Trials of a privy digger

[jgas]

Hello all treasure hunters,
Got out on the pre spring morning to check out some new locations for digs. Been eyeballing this area and researching all winter and now starts the hunting and digging. This area had around 35 houses dating back to the 1880s or earlier. Probed out a spot and started to toss the dirt. Lots of the area is cross crossed with buried lines, cable, gas and unknown stuff so ya gotta have it all marked and still be careful. So I dig pretty slow just to make sure I don’t hit anything.
Got down and hit some leftover pieces of coal and some 1930s milk glass and perfumes. Not really what I want to see but even bottles from that era are designed kinda cool. Got down to around 4 feet and hit something hard. Turned out to be a sewer or water drain pipe with the elbow right in the middle of the pit. Ugh not good. And still a couple of 1920s pieces. So I figure this is a bust. But I probed again and still felt a layer under the pipe. When I broke through the layer and saw a piece of an 1890 beer. Yoo-hoo the pit turned the corner to the 1800s. Glad I didn’t give up. Knowing at least I had a chance to find some keepers. Found about 10 blob beers that were all broke but then one in the middle of the pile laying flat had a chance. I pulled it out and saw that it was whole amber and a pretty rare one. I’ve never seen in shard in all my years of digging. Yeaaaaah!!!! Turned out to be a Chas. Schmidt. Perfect with no cracks or chips. Pulled out a huge blank bottle right under the pipe as well. Maybe an oil bottle ? Found a nice jaw bone from a pig or boar and a couple small local meds as well. Even pulled out a cool blue Bennington marble and some glass buttons. Sure am glad I kept going through all that ABM stuff and scored a good one. Be safe out there everyone. Keep on Digging. Jgas

 

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[devldog]

Your perseverance paid off. Well Done.

 

[Gulf Coast Pirate]

Nice bottle!

 

[glass half fool]

How about that Schmidt bottle I bet it will be a dandy once it is cleaned up .Thanks for posting As usual you find some real gems .

 

[tamrock]

I once read a story in one of the treasure magazines back in the early early 80s I guess it would be. They had a story of a pirvy digger and it told about all his finds and techniques on locating a privy site. It even mentioned a couple of fellas, who posed as being from a utility department showing up with a backhoe at an old occupied residential home and telling the residents they suspect a busted water main somewhere on their property and then commence digging up the old privy site for treasures. They finally got arrested I guess. One of the more interesting finds the fella who the story was about was that he found a solid ivory dildo from the Victorian age. You have wonder on finds such as that. 🤭

 

[pepperj]

Well done on the nice recovery.
One has to wonder what the utility companies dig up while doing the installations.

 

[NJKLAGT]

Loved that big ol' jar from your last dig and here you got another one! Weird how oddities come up in waves like that sometimes. Awesome beer too!

 

[villagenut]

I would have been fooled into thinking I had a huge stoneware crock if I had started to uncover that sewer pipe in the sidewall.....would nothave been the first time neither. Thanks for sharing your trials, I needed a boost

 

[UnderMiner]

Nice! Love circle slug blob tops!

 

[dognose]

nice finds.