Confirmed.. Civil War Trash Pit Bottles

[MonkeyBoy]

Hello All.. I am moving this over from Today's Finds.. I found a trash pit at a Civil War camp site in Northern VA. Here are some pictures of the bottles and pottery that came out of the hole. I also found an Eagle Button and pistol bullet in the hole.. mixed in with the bottles. I am trying to date these to the Civil War and earlier period. Any help would be great!! I have found the snuff bottles in the relic books.. and the clay pipe is period... I included close ups of the pontils..

Bottles w/ marks read:

"Curtis and Perkins
Proprietors
Mrs. Winslow's
Soothing Syrup"

"Heller Bros and Co
Wholsale Druggists
Baltimore"

"Ridgeway's
MYRRHOLPHEAN
For the Hair
NY"

"Lea & Perrins" with Pontil

"S. Simes
Philada"

"Warrens
Congress
Ink"


Thanks!

**UPDATE** Every single item I dug from this trash pit has turned out to be mid 1860s or earlier!! SOOOO I am marking this as a confirmed Civil War Trash pit!! I also found a total of three Eagle buttons and two bullets in the hole.. I will update with more pictures... and hopefully more finds after I sifted the dirt!!!

 

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[chong2]

Re: Civil War () Trash Pit Bottles

oh man am i jealous, really am.............nice finds, i bet u enjoy your soft soil over there huh

 

[downindixie]

Re: Civil War () Trash Pit Bottles

Anytime you find pontiled bottles your doing good.It looks like you have some nice ones.Keep digging!

 

[civilman1]

Re: Civil War () Trash Pit Bottles

Monkeyboy...awesome dig's,and a clay pipe to boot.Where in N.Va. are you located?

 

[glassdiver]

Re: Civil War () Trash Pit Bottles

Hey Monkey,
Nice finds.
I'm headed out for a couple days to dig, but when I get back, I'll go through the bottles for you and tell you what I can.
Do you ever sell any bottles? There are a few there I'd really like to have.
It's pretty tough to come across CW aged bottles here in Mich, unless you dig in a larger city, like Saginaw or Detroit.
Bill

 

[TreasureTales]

Re: Civil War () Trash Pit Bottles

OMG, what fantastic bottles! Wiping drool from keyboard now. Congrats on the hard work and the great results.

 

[root]

Re: Civil War () Trash Pit Bottles

Nice haul!!!! I have yet to dig a pontiled bottle but here is a pic of a bottle I dug here near Philly. I believe it is a med and the embossing reads SIMES and SONS WEST MARKET ST. PHILADA

HH,

root

 

[insulator245]

Wow those are some amazing finds! WTG!

 

[relic lover]

thouse are junk you should send them to me for proper disposal! I will pay shipping! and handling!

 

[twister]

great glass, congrats

hh twister

 

[chong2]

just wondering, how did you discover the pit?

 

[MonkeyBoy]

just wondering, how did you discover the pit?

With a metal detector... there was a lead or pewter barrel tap that gave me a good signal about 8" or 10" deep. The bottles were at the same depth or deeper. This was at the base of a tree and the only bottle that were broken were the ones compressed by this massive root growing right through them!

Here is another picture of the &%$% root! I was pretty happy that I did not break a single bottle digging them out.. nor cut off a finger while digging them!!

HH
MonkeyBoy

 

[chong2]

too cool, you lucked out i bet ur heart was like yeah!!! yeah!!!! one after another huh?!thanks for the reply, have you thought about probing with a short probe in the area? might be a good idea.
p.s. im still jealous of you, im still searching for my first pontil

 

[MonkeyBoy]

too cool, you lucked out i bet ur heart was like yeah!!! yeah!!!! one after another huh?!thanks for the reply, have you thought about probing with a short probe in the area? might be a good idea.
p.s. im still jealous of you, im still searching for my first pontil

Chong2mry,

I have not yet probe the area.. but I dug 2 feet in every direction. That is how I found the bottle on the other side and underneath the root. The hole is still partially open and we have had tons of rain so I will be back out there! Given I found the buttons and other items I plan to sift the whole area. I'm lucky, it is on my Sister's property!! So I can leave it open and keep digging!! On the down side.. she picked 5 of the best bottles for herself!!!

