My first and last EPIC 19th century privy dig

smokeythecat

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Yes, it is my first one. I found the remnants of a tiny privy in VA a few years ago, and got some few CW items out of it. The glass was already gone, but I got some minies, a belt keeper and other stuff.

Tommybuckets found a deeply buried iron kettle, which he didn't recover at one of my permissions last week. I had told him previously what a privy looks like, the dirt, that is and I went back the next day to dig 'er up. About 12" down I started running into broken clear glass medicine bottles, LOTS of them and then MORE broken ca 1880-1890 stoneware dishes. As these dishes can still be purchased whole inexpensively I didn't keep any but a few with the maker's name on the bottom to give to the landowners. The folks who own the land will get some nice bottles this week, as soon as everything is done being cleaned up.

I wound up digging 4 days, having to fill in the hole each day. An old cat can't dig all that much. I was digging through a lot of junk and then out pops two (I suppose) opium bottles. They are tiny, hence the give away that was what they were used for. Ca 1880.

IMG_2408 (1).webp I was stoked! I rarely dig old bottles of any kind! Then, out comes this little guy!IMG_2409 (1).webp

So after some more digging I see what I believe is an amber flask peeping out of the hole. IMG_2411.webp And another pic.IMG_2414.webp And finally out it comes in perfect condition! An amber strap sided flask with odd pontil mark, ca 1870's. IMG_2415 (1).webp And here she is all cleaned up! IMG_2441.webp

That ended the first day. The second day I dug back to where I had finished. By now I had a 5 gallon bucket of broken pottery and glass. Now far from the bottle I pulled some nice medicine bottles 1870's-1890's.IMG_2435.webpIMG_2436.webp

I had found a lot of broken pieces to fruit jars and finally got lucky! Mason's patent 1858!IMG_2447.webp As I got deeper, I found three magnificent ink bottles! IMG_2440.webp In the picture is a traveling ink, with sheared top, my first one ever! An "umbrella" ink with crude glasswork and a J&IEM turtle or igloo ink bottle. These were patented 1865. I'm not getting closer to the CW ear stuff. I had to quit for the day and put all kids of chairs and tools in the hole to keep anyone from falling in it.

The third day was a real bonanza! IMG_2444.webpIMG_2445.webp
IMG_2446.webp

All three pieces are CW period or earlier. The smaller green bottle is a CW beer bottle. The larger one an Ellenville Glass Works whiskey (I think it had whiskey), and I have found bottoms to these bottles on CW camp sites. The jug is nearly identical to one I already had. It is probably 1820-1840 period. I found a couple CW period marbles in the hole, some leather, no coins. No buttons. Although 1' from the hole after the hard rain I found a dropped CS Gardner minie ball! I have some stuff in the truck uncleaned still including some brass items

I found a lot of shards also:IMG_2431.webpIMG_2432.webp
IMG_2433.webp Redware with green manganese glaze on it, blue glazed stoneware jug pieces, 1870's yellowware pieces The redware is probably 1840's or so and the jug 1850's to 1860's. The blue feather edge is probably 1820's to 1850's. I find these on CW sites. There is also a piece of 1880's or so flo blue china there. I'm giving the decorative pieces to the owners.

Last bottle of the dig is one we got yesterday. 1890's medicine bottle from an upper layer we had left before.IMG_2434.webp
 

Upvote 76
Smokey,

Outstanding hunt, especially your pre-Civil War bottles. The jug looks really interesting. Good luck with your hunts. Walt
 

Holy S##t Smokey ! Yes pun intended because of the privy. Those are some great looking old glass bottles. Congrats on that entire batch.
 

Thanks. I am giving the big iron pot to my friends who own the farm. They are also getting all the decorative pot and china pieces you see and a couple bottles. Only one bottle had a tiny rim chip. Some just fell out of the sidewall and like the flask I had to very carefully pry it out. Lots of work for an old toad. The early red ware jug has a series of tiny wear type chips especially on the bottom. More cleaning to do and will either apply mineral oil to some to repolish them or buff them.
 

