My First Bottle Dig... Not Bad!

FoxHound0985 · Jul 26, 2011

Hello all,

I decided to brave the heat and get out and do some digging! I have been reading a lot of posts lately that deal with privy digging, and it got my interest up. After talking to jgas and doing some other research, I figured it was time to try my hand at it. I went to a site that I've been hunting for the last few years and talked to the owner. He gave me the go ahead and even told me where to look. He said that he was digging a trench for a pipe and ran into a bunch of broken glass. He showed me where he found it and I began probing. I could feel the broken glass scraping the probe after only a couple of inches, so I didn't think it could be that old. I started digging and immediately began finding broken mason jar and china pieces. My confidence was restored once I found the bottom of a pontiled wine bottle! After a foot or so I started finding more broken jar pieces that were of the 1858 type. It wasn't long before I found my first bottle of the dig! It's a nice bottle marked "John C. Baker & Co. Cod Liver Oil" and "Philadelphia"! Too bad the top is broken off

. Next came an interesting find... a parasol handle! I'm not sure what it's made of though. It appears to be carved, but it's extremely light for it's size. Anyway, a little digging and a gallon of sweat later I pulled out a complete medicine bottle and lightning rod (?) insulator. I was extremely worn out by this time, so I decided it was time to fill in the hole. All in all I found the two bottles, parasol handle, insulator, a hand full of broken crystal goblets, a bunch of broken crocks (the lady is working on gluing them back together), and a TON of broken glass and china (around 100 pounds worth)! Once I was done filling in the hole, the owner came to me and told me that he knows where the other privys were! I told him that it will have to wait for another day, lol. I don't believe that I was actually digging in a privy because of the soil color, and the pit was only about three feet deep. The house at the site was built in 1875, but the original house on the property was built in 1805! I will definitely be back! Thanks for looking, HH, and thanks again for the help jgas!

Teddi14 · Jul 26, 2011

Very cool. I have a number of bottles and glass that I have found over the years. I love glass.

Teddi
http://www.squidoo.com/teddi

ncsilverspider · Jul 26, 2011

Man, that looks like some good, hopefully, bottle infested ground! I would thourghly check every inch of that place! Congrats on the nice medicine and good luck!

Troyounce · Jul 26, 2011

Not bad at all!! :icon_thumleft:

EagleDown · Jul 27, 2011

Nice finds. It appears that you might have been digging a "trash pit" rather than a privy. Sometimes used for non-burnables. (Had one as a kid.) :laughing7:

The parasol handle is interesting as more expensive ones quite often had carved bone or ivory handles. Not sure, but this one appears to be bone.

Lot of work digging a privy, but usually the rewards are well worth it. Especially in an area such as you seem to have found.

Eagle

romeo-1 · Jul 27, 2011

Nice finds...looks like ivory.

FoxHound0985 · Jul 27, 2011

EagleDown said:
Nice finds. It appears that you might have been digging a "trash pit" rather than a privy. Sometimes used for non-burnables. (Had one as a kid.)

The parasol handle is interesting as more expensive ones quite often had carved bone or ivory handles. Not sure, but this one appears to be bone.

Lot of work digging a privy, but usually the rewards are well worth it. Especially in an area such as you seem to have found.

Eagle

That's what I figured. It was far too shallow to be a privy. Next step is to actually locate them. The owner told me he knows where the privys are, so hopefully it won't be too difficult. I think those might have to wait for a cooler day, lol.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

BuckleBoy · Jul 28, 2011

That isn't very deep that you dug, and there were some good finds right on top. But let me tell you, the best goodies are in the Bottom of the privy pit--which can be 8-12 feet down.

Is the parasol handle ivory?

allen · Jul 28, 2011

hit those privies when its a bit cooler.
Dont have a heat stroke out there.

FoxHound0985 · Jul 28, 2011

BuckleBoy said:
That isn't very deep that you dug, and there were some good finds right on top. But let me tell you, the best goodies are in the Bottom of the privy pit--which can be 8-12 feet down.

Is the parasol handle ivory?

BB,

I'm not sure what it's made of. It looks like ivory, but is extremely light. I've showed it to a couple of other people, and they say ivory. Anyway, I dug this stuff at the mansion that we used to frequent. Mr. F said that he knows where another outhouse was, but it was being used by the family before they moved in the house in 1941. I don't know if it would even be worth digging if it was being used in the 40s. Any thoughts?

It's good to hear from you!

