# Any other 20 year old dump diggers out there? Here's what I'm diggin':



## Plumbata (Jan 23, 2008)

Well hello to you all, I'm Stephen and I've been collecting coins, antiques, and in the case you care about, bottles since I was 5, when with my allowance money I bought my first 2, a cylinder medicine and a nice stoneware inkwell, for a dollar each back at a flea market in Baltimore, MD. The sellers told me that they dug them out of an old dumpsite where people used to deposit their garbage, and I still remember my visualization of myself watching them digging in mounded piles of dirt with rusty mattress springs and other anachronistic refuse populating the scene with the old bottles, a memory more vivid and lasting than anything I actually saw or anyone I interacted with at the market. I was young, and had never experienced or seen the things that those people had, but I Understood, and despite the naivete that permeated at that age, I took home the core message, which was that glass and stoneware bottles represented an intimate and crucial part of peoles lives over a hundred years before, and that they could be excavated intact from the ground!  In 1995 I moved to Peoria, Illinois, and currently go to school at UIUC, which to be honest, is unfulfilling academically, lackluster historically, flat and boring geologically, harmful sociocognitively, not to mention the fact that the dump digging here SUCKS. The people here kinda suck too, hehehe. 

  Peoria, however, is pretty awesome because it is the reverse of Champaign, save for the dumps, which sucked for me for years because it was full of diggers in the 60s and 70s who dug almost all of the big dumps up, until I stumbled upon one completely untouched by diggers, dating from the 1895-1910, with a 1912ish layer above it. I had only found 1 unknown local bottle, when I was 10, in my years of bottle collecting before I hit this dump in May of 07. Then I found a dozen complete ones (shards of others), and an unknown jug, from May until now. Quite the boon, but it doesn't mean I'm somehow better than another digger who hasn't found their own trove yet. I get some crappy vibes from certain posters here, and for different reasons. Essentially, those elitist diggers amongst you are only serving to strangle a hobby which is getting harder to be successful in as time goes on, not to mention the fact that when all the diggers of the 60s and 70s who hunted and tamed the best bottle grounds pass away, then the hobby very well may go the way stamp collecting did back in the 70s. You don't want that do you? You want your precious bottles to maintain their precious prices, right? If so, then plant seeds, and not condescension or conflict. If I could trade lives with someone born in 1947 or 57 rather than 1987, then I would be a millionaire now (or perhaps worth it), and hindsight has nothing to do with it. It is opportunity. And since many of you have had more opportunities than others, you have amassed quite attractive collections, though ultimately it has less to do with your qualities than it does with what has randomly presented itself to you and how much of that you internalized. Please try to enrich the hobby, not compete for it. If it must be proven in front of others, then it shows how clear it is that you are in fact not special at all. 

  Anyway, none of you care about some young punk's rant, so how about the dump dig and the finds?

  I usually dig alone because none of my 20 year old peers enjoy the hobby, though my dad gets out when he can and I've allowed one of his friends, a 60 year old hutch and milk bottle collector, to dig with us a couple times. Whatever, I dig best when I'm alone. My dad had a heart transplant in 2000 so he does not have the energy to efficiently displace the amount of dirt necessary to uncover the bottles that are 61/2 feet below him. That was my task. This is a partial view of the excavations, as of early October or so. That back wall is at a minimum 5 feet above the torn up ground, almost all of which has been churned like hell by me since May 07.






  The same area now, minus a couple SS cokes.







  Left of the detached peninsula, a different area is being excavated, the working area being a narrow and pretty deep trench along the exposed wall of earth. Yes, cave-ins occurred within close proximity of myself at various times, but I have spidey senses and can outrun them. 






  Note partially undermined orange layer. That is paydirt, and in this area I recently pulled out a clear, etched glass McMaster and Derges Peoria, Ill Seltzer water bottle right next to a Peoria pottery jug. I wish I had a digital camera when I first started digging, because I hit a beautiful refuse layer almost 3 feet thick in parts. I would be taking home 1 or 1 and a half crates of embossed bottles/crockery home every day I dug, for quite a while.





