Just within reach! Nice Cobalt, Inks and Ginger Beers

jgas · Aug 3, 2015

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. :headbang:

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 :laughing7:

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 :tongue3:

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. :laughing7:

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 :headbang:

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. :BangHead:

So on we dug and finally Don scraped away to see a Ginger Stoneware Beer. Not just one but several. 8-)

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. :hello2:

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. :BangHead:

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. :icon_thumright:

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! :icon_thumleft:

the other side panel was embossed with Empress. Never saw one of these before so we were excited. :headbang:

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 :tongue3:

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. :icon_scratch:

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. :hello2:

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. :BangHead:

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

pepperj · Aug 3, 2015

Love the glass! Great cobalt and gingers, never heard of a Job Moses, and what's there not to like a about the inks. Great digging.

ajaj · Aug 3, 2015

Wow, for some reason, I love the Job Moses! Tell us more about it when you research it.

aj

texjim · Aug 3, 2015

Awesome glass..

Brother Al · Aug 3, 2015

That's a wonderful day for bottles.. Are there more privy's on the property?

sutphin · Aug 3, 2015

JGAS I HAVE THE SAME EXACT IGLOO SOMETIMES CALLED TURTLE 1865 TO 1900S INK WELL IN PIC 11 . MAN YOU GOT SOME NICE BOTTLES AND INKS.

treasurehunter313 · Aug 3, 2015

That's awesome

RelicHunter97 · Aug 3, 2015

I'd love to dig a privy someday! Awesome bottles!

okerraine · Aug 4, 2015

Killer bots you got. I keep finding privies that have been dipped and reused over and over.

cjon455 · Aug 4, 2015

those are some great bottles, im not much of a bottle guy but man those inks are great!

46Wheat · Aug 4, 2015

I love the old bottles . Most of the ones I find are byproducts of cellar hole digging but I love every whole one I find

Pacivilwarluke · Aug 4, 2015

Very cool! Privy digging is something I haven't done in awhile, it's a blast! That job Moses is intersting, learn something new everyday!

jgas · Aug 4, 2015

Thanks for the replies everyone. That Job Moses bottle is a Sir James Clark's female pills to induce a miscarriage. Crazy stuff. Job Moses was the sole proprietor or agent for James Clark. Sounds sick but I guess this pit had hair dye and a way to get rid of a kid. Sad. There were only a couple slicks in the pit. Most things were embossed. I would say a fairly good amount of stoneware plates as well. There were a couple of chamber pots in it as well but the were smashed as usual. Thanks again for the replies. jgas