Back Yard Bottlin

sodetraveler

Sr. Member
Mar 3, 2010
267
5
Historic Saratoga CA

Attachments

  • Trash Pit.JPG
    Trash Pit.JPG
    265.4 KB · Views: 260
OP
OP
sodetraveler

sodetraveler

Sr. Member
Mar 3, 2010
267
5
Historic Saratoga CA
OK, back on the computer for a bit and on with the story!

After finding a few old peices of glass I stumbled upon a couple of reasonably old bottles on the surface. One was a Higgin's Drawing Ink and the other was some kind of food (butter?) cup (shown next to an 1890's Miller's Crown Dressing found on my last trip to Hawaii). Unfortunately, these were both far newer than the shards and were ABM.
 

Attachments

  • Ink.JPG
    Ink.JPG
    213.6 KB · Views: 250
  • Jar.JPG
    Jar.JPG
    167 KB · Views: 249
OP
OP
sodetraveler

sodetraveler

Sr. Member
Mar 3, 2010
267
5
Historic Saratoga CA
Now I was hooked and started heading back there with my probe :tongue3:

My first time out I probed out a couple of bottles and plates, but again it was 1915(ish) ABM stuff. The whiskey flask looks nice and the other bottle has nice color, but I wanted something older >:(
 

Attachments

  • Flask.JPG
    Flask.JPG
    168.1 KB · Views: 248
OP
OP
sodetraveler

sodetraveler

Sr. Member
Mar 3, 2010
267
5
Historic Saratoga CA
So, my next time out I start probing heavily around the banks of the stream. I didn't hit anything, but decided to dig a test hole next to some china shards. I hit the jackpot and poped out my first BIMAL bottle almost immediately, a large blank medicine :headbang:

I had no sooner identified it than I found that there was a whole pocket of bottles all in one spot :o

As it turns out, this pocket allowed me to accurately date the bottles due to the fact that they were a mix of BIMAL and ABM. There were two of the meds that obviously were for the same product (same size and shape) but one was BIMAL and the other ABM. There was also an AB Co. BIMAL beer (with the linked AB) that had to be from between 1905 and 1916.

I took them all down to the stream and cleaned them up....
 

Attachments

  • Pocket.JPG
    Pocket.JPG
    150.7 KB · Views: 256
  • Meds.JPG
    Meds.JPG
    153.4 KB · Views: 242
  • Stream Clean.JPG
    Stream Clean.JPG
    255 KB · Views: 246
OP
OP
sodetraveler

sodetraveler

Sr. Member
Mar 3, 2010
267
5
Historic Saratoga CA
The next three times out I get skunked :help:

I'm ripping apart this stream bank in the same area that all the bottles came out, but finding almost nothing - barely even a peice of glass!

The forth time out I decided to move allot of earth and dig deep. All the 1915 stuff was coming out of the top foot of soil, but I was convinced that there must be something deeper.

I dug for over an hour with nothing to show and then found this little beauty down about three feet all by itself :icon_sunny:

It's a Batchelor's No 1 Liquid Hair Dye. I've never seen any in Hawaii before and am wondering about it's age :dontknow:

I found some similar pontil'd bottles online and managed to determine that the company was founded in 1837 and still actively advertising in 1867, but I can't peg a date for this.

It does not have a pontil mark, but is very crude with a sheared lip and irregular embossing. I'm guessing it's somewhere between 1860 and 1890, but I'd like to narrow it down a bit.

Do any of you guys know how old this is? Please let me know! Thanks :notworthy:
 

Attachments

  • Back.JPG
    Back.JPG
    108.5 KB · Views: 239
  • Front.JPG
    Front.JPG
    106.7 KB · Views: 245

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top