  The same general area as above, about December 20th See how much overburden there is? and the layer gets deep and thicker closer to the creek. Spring will spell the end of this dump's production probably.









  That is a lydia pinkham's and a local leisy beer showing





  See that little medicine peeking out?





  And the area above, now.





  One of many piles that didn't get reburied, an unfortunate broken lightning mason. I got 2 complete Globes with caps and a Dandy, as well as a nice number of other nifty ones. 






  The two jugs that I pulled from 9 feet down, about a foot apart. The Arthur Lehman & Co. jug was previously unknown and a prime local collectible from ~1901 and the "The Cream of Old Scotch Whiskey Bonnie Castle" Whiskey jug is a turn of the century beauty, an identical piece obtaining over 560 dollars on Ebay in August! Neither the trasnsfer nor the glaze looked as nice as this one, for sure! I thought the Peoria jug was better but I am pleased to have been somewhat misled. Can any brits help me learn more about the Bonnie Castle jug? In the efforts to extract these, I undermined and toppled a 2 trees, whose root-ball(s) plugged up my trench. Out of almost 20 complete jugs, these 2 are the only (besides the western stonewares) that have stenciling. Several are stamped but not as nice as these!





  Rare and previously unknown "The Red Cross Pharmacy Peoria, ILL" Citrate of Magnesia bottle, 7 1/2 inches tall, hand blown. above the boss plate it reads "Solution Citrate of Magnesia. Dose for Adults one half to one full bottle, Children in proportion to age"





  Very rare and previously unknown "Dufner's Pharmacies Peoria, ILLS" with one of the most solid slug plates i've ever seen. It is a milk/citrate of magnesia bottle and is fecking awesome because the embossing sticks out so far. It is one of the first uniques I pulled, and it was laying right next to 3 other magnesias, the mass produced generic ones that you all have seen. It made my day, needless to say, and looks very nice next to the other unique magnesia from the red cross pharmacy.






  Very Rare and previously unknown one pint "Roszell's Jersey Milk" Milk bottle from Roszell's dairy in Peoria, Machine made, 7 inches tall. Bottom embossed TMFG Co. which means it was produced by the Thatcher Manufacturing company of Elmira, NY.






  Very Rare and desirable "The City Bottling Co. Berliner Weiss Beer Registered Peoria, ILL." Blob top beer bottle, 8 3/4 inches tall, hand blown. The porcelain stopper, which is very rare as well, reads "Berliner Weiss Beer The City Bottling Co. Peoria, ILL."
  So far 2 have been unearthed in the dump, and the old timers seemed more excited that I had found one of these than about the dozen new discoveries I made. Wonder what it is worth...






  Rare "McMaster & Derges IBW Peoria ILL."  etched glass seltzer bottle, 11.25  inches tall, hand blown.






  Very Rare and previously unknown 8 ounce graduated "Sutliff & Case Co. Peoria. ILL." Baby feeding milk bottle from the pharmacy which used to be in the building that One World now occupies, corner of Main and University, in Peoria. Hand blown, 7 inches tall.






  Here are my 5 best looking SS cokes, 2 are the same and the most common of the HM Peoria cokes yet they demand some of the highest prices of the area SS cokes of that style. The "Arctic Brand" was made by the Peoria coca cola bottling co. and is the only ABM in the group, but that does not hurt its high local value and says nothing about its rarity. The aqua ones are the most common of the SS cokes, I saw someone post on this board that they had found one and were wondering about it. It is a 90-150 dollar bottle depending on condition and customer base.






  My favorite is this green one, as it is made of better glass than the others, is embossed "this bottle not sold" on the reverse, and is more rare to boot. The best Peoria digger I know doesn't even have one, so...





  Here is one of a little under 10 Mexican Amole Soap Co. Peoria ILL bottles that I dug, and before I got any I was told that they were decently rare and I should watch out for em. Probably not as rare now, lol. I like the shape and embossing on these guys.