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Nice!! I love that mason jar!!!! Great job smoke!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Nice grouping of finds! As far as age I’d say most are 1870-1890. The inks as well . The amber flask is of approximately the same age and Iam thinking and without seeing a photo you are not looking at a pontil mark. By the end of the civil war and even earlier the use of pontil rods in the bottle making process was well on its way out . The ale/ whiskey type bottles and the jug are likely the earliest finds and we’re probably the stuff they threw out when the cleaned out the barn. The privy you found seems like a later one and if you suspect more get a probe and check nearby. My guess if it is a small property maybe older privies await. Normally in town they were “dipped” but many times after a few years the homeowner just dug another and lined them with stone or brick . Now go look for the old pontiled stuff it may be closer than you think.
 

Gaspipe, this is embarrassing. We STILL can't find the house. Vferrari was with us with his big GPX looking for it and the only deep iron signals were plow parts. This privy was not lined. It was also not all that big, although two people could fit in it no problems. I have seen them 10' deep on the tube!

We found nothing post 1900. No crown cork sealed bottles, and also no sodas or torpedo style bottles. No snuffs. The two green ones and the redware are 1860's as we find those exact ones on my CW sites.
 

Killer bottle Score!!! Congrats!!! Old Stuff!!!
 

Looks like that was well worth the effort. Is the Ellenville Glass Works a three piece mold with the name on the base and "patent" on the shoulder? They were whiskeys and I have seen them come out of CW huts and trash pits. I dug a similar Dyottville Glass Works out of a fire pit at Stoneman's Switch during a DIV hunt.
 

Nice! That is a great haul
 

That's a great pit for recoveries Smokey, not an easy for anyone that a few yrs under their belt.
Liking the pink and the turtle/Igloo inks top shelf finds.
Have found similar vile type bottles the one that you might think it's Opium. Not sure if it was a pill/powder/liquid drug bottle have dug them in the 1880-5 railway construction camps.
What we always referred the opium viles were thick 1.5" long aqua coloured with sheared off tops.
Are all the bottles polished pontils or are there any open rough pontils in the lot?
Example of what I was referring to.
20201204_132006.webp
 

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Gaspipe, this is embarrassing. We STILL can't find the house. Vferrari was with us with his big GPX looking for it and the only deep iron signals were plow parts. This privy was not lined. It was also not all that big, although two people could fit in it no problems. I have seen them 10' deep on the tube!

We found nothing post 1900. No crown cork sealed bottles, and also no sodas or torpedo style bottles. No snuffs. The two green ones and the redware are 1860's as we find those exact ones on my CW sites.

Often farm privies were shallow and unlined since space was not an issue as it would have been in town where lots were small. So fact is in your case there may not be any others . That’s the reason of all the colonial cellars I’ve been too I’ve never found a real privy ; they were there but just set in a flat spot with a shallow hole . Spots to put them
we’re not a problem so they likely just moved the privy hut and dug another pit. As far as bottles etc they just emptied them over a stream bank or ravine . That is why it’s nearly impossible to find intact bottles at old sites.’After 40 years of digging the only consistent way to find really old glass is by digging city lot privies or by getting lucky at a construction site. However my best pontiled bottles came out of a small river that ran through the middle of a little town ; they just threw the garbage out the back door right into the stream. The bottles mostly stayed intact and were buried under the silt. I found some valuable stuff at that site. The waste piping for each house just came out the foundation right into
the water . Imagine doing that today!
 

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Now my envy meter just went up!! Congrats very nice dig!
 

Steve in Pa, both green bottles were from a 3 piece mold. The Ellenville does not have the word "patent" on it that I can see. Calabash, I wore the skin off my fingers! And the back of my hands. Nothing had an open pontil.
 

I am drooling. LOL. That’s an excellent dig! Great job, Smokeythecat!
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And in the midst of all this I changed the thermostat in my Impala and the oil in my Equinox. Hands really did take a beating.
 

Thanks for the pictures and the descriptions of you days out there...
Almost (but not quite) as good as being there with you guys!
 

If my cat grows teeth like that I'm going to be very afraid!
 

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Congrats on this great haul, Smokey. Three intact ink bottles in one hole is amazing.

The house site has to be close. If the old plow pieces are concentrated in one spot, could that be the location of a foundation?
 

Meg, I think it's under the road or right next to it, which means it's been dozed. Maybe on the little overlook in front of the road. If that gpx couldn't find it...
 

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