MonkeyBoy

 

[chong2]

since its ur sister take them back, she'll only get mad for a few days if u dont have a probe go to lowes or home D and get a steel dowel rod, and attach a handle and dremel or file the tip to a point. carefull cause it can bend in hard soils, but from the pic it seems you have soft soil, unlike the crap over here. probe will be like 5 bucks, and beats digging 3 feet without having to.

 

[relic lover]

since its ur sister take them back, she'll only get mad for a few days if u dont have a probe go to lowes or home D and get a steel dowel rod, and attach a handle and dremel or file the tip to a point. carefull cause it can bend in hard soils, but from the pic it seems you have soft soil, unlike the crap over here. probe will be like 5 bucks, and beats digging 3 feet without having to.

the best probes are spring steel, which you can get for free from an older junk car. The trunk lid springs are long rods of spring steel cut off one end and sharpen it then sweettalk a buddy with a welder to put a handle on the top. The most overlooked detail is a welded bead just above the point which makes the tip slightly bigger than the shaft. This eliminates friction along the shaft and makes it much easier to push in and more importantly easier to feel glass targets before you break them struggling to force the probe through the dirt. Ironically I discovered metal detecting using a detector to find trash pits and simply discovered a better hobby instead! Plus I was tired of probeing my A#$ off then digging 4 foot deep targets,plus try getting permission to open a giant pit in someones yard! Good luck finding more, pontiles are the holy grail for us bottle junkies!

 

[chong2]

i posted this awhile back in another forum, towrds the bottom the guy had a good idea i am gonna follow through with, its also sring steel. the steel dowel was a quick thought without all the trouble. im wondering if i dont put a tapered point on mine and do a bead i wont get very far in the desert soil either way monkey, u should make a probe

 

[relic lover]

i posted this awhile back in another forum, towrds the bottom the guy had a good idea i am gonna follow through with, its also sring steel. the steel dowel was a quick thought without all the trouble. im wondering if i dont put a tapered point on mine and do a bead i wont get very far in the desert soil either way monkey, u should make a probe

I have seen probes with a ball bearing welded to the end instead of a point. It only needs to be slightly larger than the shaft to get the desired effect. then you are really only pushing the ball through the dirt if you think about it.

 

[TreasureTales]

the best probes are spring steel, which you can get for free from an older junk car. The trunk lid springs are long rods of spring steel cut off one end and sharpen it then sweettalk a buddy with a welder to put a handle on the top. The most overlooked detail is a welded bead just above the point which makes the tip slightly bigger than the shaft. This eliminates friction along the shaft and makes it much easier to push in and more importantly easier to feel glass targets before you break them struggling to force the probe through the dirt. Ironically I discovered metal detecting using a detector to find trash pits and simply discovered a better hobby instead! Plus I was tired of probeing my A#$ off then digging 4 foot deep targets,plus try getting permission to open a giant pit in someones yard! Good luck finding more, pontiles are the holy grail for us bottle junkies!

OK, anybody willing to explain more about the spring steel that is in the truck lids of older cars? How old does the car have to be? Which make and model? Are they already straight? Please spill the beans cause I'd like a probe but am too tight to buy one from a manufacturer. Thank you.

 

[relic lover]

OK any 60s or 70s large car with a trunk is good. The wider the car the longer the rods open the trunk under the space between the rear window and the trunk opening there are 2 spring steel rods with a bend at each end attached to the trunk lid hinges. do yourself a favor and prop up the lid first, if you are real strong you can flex them out I have done it this way but it is real tough. from then on I used a cordless sawsall! please use extreme caution! they are under twisting tension! sometimes when a car is crushed they are already loose so try that first. in any case this can be dangerous work and don't forget they are the only thing holding up the lid!