  Here are some of my neat smaller finds. There is a super small oyster jug thing, then a mini-stein that has "Mus*****utz" poorly stamped on the bottom and has a bust on either side of a sweet looking snow lodge, then a carved ivory pineapple vial, a mini jug of the exact same style as my Lehman jug (made by Western Stoneware, Monmouth, ILL) that popped out from under the water table hanging by its little handle off of one of the prongs of my 3-tined digging claw! I almost had a heart attack because I thought these things almost always have writing, but alas... Last is a neat glazed disc from "Maison Dorin 27 R. Grenier St Lazare Paris", and in the center top "Depose" and below "Fard De Toilette Marque de Fabrique"






  "Clayton's Dog Remedies Chicago". Anyone ever heard of this thing? I bet dog medicine was pretty scarce.





  Whats the value of this thing? 20 bucks? Nifty looking regardless.





  Rock Island Route railroad paperweight. It is chipped but it doesn't harm the writing or the top surface, so it still looks good. Found it the same day as the first uber rare Berliner Weiss. T'was a good day.






  This bottle has the best green color I have ever seen. It is a "Schroeder's B.W.B.Co. St Louis MO." blob and needs to be seen in daylight to be appreciated. Anyone know about this bottle?






  It is seriously the best green i have ever seen in a bottle. I wish I could eat it, it looks like sour apple candy. 
  Here are some pix with it juxtaposed next to some more typical greens:









  This is a "Rowcliffe's Pharmacy Peoria, ILL" that was never known to exist, but now it like the others will be included in the soon-to-be-printed 3rd edition Central Illinois bottle reference book!





  Another unique.





  Very Rare and previously unknown one pint "Roszell" Milk bottle from Roszell's dairy in Peoria, Machine made, 7 inches tall. This and the Jersey Milk predate the previously known oldest Roszell's bottles. I found a half-pint of this style that was embossed on the bottom "Empire Pat Aug 13, 01" also unknown but cracked.





  Rare and desirable "Fisher's Quick Cure For Headache & Neuralgia Peoria, ILL." pain cure, 4 1/16th inches tall, hand blown. Only pulled one of these, and it was in the skimpier layer. A nice 1842 Thaler from Hanover is juxtaposed for size comparison/prop.





  Flawless and previously undiscovered "Plattenburg & Co. Druggists Canton, Illinois" bottle that I found when I was 10, laying on the very top surface of the ground under the eaves next to an abandoned farmhouse. I dug in the dump there but nothing nearly as great as this. The peeling plaster inside the house revealed canton newspaper used as backing, dated 1905, so the bottle is probably from around then. This is the bottle that made me realize that I could discover things that had been completely forgotten and lost in the past, as well as discover things never known by any man before.


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## idigjars (Jan 23, 2008)

Hello Stephen, welcome to the forum.  What a great story and pics.  

 Do you have any duplicate SS Cokes for sale?  Do you ever dig odd colored Piso Cure bottles or Carter cone inks?   

 If you have any of the above for sale please email me.   Thanks for sharing the story and pics and  Good luck with your digging and collecting.    Paul


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## tigue710 (Jan 23, 2008)

lets see some pictures of the good stuff!

 Personally I think the bickering keeps it interesting, were not a bunch of care bears after all...


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## appliedlips (Jan 23, 2008)

Stephen,

    Welcome to the forum.Good finds (especially the SS cokes).You are in a dump in Peoria?Or in the dump called Peoria[].Just kidding,only 3/4 of it is a dump.But lackluster historically,I disagree.Peoria was a major river city in the mid 1800's and there is a ton of great bottles from there.Pontilled sodas,meds,bitters,endless druggists and hutches.I am from Illinois originally and take away Chicago there are probably more good bottles from Peoria than anywhere.I dug a big dump on the Pekin side once but it had been hit before but it didn't look like I missed much.Got enough Mexican Amole's to hold me over[]There is plenty of great stuff to be dug all over the U.S. so don't be discouraged.Them guys in the 60's and 70's had first crack but they didn't even put a dent in it.Good luck out there.Welcome again and enjoy this great hobby


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## tigue710 (Jan 23, 2008)

your right there Doug, there are millions of bottles still in the ground...


