5-29-05

Permissions have been tighter than bark on a tree. I barely got a permission put together for this week's dig. After a bunch of firm "no's" , I finally got a "yes." But, it will cost me a lawn mow. The guy started talking about how it wasn't going to benefit him in anyway if I were to dig. So I twisted his arm with the lawn mow promise.

Anyway, I got there a little before Steve and had three pits located. Two were on the property and the other was actually in the neighbor's yard close to the lot line.

Steve walked up and I greeted him mid yard. He shuttered a little and said, "There is a pit right here, I can feel it." I don't know how he does it, but indeed there was a pit there. I felt pretty good knowing it wasn't quite 7am and we would have a full days digging in front of us.

We decided to pick the best feeling one to start with. It didn't probe stellar, it just felt a little better than the others. It was right next to a young tree, and the root mass fought us down the first foot. First bottle out was a bunk screw top. Our hopes sunk a little. Then, Steve pulls out a broken Warner's Safe Cure.

About three feet down the stuff really started to show. Quite a bit of pottery, broken sauce bottles, buttons, and little perfumes. I spied the top of a sauce and it sure looked amber. I gave it a little tug and it easily pulled out because it was sheered off a couple inches from the lip. I held it up and it looked black. Steve took it and cleaned it up and held it to the sun and said, "Dude, it is dark amethyst!" Which really doesn't matter cause it is broken. Why is the best stuff always broken? A little latter I found yet another sheered off similar top. Dang the luck.

Steve was up for a bit before I got back in. I was rooting around for little and spied yet another perfume top. I was completely shocked when I pulled on this one and it came out whole. Sweet tall 70s smooth base perfume it a deep shade of amethyst. Finally our crap streak has been broken.

As found Dave Color

Steve was riding the streak for all it was worth and spotted an aqua blob soda nestled in the debris. He snapped the obligatory "as found" and wiped it off to reveal a Gray's Celebrated Soda Water. Gray's is still in business today. I just happened to pick us up a couple cream sodas the night before.

Gray's Steve-0 Old and new school

I got in next and it didn't take long to also find a blob soda. I couldn't see any writing. Buddy Steve leans over and says," Maybe it is a Coburn and Eaton." I laughed, it is bottler that doesn't have known bottles. I wiped it off and chuckled. It was a Eaton & Green from Watertown, Wis. I swear he is psychic.

Blob soda peeking

I finished up my turn and Steve jumped in. He saw a flash of cobalt on one of his swipes. This one ended up being a Sanfords Radical Cure. He stayed in for a little longer and ended up find a 1/2 Pint Hemmings advertising flask.

cobalt Sanfords

Steve with a 4/8 Hemming's Wholesale Wines and Liquors advertiser.

Very good dig!

The second hole was in the corner. It had half a dozen pipes, slick coffin flasks, and ten slick hair bottles. I started to fill it in. Steve took off to talk to the neighbor about digging the one that was over the lot line. He wasn't gone to long when another neighbor walked into the yard wondering what we were doing. He gave us permission to check his yard, as well as the guy Steve went to talk to. Like I mentioned, we knew there was a pit there so we didn't need to waste anytime probing started. I have never seen a pit this narrow. It was a little over four feet deep, five feet long, and only two feet wide. It to contained many bottles. A Gray's hutch came out, a Hostetter's Stomach Bitters, Payne's Celery Compound, and a bunch of Chicago Whiskeys.

#2 ready to fill in

Start of three, very small back yard.

Minnie advertising jug w/blue glazing from pit #3 To faint to read!

Before we had this one done, the rain really kicked in. We found two more spots in this guy's yard. They were under a garage and would be a pain to get at. We had found another pit next to the other guy's garage. This one would be bad because the rain coming off the garage roof was dripping dead center on the pit. I left it up to Steve which one we would do. He picked the soaker.

Pit #4 was a deep bugger and too contained lots of bottles. We found many blobs, including quart ambers and a half gallon, only to wipe them off to find no embossing. Some embossed bottles from here included: Chicago whiskeys, Duffy's Malt Whiskey, Buob Brewing, and an unembossed snail ink.

Victorian snail ink without the holder