BuckleBoy · Aug 16, 2011

PinFire said:
BuckleBoy said:

That isn't very deep that you dug, and there were some good finds right on top. But let me tell you, the best goodies are in the Bottom of the privy pit--which can be 8-12 feet down.

Is the parasol handle ivory?

Click to expand...

BB,

I'm not sure what it's made of. It looks like ivory, but is extremely light. I've showed it to a couple of other people, and they say ivory. Anyway, I dug this stuff at the mansion that we used to frequent. Mr. F said that he knows where another outhouse was, but it was being used by the family before they moved in the house in 1941. I don't know if it would even be worth digging if it was being used in the 40s. Any thoughts?

It's good to hear from you!

It might be worth hitting it. I wouldn't turn it down if the site is old, the pit may have been dipped and there may be an early bottle hiding in the bottom. But my main concern is how deep you dug on this pit. Doesn't seem that you got down to a soil color change, or anywhere close to the bottom of it. Do you think you hit bottom? I hate to see folks get cheated out of great finds, and I'm just trying to help here.

Best Wishes,

Buck

Kiros32 · Aug 17, 2011

Congrats on your first privy man! But be warned.... you will get addicted!

relic lover · Aug 17, 2011

I have always wanted to dig a privy but being 6'4" and 350lbs it is an impossible dream so I stick to dumps and detecting. Good luck keep at it!

jgas · Aug 17, 2011

Okay, nice start there. But yes, by all means probe that hole as you go down. Keep feeling for the changes in soil, the glass or bricks that were tossed in. If you find marbles or doll heads then you know you are in the right place. The boys used the marbles to shoot at the bottles in the toilet and the boys also tossed the girls doll head in there when they were mad at sis. Once you probe down a bit more and hit a privy you will find seeds, especially if you are finding Mason Jars(1858's). Keep at it and great finds so far. Looks like a shoe polish bottle you have there by the way. :thumbsup:

jgas

FoxHound0985 · Aug 17, 2011

BuckleBoy said:
PinFire said:

BuckleBoy said:

That isn't very deep that you dug, and there were some good finds right on top. But let me tell you, the best goodies are in the Bottom of the privy pit--which can be 8-12 feet down.

Is the parasol handle ivory?

Click to expand...

BB,

I'm not sure what it's made of. It looks like ivory, but is extremely light. I've showed it to a couple of other people, and they say ivory. Anyway, I dug this stuff at the mansion that we used to frequent. Mr. F said that he knows where another outhouse was, but it was being used by the family before they moved in the house in 1941. I don't know if it would even be worth digging if it was being used in the 40s. Any thoughts?

It's good to hear from you!

Click to expand...

It might be worth hitting it. I wouldn't turn it down if the site is old, the pit may have been dipped and there may be an early bottle hiding in the bottom. But my main concern is how deep you dug on this pit. Doesn't seem that you got down to a soil color change, or anywhere close to the bottom of it. Do you think you hit bottom? I hate to see folks get cheated out of great finds, and I'm just trying to help here.

Best Wishes,

Buck

BB,

I think I got to the bottom of it. There was no more glass to be found and the "floor" was rock hard compared to the rest of the pit. I'm pretty sure it was just a trash pit. It was literally 15 feet or so from the kitchen door. We tried probing for the privy where the owner told us, but could not find it. There has been 80 years or so of cows trampling the area, so the ground is like cement. As I am still new at privy digging, what am I supposed to be looking or feeling for while probing the ground? Will it be softer where the privy once was?

jgas said:
Okay, nice start there. But yes, by all means probe that hole as you go down. Keep feeling for the changes in soil, the glass or bricks that were tossed in. If you find marbles or doll heads then you know you are in the right place. The boys used the marbles to shoot at the bottles in the toilet and the boys also tossed the girls doll head in there when they were mad at sis. Once you probe down a bit more and hit a privy you will find seeds, especially if you are finding Mason Jars(1858's). Keep at it and great finds so far. Looks like a shoe polish bottle you have there by the way. jgas

Thanks jgas! We are planning to give it another trip to the spot sometime soon to try again. Last time we spent an hour probing and could not find the privy. Hopefully we'll have better luck this time. Also, do you know of anyone who actually makes and sells the probes? We have been using soft steel rods that seem to bend every time we push them in the ground.

Take care and HH!

jgas · Aug 17, 2011

Hey try to do the probing after a nice heavy rain. That will help a bunch when probing and wont kill your arms so fast. I got my probes from this place:

http://schlattersinc.com/

They are reasonable and ship quickly. Hope that helps a bit more.

jgas