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## dollarbill (Jan 23, 2008)

First off Welcome  Stephen next WOW I want a dump like that .Nice stuff I really like the minis . Lets see sum more. Good luck diggen Stephen.       bill


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## rlo (Jan 23, 2008)

oh man! I wanna come play at your dump!!  kuddos! fantastic finds


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## RedGinger (Jan 23, 2008)

Tigue, I agree with ya on that.  I enjoy the witty comments (not arguing), but we're all human.  Bottles are a passion, so there will be some discourse.  Plumbata, I think you're well spoken and enjoyed your pictures.
 Laur


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## Lordbud (Jan 23, 2008)

Welcome to the forum; great post and it is good to see someone with their "own" dump.
  In California the digging is pretty competitive and I feel fortunate to have dug some good local stuff in the 1970s that had been missed by the first diggers in the 1950s and 1960s.  So much has been paved over (virtually) forever here in California as far as dumps go.  Privies are pretty much it out here, and one has to have a good schpiel to door knock and get permission.  I also collect local trade tokens, coins and paper ephemera.  Does anyone take the time to search out Victorian trade cards as "go withs" to their bottles? The local druggist might well have given out trade cards, but try finding one to match a bottle, not too easy to do.  Or trade tokens to match their whiskey flasks?  I once paid more for a darn trade token than I'd paid for the whiskey flask it went with, because of ebay competition.


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## Plumbata (Jan 23, 2008)

> ORIGINAL:  BRichardson5
> And to answer your question about any other 20 year old diggers out there... I'm actually 19. I have been digging since the age of 13 when i came across a dump by myself. I had nobody to introduce me to the hobby and in all of these years i have dug with other people only a handful of times. Like you said, it's hard to find 19 or 20 year-old peers that are as fascinated with the hobby as we are. For me the hobby has slowly been refined over the years. In the beginning i kept everything that i dug, and the dumps that i dug in were 1920's at best. Over the years i slowly taught myself how to discern good items from junk, how to probe, how to know that you're standing on top of a dump even before you put the shovel in the ground for the first time. I'd say that this forum helped me the most, as i have visited it constantly for the last six years. Now I'm away at college in Oregon, but that certainly hasn't hindered my passion for digging bottles from dumps. In November I found a huge undug dump that is much like yours- very deep, great age, and lots of items that are local and rare. The only difference is that i have to cover my tracks and fill in the hole each day after digging because the spot isn't as hidden as yours. So it's a pain in the ass because basically i'm digging this dump privy style- narrow, deep holes day after day that have to be filled in. Yikes! Oh well, the glass that lies below is definitely worth it! And besides, if the bottles were just lying on the surface it wouldn't be fun at all.
> 
> As for the people on the forum itself, yeah things do get heated sometimes. I think all of us are very proud of what we dig and our emotions get heavily tied into this hobby. Things get said occasionally that are out of line, and for that shame on those people. We just need to remember how fortunate we are to not be the only crazy person that digs in the dirt all day and comes home at the end of the day with a few hollow chunks of glass. There's a whole community right here that does just that!


 
  Hey there, it's awesome to at least have some peers online that dig! My first dump I found behind my friends house back in 4th grade. I found some gold dentures in there but it was a 40s dump and aside from a pocket of 11 cottage cheese and baked bean jars (from some "MiMom's business neither I nor anyone I asked knows about) it was pretty crappy by my current standards. And in regards to you learning so much here, you probably would have learned more if you were digging the places that those people did which gave them the expertise that they then transferred down to you! I got my dad interested in the hobby and he then provided all the transportation I needed to get to antique collecting grounds. There was a dump we walked on top of 10 years ago where I found several handblowns, not knowing that there was stuff 8 feet down! This past christmas break I verified it as a hella sweet and slightly older ash dump, another one to add to the list, using the knowledge I gained from digging elsewhere and from watching youtube videos of ash dump digs, versus the bottle/refuse dumps I'd seen before. Experience is the best teacher, it seems. And it is awesome that you got a dump that you deserve, I wish for your sake that you could leave it looking like a cratered war trench after every day of digging, but guaranteed you'll find one like that soon. You just have to cover ground, and as much of it as you can. No amount of reading what other people are doing will help you find and get in that good old dump. And if I was back in the 50s/60s and there were still pontils and historical flasks laying on the surface not touched by diggers yet, then i'd still have at least a little fun I think.  And yes, ultimately all of us here seem to share a common goal and a common love, and that is what is important. When people use it to define themselves or their life's work is when conflict arises; when they make trouble or stir up bottle envy for personal gratification. They are just bottles, the owners of that precious glass will die, and the bottles will all get broken one day. That is the truth behind it all. People should contemplate the future beyond the limits of their mortal life, the future of the hobby they spent so much of their time wrapped up in. Might be more people in the hobby then.




