# WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND IN A DUG BOTTLE?



## whiskeyman (Apr 28, 2005)

I thought this may be an interesting topic. We've all dug bottles/jars  that contained a snake, insects, a salamander, rats nest, etc..even some original contents. I was wondering if anything "else" had been found.
 I once was digging an area where I had found numerous circa 1900 bottles and old stoneware. There was a more modern trash pile nearby and I figured I'd dig it and see if any older stuff was beneath.
 I dug quite a few marbles, and a bunch of junk, then out popped a  large peanut butter jar with the lid still on it. I started to toss it ,and saw there was something inside the jar.
 Removing the lid I pulled out an old bread wrapper for Hechts or Kerns bread, can't recall which...It was neatly folded and  perfectly preserved. For some reason I unfolded it and to my surprise the paper end label was a picture of Gene Autry...a cowboy western star of movies and TV, in  the 40's & 50's...It was in excellent condition,  and I sold it for $20  to collector of western stuff. Didn't find anything else...
 But I can't help but wonder now as I did then: what young kid placed it in the jar and  why ? and ....how did it come to be tossed away?


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## BRIAN S. (Apr 28, 2005)

Hi whiskeyman ! 
 I saw this story today and thought HOW GREAT this would be if I dug something like this while digging for bottles .  http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/27/treasure.found.ap/index.html


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## whiskeyman (Apr 28, 2005)

BRIAN...we all need some luck like that...[8D]
 Best I ever did was a $2  & 1/2 dollar gold piece from a dump....tickled me....Of course I sold it.


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## madman (Apr 28, 2005)

wow thats a great story about the gene autry pix in the vintage bread wrapper  nice   mike


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## baltbottles (Apr 28, 2005)

I can't believe thoes guys that found that money went on tv if it was me i would have never told anyone. I bet they won't be laughing when the tax man shows up at there door.

 Chris


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## kastoo (Apr 28, 2005)

That's a great point! DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1


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## CanadianBoy (Apr 28, 2005)

I found a jug once,but it was really dirty,I was rubbing it clean when all of a sudden there was a big PUFF OF SMOKE,and there was this old bottle digger floating there,I figured right away I'd get 3 wishes,but he was really ticked off, it seemed it was is dump and I had to clear off and NEVER COME BACK.I never did.
 If you can believe it.
 So now every time I find a jug I just lay it to one side.


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## whiskeyman (Apr 29, 2005)

LOL @ DAVE...

 I can't believe no one else has any tales....Guess I'll have to painstakingly type out another one. This wasn't actually  a diggin' expedition, more like a "Search & Salvage Operation."

 Johnson City,TN...about 10 years ago....Harold & I were scouting out a cluster of old houses about to be moved or demolished to make way for the expansion of a major highway. This one house had a front porch with a  trap door. Harold went down in the hole and I handed him the flashlight. He was silent for a while, so I asked him if he had found anything. He replied just a buncha jars.
 So, I went down into the small celler, which had clay dirt banks...partially walled with cinderblocks. I was feeling around  in the dark, behind the blocks...and felt a jar. I lifted it up & out and it was heavy...I figured it still had food preserved in it...but it kinda "clinked." When Harold shined the light upon it, we saw it was an Atlas Strong Shoulder Mason & was over half full of dimes....
 I reached behind the blocks again, felt another larger jar and removed it - it was a half gallon  Ball Perfect mason and filled with pennies....
 Harold was just a bit irritated with me as he had been down there about 10-15 minutes and found neither one...[&:]


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## whiskeyman (Apr 29, 2005)

AND...he had the only flashlight....heheh.[]


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## IRISH (Apr 29, 2005)

Hey Dave J. you hadn't been inhailing that "other" smoke had you ? [] [:-] .
 I tipped a penny out of a broken stone ginger beer not long ago, also found an advertising card in a dug jar c1900.  I've got a small plain green bottle with a few pills still in it, they look a lot like sheep poop and still smell strange (not at all like sheep poop [] ).


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## baltbottles (Apr 29, 2005)

HI Everyone,

 I dug a pontiled London mustard last month fron an 1830s pit it was a very wet hole and the bottle was still corked. When i got it home and started washing it to my supprise it was filled with early square nails and small straight pins that were very well preserved.

 Chris


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## Ye Olde Prospector (Apr 29, 2005)

Guess those guys who went public with their box of cash they supposedly dug up in MA
 won't have to worry about the Tax Man for a while. They were just arrested for stealing the box of cash from the attic of a house they had done some roof work on. Not so smart in many ways. Some people never learn. [][]


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## diggerjeff (Apr 29, 2005)

i found an unembossed whiskey flask with a very long tapeworm in it. it came from a privy and still had a cork in it. now in the old days the method for removing the tape worm consisted of starving the patient, which also starved the worm. then a bowl of warm milk was placed for the patient to sit on. i am not sure if the sphincter was proped open but the worm would go to the milk and out of the body. i think he (or she) would have had to insert this bottle to get the worm in.!!!!


