Just within reach! Nice Cobalt, Inks and Ginger Beers

[jgas]

Hello all,

It's been a bit since our last post but we finally got back out and did a bit of digging for treasures. So I went ahead and tried to take a picture of the tip of the probe. Its a bit blurry but I think you can see the darker soil on the very tip. The probe is close to 6 feet long and I barely was able to reach the very top of the night soil or use layer. So we went ahead and did a quick test hole to get the probe a bit deeper. Whalla! GLASS and so the dig would happen the following day as the sun was setting on this day.

So we arrived at around 8 am to start the dig. Big Don was goofing off so I captured his spirit in the moment After cutting the grass away and the dig began I had a strange feeling for this pit. It just seemed older and of course we were hoping for some 1880's goodies. So we blasted through to the 6 foot level without a trace of glass. Just some layers of ash and dark soil in between the sand fill layers. A good sign that it had not been dug Don was approaching the 6 and a half foot layer when we heard his shovel finally strike some glass and pottery. Yahoooooo!! Now the fun began. Time to take it slow until we see the first bottle or base to see what kind of age we were looking at. It teased us for a bit with just tops with barely a neck to see the seem marks. So on we dug and finally Don scraped away to see a Ginger Stoneware Beer. Not just one but several. So he pulled those out and then another stoneware bottle came to light! A nice mineral water from Nassau. Just a flake off the bottom kept this from being perfect. Now you know I kicked him out of the pit and jumped at the chance to unearth some goodies. It was obvious now that we were looking at a late 1870's privy. It was loaded with plate glass and stoneware items. Then a blasted medicine. A Stewart Howe Blood Purifier. Just needed to locate a whole one. Well just a few minutes later out pops a Stewart Howe Arabian Milk Cure. The first whole bottle and hinge mold.

So I kept plugging away and next to the wall , or what was left of it, and out pops an absolutely beautiful cobalt medicine. At first I thought it was a Sanfords radical cure, but then I was greatly surprised to see the one side panel. Dr. Chaussier's! the other side panel was embossed with Empress. Never saw one of these before so we were excited. Had to look that one up in one of my books. Come to find out it was for the hair. Maybe a dye or a medicine type deal. Priced quite high too at $150. Scoooooore As I was handing this to Don and he of course was begging to get back in the hole, I came across a very small bottle that has embossing of JOB MOSES. Another new find for us! Come to find out that this was an early abortion pill. Guess I never knew people didn't want kids sometimes even back in the 1870's. Kinda sad really. A nice little bottle to end my search. Don was back in and located a broken cone ink, then the trifecta inks. LH Thomas on two of them and the turtle ink are killer finds in one pit. So thats about it from the depths. Just barely in reach at first with the probes and it ended quite well. Hope you enjoy the few pictures I took. Oh yeah, the pepper sauce is cracked. That was a neat bottle too. Oh well, we got some keepers out of it and hope to get back to that yard real soon. Just gotta take a longer probe! Take care and always be careful out there. jgas

 

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[epackage]

Nice dig, congrats, been a while is right...

 

[Goldenplug]

Great job guys!

 

[digging440yrs]

Love em all, but that cobalt blue and the pepper sauce are beauty's

 

[Bass]

Great to hear from you jgas. Nice to find some intact ginger beers. When you find those in the top of the pit it gets exciting. The inks are great and so is the Job Moses. I didn't realize they were selling that type of potion in those days. That milk cure is a great looking bottle and great find. But that cobalt is the cream of the crop on this dig. She's a real beauty! Sorry about the pepper sauce. With those long necks it's a miracle we find any of those whole if you think about it. Did you run across much broken glass? How about slicks, find any? I've been pondering about a longer probe and would like to get my hands on a 7-8 footer. Great post and wishing you continued success. Thanks for the photos.

 

[jgas]

Hey Bass, there were hardly any slicks. Most things were embossed which is highly unusual. There were several stoneware plates and chamber pots too but they were broken. Yeah, you get kinda excited when you see a pile of stoneware beers right at the top of the use layer. It was a fun pit for sure. I think we are done on that property though and hope to search the one right next door. Both on the Sanborn maps and pretty old. jgas

 

[Bellwoodboys]

I'd say that was a VERY successful dig! Love the stonewares and the peppersauce.

 

[MuckyBottles]

I'm going to be the oddball and say that I love the igloo ink..nice digs!

 

[basque-man]

Those are some nice ones!!!

 

[geo4472]

very nice finds

 

[sunrunner]

looks like you work in a blast furnace . good luck.