> ORIGINAL:  tigue710
> 
> lets see some pictures of the good stuff!
> 
> Personally I think the bickering keeps it interesting, were not a bunch of care bears after all...


 
  Come on now, just because I live in the far newer midwest and you live in pontil heaven,  it doesn't mean that the stuff from here must likewise be pontiled to be good as the trend/mindset seems to be out east. I haven't hit my pontil pit yet but I'm workin hard on it. I found 2 complete unlisted milks, and 2 other different unique but broken specimens, as well as that unknown jug. They might be TOC but they are still no less than 3-500 dollar bottles. I'd consider most of the uniques I posted to be good stuff, heck, since they haven't been known to exist until they were uncovered, and adding to local history is sometimes better than adding to the pocketbook, don't you think? At least I do. And bickering is acceptible if it is constructive, otherwise just please control your urges, the other person might not find it so nearly as captivating of an activity as you. My "good stuff" is not in bottles, by your standards i guess, but in antiques, coins and ancient artifacts, hence my handle here. 

  So where's the good stuff, eh?

  Do you like silver? I've accumulated about 3 kilos of the metal, quite cheap, as mostly good old foreign coins that are worth a bit more than spot. I don't like cases on my coins, as I enjoy being able to feel the same metal that the people generations before held. My 1955 double die penny alone is worth a good 1500, and could get me some high-end glass. I'd rather have my self-dug local rarities though, even if only a handfull cares about em 









  Ancient projectile points good stuff? This is my better half displayed. Center middle is a plumbata, one of the most badass instruments of death that the Romans ever used in war, and a Native American copper arrowhead:









  Austrian/German halberd, circa 1650. This is worth a nice bit too. If anyone robs me they are getting this to the skull, haha.





  S. McKee & Co Threadless insulator. The fine and friendly folks at a different forum clued me into its desiribility, despite the damage.









  Float your boat Tigue?



> ORIGINAL:  appliedlips
> 
> Stephen,
> 
> Welcome to the forum.Good finds (especially the SS cokes).You are in a dump in Peoria?Or in the dump called Peoria.Just kidding,only 3/4 of it is a dump.But lackluster historically,I disagree.Peoria was a major river city in the mid 1800's and there is a ton of great bottles from there.Pontilled sodas,meds,bitters,endless druggists and hutches.I am from Illinois originally and take away Chicago there are probably more good bottles from Peoria than anywhere.I dug a big dump on the Pekin side once but it had been hit before but it didn't look like I missed much.Got enough Mexican Amole's to hold me overThere is plenty of great stuff to be dug all over the U.S. so don't be discouraged.Them guys in the 60's and 70's had first crack but they didn't even put a dent in it.Good luck out there.Welcome again and enjoy this great hobby


 
  Haha, touche. I was referring to Champaign, IL as the historically lacking town, Peoria is great! It is cool that you dug some stuff from around these parts, were you ever a member of the Pekin Pontils bottle club? I'm the youngest member there now besides someone's tagalong son. It's kinda discouraging, but I won't fall to the dark side and start playing video games and whatnot like the rest of my cohort. If you don't think the first diggers even put a dent in it then you probably have a better understanding of the area than I, it is just that there is evidence of digging even in 1950s dumps and alot of the town is developed or developing, making it harder to get away with finding and diggin the ooold stuff. I probably just need a change of tactics though. I plan on taking up privy digging this spring so i can get some pontils under my belt in addition to what comes from the dumps. I've got some great places planned, including the site of an 1840s tavern. The building was buldozed a couple years back but I'm almost positive it has several awesome privys that are about as old as they come around here.