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## CanadianBoy (Apr 29, 2005)

Hey diggerjeff 
                       I think thats just a little too much infomation for me,and I think maybe they would have had to use a FUNNEL.Too bad the flask wasn't embossed[][][X(]


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## CanadianBoy (Apr 29, 2005)

Another time I was on a holiday in Florida,and got out digging,found some nice items,including a stone jug.I had the items in the van for about 4 days,got back to Canada,and a couple of days later started cleaning my treasures,finally got to the jug,turned it over to shake out the dirt,and out pops a big SCORPION spider,at that point I really could have used 3 wishes.Those suckers are fast,chased it around the kitchen for about 15 min,until I got to send it to the big web in the sky.As luck would have it my wife had gone to the store.
 I think there could be a law about transporting exotic pets across borders.
 Good job it wasn't endangered,because then I would have had to explain to my wife why we had to keep it in the house.[][8D][]


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## Gunsmoke47 (Apr 29, 2005)

Congrats Rich! I am a big fan of those bottles. It just goes to show... there are some good deals out there,  you just have to keep a really sharp eye out![] Happy Diggin,  Kelley


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## BRIAN S. (Apr 29, 2005)

Congrats lobeycat !
 There still are some deals out there from time to time. 
 While you are on that subject.....check out this article on David Jackson's website.  He stole this AWESOME colored Flask !!!!  http://www.geocities.com/casperwhiskey/Article.html
  David is a helluva nice guy , and has an awesome Casper Whiskey Collection !
  Brian


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## bearswede (Apr 29, 2005)

Word on the street says those guys stole that "treasure" and faked finding it while digging up a bush... They were last seen being led away in handcuffs...


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## whiskeyman (Apr 30, 2005)

Interesting stories...thanks for sharin'.

 I hear those idiots got busted too...They oughta be sentenced to some additional time for  stupidity also.

 Tryin' ta think if I have any other tales to exchange....but my mind is currently drawin' a  blank.[8|]


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## IRISH (Apr 30, 2005)

Hmm  I read about those blokes getting arrested for stealing the banknotes in our local paper,  anyone who steals is a fool in my opinion but they must be particularly stupid [] .

 Diggerjeff, I normaly love all snippets of historical info but that tapeworm info was knowledge I may have done without [] , not going to ask how you found that out [] .


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## BRIAN S. (Apr 30, 2005)

Well what do you know about that !
  That just goes to prove that the old saying.... If it sounds to good to be true.....it more than likely is !!! 

  Fry the crooks !!! LOL    
  Brian


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## justarookie (Apr 30, 2005)

i was digging early in the week and i came across a certo bottle. i had previously dug about 10 of them the same day so i was about to chuck it when i heard a clink. There was a small pewter earring in the bottle with the letter F engraved on it. Nothin real exciting but something I would not expect to find in a bottle.


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## whiskeyman (May 1, 2005)

As I understand it, if the guys had kept their story straight (or else remained totally quiet about the "find"), they would have gotten away with it, as the owners of the house/barn where the money was found were NOT aware of the money being hidden there.


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## whiskeyman (May 1, 2005)

ROOKIE...Thankd for sharing...don't be surprised about anything ya find in a bottle/jar....or just while diggin' in general. Keep yer eyes peeled for the small stuff.


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## whiskeyman (May 7, 2005)

wot?...no new posts? 
 C'mon, there's gotta be some more stories among alla youns.[]


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## Tandy (May 7, 2005)

Hi whiskeyman!

 Greetings from South Oz.

 I am afraid I dont have much to tell, other than these two:-

 I was walking through some mangroves looking for old bottles when I saw this clear 13 oz bottle lying on top of the mud. I noticed that there was something in it, and so I picked it up. There was a message in the bottle, but after twenty or more years, I can not remember what it said. It was not an old one, that I can remember.

 The other one was when I was walking through some hills nearby, and I picked up this amber screw top bottle, embossed with the name of a British chemist, Southampton I think. It contained small round, brown pills.


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## preditor (May 12, 2005)

I didn't find anything in a bottle however i did find something interesting i went digging two days in a row in the same spot and i kept digging up snakes but as soon as i would dig one up it would go back into the ground i dug it out agin and it immediatly burrowed its head into the dirt and it was gone. anyway i finaly caught one i tried for two days to identify it i finaly found a book at the library that had a picture that looked like it its brown with a light pink belly the book said it was a worm snake it also said they are rarely seen and also endangered i am now in the process of finding someone who can tell me what to do with it i dont know if the nc wildlife would want me to just put it back or if they would want to come try to find more of them and raise them in captivity  when i find out i'll post further i just thought it was cool to find an endangered species.
                    Preditor[8D]


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## swizzle (May 12, 2005)

I would take some good pics of the little critter and put it back. They stand a better chance in their own enviroment then in a cage. I would also let the conservation dept. know where I found it. They may want to preserve that area for future generations of endangered critters. Swiz


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## bottlebank (May 19, 2005)

a spiders nest in one of mine


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## swizzle (May 19, 2005)

I just found a small vile with crystals and what looks like a gold filling in it. Swiz


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## whiskeyman (May 19, 2005)

Very interesting finds...
 Thanks for sharing. 

 (rackin' my brains for any other tales )


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## RazorsEdge (May 19, 2005)

I cant tell you exactly what it was, but i found a peice of foil folded up inside a medicine bottle and all i could read on it was "placenta" and "formaldehide" and an address but only part of it so i couldnt go see the place....I thought to myself....preserved placentas....*tosses bottle in trash....[]


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## Trying not to break it (May 20, 2005)

hi whiskeyman, found this bottle last week. when i started cleaning the outside i notice something inside. when i got it out someone years ago had pealed off part of the label and crumbled up along with some small pieces of newspaper i had hope there would be a date put no luck, the 1 small piece had names of race horses on it. i guess he lost. thanks for looking,  rhona


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## bottlebank (May 20, 2005)

nice


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## whiskeyman (May 22, 2005)

RHONA...drat!...why didn't they put the entire label in the bottle?...
 Neat find...


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## Trying not to break it (May 22, 2005)

hi whiskeyman, i wish they had to.  maybe i will find the other half in another bottle wishful thinking.  rhona


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## Tony14 (May 22, 2005)

That would be nice[]. Good find.


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