1840s house & bulldozer gives up cool finds

[john37115]

1840's house & bulldozer gives up cool finds

I got together with Dugdigger for a hunt saturday at the sight of an 1840's farm house that had been recently tore down to make way for a new house. A bulldozer had dug out about 8' of dirt for a basement. We were too late to get in on the top 2' feet of topsoil that had been removed but managed to make some cool finds none the less. The prize find was a small dark brown blob top soda bottle that read " M.McCormack -- This bottle is never sold -- W.Mc C & Co " The bottle was found by the property owner as he was walking us around, I offered to buy the bottle from him and he said I don't want it you can have it. I would love to identify this bottle and try and put a value on it. I managed to find blue bottles like it for sale for $200-$400. The brown one must be rare because I couldn't find anything on it.
I also found a old bottle that read " McConnon & Co. -- Winona Minn" that was lodged into the side of the bank that the dozer had cut out about 18" down in what appeared to be an ash pit. Also found a cool brass whatsit, one bone 4 hole button, one tiny 4 hole white glass button, an old gold plated ring and what appears to be the claw from a mountain lion or something. If you have any clues?
I will post the brass whatsit in the whatsit section also.
Thanks for looking.

 

[DCMatt]

Re: 1840's house & bulldozer gives up cool finds

From a bottle forum -

M.McCormack / This Bottle Never Sold. Stands 7 1/2" tall. According to an early ad McCormack bottled soda, mineral water, ale, champagne cider, and brown stout. He was in buisness in Richmond from 1852 -1858 . In 1859 he moved to Nashville , Tenn and in 1861 he moved again to Louisville, Ky . The bottles manufactured in Nashville & Louisville are of a different body style. An interesting fact with this bottle is that the original bottles that were produced had a mold flaw and read N. McCormack. Due to the high cost of molds , the mold was altered rather than changed.

Hope this helps.

DCMatt

 

[Old_Okie]

Re: 1840's house & bulldozer gives up cool finds

Neat Digs.

I think the item in the center of the bottom row of pic 1 is a broken oarlock.

Old_Okie

 

[Skrimpy]

Re: 1840's house & bulldozer gives up cool finds

That's a sweet blob. It's definately squat, is it a soda or mineral water bottle? I can't read what it says.

 

[roswellborn]

Re: 1840's house & bulldozer gives up cool finds

Hi Nan the claw is actually very curved to the side and down. It's just hard to capture in the pic. Check it out in the 1st pic you can kinda see the curve better.
Good to hear from you it's been awhile since LBH I hope the world is treating you well.
Later

Ah, you're right. It was late when I posted (that's my excuse, anyway). :P

Life isn't bad... Could be better. Could be worse! I figure if I'm above ground, that's a definite plus.

You think you might get to the CTH this October? Gonna be a hoot.

HH
Nan