  Here're the different Hutchinsons that came out, some are quite dirty, since cleaning isnt as pressing as accumulation is, for me.










  Lordbud, it sounds like where you are is much like Champaign. It is in a constant process of modernization and expansion, and it is so flat here that whatever places were dumps probably have malls on top of em now. I have only found 1 dump here, and it is from the 40s. Seems like privy digging is the way to go around this town too, though the property values aren't as high I imagine and thus acquiring permission isn't as troublesome. I am studying anthropology at the university here so my spiel will focus around the preservation of this town's scarce early socioeconomic history, etcetera. Tell em their permission will increase the historical knowledge of the area. I could probably get credits for actually doing a study centering around digging up the town's old privys. we'll see.

  And to everyone else, thanks for the welcomes and the time you wasted reading my thread! And idigjars, I don't have any special cone inks or weird colored piso's, but I can rustle up a SS or 2. I'll keep it in mind.


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## Plumbata (Jan 23, 2008)

Haha, excellent man. I want one of those. On my shelf, not face, mind you.


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## appliedlips (Jan 23, 2008)

Steve,

   I didn't clarify my statement earlier.I meant to say,nationwide the oldtimers haven't put a dent in much.Illinois is probably one of the heaviest dug states anywhere in relation to it's population in the mid 1800's.Places like Quincy,Alton,Peoria,Springfield,have been hammered for years.People in the east don't understand this because millions of people lived there and there are endless places to dig.I am now in Ohio and it is alot easier to find undug locations.You will hear me routinely go off on a soapbox about keeping spots quite and if others dug farther west they would understand what I am talking about.As far as Tique being in the Mecca of all things pontilled.Don't be fooled.I have lived and dug in New England and Illinois and if you told me I had a day to go out an dig a pontilled bottle I'd take Illinois every time.Privy digging is where it is at,you will find this out.If you think the dumps have been dug,just wait.But there are plenty of spots left and the pits can be very productive.I lived further South near St.Louis so I never was a member of the Pekin Club but it seemed like an active one.Supporting local bottle clubs is a great way to keep the hobby going and learn.A friend and I  both 34,comment at every show how few folks younger than us are in the crowd.Get your buddies involved they will get hooked.Beats the hell out of video games,atleast until they invent a privy digging game that gives off the smell of methane as you dig deeper.Good luck in your collecting.


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## appliedlips (Jan 23, 2008)

Was wondering if you or a club member can help me with this one.I plan on repairing it,if it is as rare as I think it may be.It is a S.M. Hickey pontilled soda from Lasalle.I have dug several Hickey squats from Peoria but had never heard of one from LaSalle.LaSalle and Peru are killer old towns too.I dug this one last year here in Ohio.I couldn't believe my eyes.Thanks for any help


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## bigghouse (Jan 23, 2008)

none of my friends liked it for a while, they were always like why do u do that. but then i met 3 people that were as crazy as i am (carly, perry + annie). but look on the bright side, u dont have to split anything like i do[&o].

 good luck!!

 annna


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## Tony14 (Jan 23, 2008)

Killer stuff!! and welcome to the forum!! Im 18 and have been digging since i was around 14. I kinda stumbled into a dump while fishing so when i started i had no idea what was what i was just having fun. Since i started i uncovered two unknown bottles from my town and have found a couple of other good pieces. None as nice as yours i must say []  Heres my personal best..an unlisted toc beer


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## Tony14 (Jan 23, 2008)

oh and the waukesha club cheeses usually go for around 20-30


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## lexdigger (Jan 23, 2008)

