On The Edge

sodetraveler · Mar 6, 2012

After much fruitless digging about I finally stumbled upon a good deposit of trash dating from the 1870's to 1915 :hello2:

I was out carefully making my way through the poison oak when I noticed an old drinking glass sticking out of the ground. I figured that it was as good a place as any to dig a test hole, although it was only 3 feet from the edge of a cliff!

The vertical drop was only about 10 feet, but the slide underneath was another 30 feet of 60 degree slope with boulders at the bottom. A survivable fall, but escaping without broken bones would be difficult.

There was a tree right on the edge with it's roots sticking out into space, so I put my back against it and started digging up slope. More drinking glasses appeared - all broken - along with some china. Then the first bottle popped out - right on the edge! I almost lost it over the cliff, but managed to grab it just in time.

It was a small clear tooled lip medicine, nothing great, but at least I wasn't going home empty handed

The next bottle to pop out was a real keeper! A 5 oz. whiskey flask embossed "The Waldorf Cafes" - plus allot of other stuff (see the picture). It had the date 1915 clearly embossed on the front and a bit of research verified that the company was established in 1914. It's hand blown with a tooled top, so any newer and it would be machined :tongue3:

A couple of small ABM jars came out of the same layer, but it looked like another layer was developing about 2 feet deeper......

Suddenly there was an aqua medicine sticking out down deep and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had an applied top and a key mold seam on the base. Too bad it wasn't embossed, but it WAS old! :headbang:

I had to quit after that, but I'm going back to hit it again as soon as I'm able - maybe tonight? :wink:

epackage · Mar 6, 2012

I can officially throw out my glasses... 8)

sodetraveler · Mar 7, 2012

Hit the spot again last night for a couple of hours. Lots of rusty cans and broken Ball Mason jars, but very few bottles

Everything on the right side of the hole where I was digging looks to be 1915ish. Unfortunately, this means that some of the stuff is ABM - and all the stuff I found was indeed just that.

I did find a cool old light bulb though. I've found these behind my mom's place in Hilo,HI before, but this is the first one that still had the markings on it. It says NATIONAL MAZDA along with the old GE logo. Check it out!

PikesPeakCharlie · Mar 7, 2012

Looks like your havin fun :icon_thumright:

Like that 1915 whiskey :icon_thumright:

I find those light bulbs quite often here in Colo also some with different writing and have found some with a piece of paper on the inside stem that had writing on it as well. Keep diggin !

gleaner1 · Mar 8, 2012

Man that is a nice little embossed booze from Ca. :icon_thumleft:

jgas · Mar 11, 2012

The whiskey may fetch some $$, thats a cool one. I have a bottle that has Waldorf Astoria Gin embossed on it. Cool finds, congrats :thumbsup:

jgas

sodetraveler · Mar 12, 2012

Hit this spot again this weekend and tried to focus on the left side of the hole where the older stuff had come out.

I was rewarded with a very cool local chemist/pharmacy bottle and a small amber medicine :hello2:

Here are some pictures:

PikesPeakCharlie · Mar 12, 2012

Sweet SF Pharmacy bottle !!!!!! :headbang:

Keep diggin,dig,dig,dig

PikesPeakCharlie · Mar 12, 2012

P.S. Look at your toothbrushes, we have found a few of them through the years with with local druggist/pharmacy names on them.

sodetraveler · Mar 12, 2012

PikesPeakCharlie said:
P.S. Look at your toothbrushes, we have found a few of them through the years with with local druggist/pharmacy names on them.

Thanks for reminding me! :notworthy:

It does have writing on it, but I forgot to read it in all the excitement over my first local med. I'll most certainly pull it out and find what it says when I get home......or I could just go digging instead! :headbang:

I'll let you know what it says tomorrow.......

PikesPeakCharlie · Mar 12, 2012

sodetraveler said:
PikesPeakCharlie said:

P.S. Look at your toothbrushes, we have found a few of them through the years with with local druggist/pharmacy names on them.

Click to expand...

Thanks for reminding me!

It does have writing on it, but I forgot to read it in all the excitement over my first local med. I'll most certainly pull it out and find what it says when I get home......or I could just go digging instead!

I'll let you know what it says tomorrow.......

SCREW the toothbrush !!!! GO diggin !!!!!! find another nice druggists. Most of the toothbrush's we find are from France, But have found some from a couple of druggists in Cripple Creek. Waiting to see/hear what ya dug today.

sodetraveler · Mar 13, 2012

PikesPeakCharlie said:
SCREW the toothbrush !!!! GO diggin !!!!!! find another nice druggists. Most of the toothbrush's we find are from France, But have found some from a couple of druggists in Cripple Creek. Waiting to see/hear what ya dug today.

You nailed that one! :notworthy:

The toothbrush has "THE MERRICK" printed in large letters and then "XXXPONTXX" and "FRANCE" printed in tiny letters (the "X"s represent illegible letters)......

Last night we had a big storm blowing in and several large tree branches fell on my back deck

I figured that it probably wasn't the best night to be digging alone on the edge of a cliff under large trees. Then there's the nasty case of poisoin oak I got last time I dug there that hasn't cleared up yet - and the fact my wife forbid me to dig this week! :BangHead: