has a facebook page.
The info from the website you linked to is confusing. The repop bottles have a distinctly different look to the bottom being much thinner glass since they were not meant to be refilled. There are also very obviously lighter when you hold one in your hand and will show absolutely no case wear from rattling around in a wooden crate like the older bottles. You are correct that most of those came out in 1989. You're welcome to check with antique shops but be aware that most of them don't know any better. I'm a collector of Hobbleskirt Coke bottles and am more than happy to help anyone ID a bottle they have questions about. I also belong to a couple of different soda bottle forums on the net. The repops also have towns and states on the bottom but they don't mean anything. They were chosen at random simply to replicate the style of the original bottles. I buy & trade a lot of these bottles and have seen enough of the reissue bottles to know that's not what he found. No offense, just trying to help. Damn shame that you threw away all the ones with the circle.. They were likely from the 1950s & 1960s and are what I collect. A search of Ebay auctions will show tons of pictures of those same style bottoms with the date of manufacture listed. I would have made you an offer on any cities I don't already have. After the "Christmas" Cokes like you have saved they went to the patent D, then a "US Patent Office" 6oz and finally a US Patent Office 6 1/2 oz. These are all mid 60s or earlier.. Pic.. 1962 Bristol VA 6oz US Patent bottle on left. 1951 Bristol VA Patent D bottle on right. Hope this shows the difference and illustrates that BOTH are vintage bottles.