Home 2003 Stories 2004 Stories 2005 Dig Stories

 

9-11-05

     It was 7am and we had a stone liner marked out in front of us. With cautious optimism we started to open her up. You see, these stoneys are either good or bad. They are old, but there is a 50/50 chance they were scooped out and contain newer bottles.

9-11-05orbs.jpg (53096 bytes) Have you seen "Ghost Hunters" on TV? Check out the orbs of energy flying out of Steve. LOL

     On the way down to the layer, a juicy deep aqua shard would show. Making us believe this one wasn't scooped. The pit was pretty loaded and 8' deep. An open pontil Farrell's Arabian Liniment, DE HAEN'S / ACID / CARBOLIC, and a couple iron and open pontil shards on the bottom proved it was scooped out until the 1890s. Dang Honey Dippers!  We also got a nice Congress Water and cobalt GWH.

9-11-05pontil.jpg (157532 bytes) Open pontil bottles

9-11-05carbolic.jpg (159750 bytes) OP De Haens Acid Carbolic

9-11-05farrell's.jpg (163755 bytes) OP Farrell's Arabian Liniment

9-11-05dave1.jpg (115009 bytes)    

9-11-05congress.jpg (73844 bytes) Congress Water

9-11-05take1.jpg (100387 bytes) Plenty of stuff to check out

    There was a little excitement next door when we got done filling in the pit. A couple cops were investigating a domestic dispute. We decided to wait to dig until they left. So, we started to do a little metal detecting. I was coming by the back porch and about got whiplash doing a double take at a blob beer laying under the porch. Plain view, slugplate showing. We had both been by it countless times that day and on a previous day! It was a Oldorff & Co Chicago. Easiest blob I have ever found.

9-11-05oldorfasfound.jpg (67132 bytes) No joke, that Oldorff Chicago Blob was sitting right there!

9-11-05takeoldorrclose.jpg (96032 bytes) Oldorff a little closer

      The cops left a little later and we opened another pit. Knowing the stoney was the oldest we didn't have much enthusiasm. We got half way down and quit. There weren't a lot of bottles and the ones we found were pretty new.

     We switch neighborhoods and headed for another permission.  We found a pit that felt pretty promising only to get down to the  thin layer and find the "bottle clunks" were danged stones. Steve jumped in a moved some dirt for a while. He knew I need a little cheering up and told me he had a cobalt, open pontil square bottle on the run. I laughed and he said it was a Hostetter but couldn't see the embossing. Believe me, I was totally elated when he pulled it out and it ended up being a Geo W Bicknell's/Tonic/Stomach Bitters! Which was the only whole, embossed bottle in the pit.

9-11-05Stevepit2.jpg (121825 bytes) Steve starting in the second yard

9-11-05bicknell asfound.jpg (120686 bytes) Geo W Bicknell's Bitters as found

9-11-05stevebicknell.jpg (80668 bytes) Steve with the obligatory trophy pose

9-11-05bicknell.jpg (98395 bytes) Close up

 

    We filled it in and the hunt was on for the other pits in the yard. This one was from the 70s. There had to be some 90ish pits some where.  I started down on the other end probing my way back to the pit we just dug. I got close to the pit we just dug and found a funny narrow spot. It was shallow, but I was breaking stuff. We started a test hole and about crapped when Steve pulled out an open pontil vial embossed with Dr Isaac Thompson's/ ToothAche Specific/ New London C! This too would be the best bottle in the shallow hole. There were some other pontils, but they would be broken and unembossed.

9-11-05specific1.jpg (80571 bytes)     9-11-05specific.jpg (74387 bytes)    9-11-05specific3.jpg (75670 bytes)  9-11-05tpontilbase.jpg (65236 bytes)

 

9-11-05take.jpg (64400 bytes) End of the day booty.

    See you next week!