Cool Digs. I love digging unknown variants or rare local bottles. They might not mean much to others, but to the diggers in that area they are something special. I'd rather be digging local stuff than anything else. Yeah, some of the older national brands are nice, but they are kind of generic after you've seen a hundred of them! We dig alot of ss cokes down here in Ky. For some reason we dig them from Peoria every once in a while. Do you all ever dig them from Ky. up there? Chris


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## Plumbata (Jan 23, 2008)

No, I've only dug ones from Chicago and one from Decatur Il with a baad crack. I dug a medicine from such-and-so's rexall store in Petersburg Florida though, which is pretty far away. I don't know what would account for the peoria coke being down there. Perhaps a wholesale liquor buyer from peoria brought it on the train he took down there to arrange the pick up of 200 barrels of kentucky's finest? Maybe it was just recycled by the bottling company down there by some deposit-hunters. There were too many chicago bottles in the peoria dump for there not to have been liberal sharing of the bottles by adjacent bottlers, so you probably benefited from their lack of packaging uniformity I guess. The peoria one of the style you have is better than the Chicago one, in case you ever come across more. 

 I do wish I had some peers as crazy about it as I, but then, Keeping all the finds is nice, and in digging at a dump with others i'd say finders keepers, to each his own hole, but the privys are different. I've proven to myself that I can dig a nice 9-10 foot hole through dirt and clay by myself and get out of it too, so maintaining such a fair split of the finds should be manageable when I hit the privys I've lined up for spring. []

 If I hit a 20 foot brickliner I will need to rething things....

 And Tony, that Nehring & Sons is super awesome, I'd kill for a unique beer from here with that incredible fluted base and strong blob. Definately a prime item to hold on to, or at least until you hit the bigger dump a half mile away []


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## tigue710 (Jan 23, 2008)

Nice, the Lobey Bear rocks!

 Got to love it, right Ginger?

 Plumbata, you have some nice stuff there, but I was talking bottles... of course some of the local stuff is awesome, some of my most desired bottles are local, but you mentioned some dandy and globe jars, and I figure you must have pulled a few cures and what not out of that dump...  Anyway I was just messing with ya, seemed appropriate since you started your post with a statement about avoiding confrontation...

 I bet you theres few kids your age digging right around you, just got to find em... throw some bottles in your local antique store with a phone number for anyone interested in buying more... it will ring off the hook for few weeks!  And you'll meet some digging partners quick... just make sure they want to share more then your dump!


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## RedGinger (Jan 23, 2008)

Damn right Tigue.


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## cadburys (Jan 23, 2008)

Hi Plumbata,

  I know you.... I met you at the Pekin bottle show. I was the English guy from Bloomington who had dug that unlisted peoria drugstore. If you ever want to dig in the spring there are some great places I know of near where we live. Check out http://privydigging.com 

 You have some nice finds there, but we both need to get into some earlier pits and show some good old mid western killer pontils on the forum

  Ant


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## California Dream N (Jan 23, 2008)

Welcome to the Forum Stephen. Some very nice bottles and your age is a plus..Look at all the years you have left to dig..lol.... From someone born in 1949 and digging since the 60's in Ca. I can tell you the stuff wasn't just laying on top of the ground even then...I  agree that the  snobbiness in some people does come out on this site occassionally but just ignore it and enjoy all of the rest of the "good" people you will meet on here. After all you are the next generation of collectors!!..Again... Welcome and Good digging..Norene


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## kastoo (Jan 23, 2008)

Wow - Great stuff...I heard the one to dig is the Pana IL SS.

 Here's a graphic for Lobey..


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## cobaltbot (Jan 24, 2008)

Wow, great first posts, you've got some real nice bottles and other stuff.  There are many twenty somethings on here that are arguably amoung the best diggers out there.  There's also teen diggers and many old farts that started when you did and are still digging. Keep enjoying the hobby and posting!


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## caldigs (Jan 24, 2008)

Keep diggign !!!! You are right, there are few diggers under 30 years of age.  I'm 24 and dig California and know of 5 other diggers in CA between the ages of 21 and 28.  Let me know if you every dig any CA bottles.  Andrew


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## PhilaBottles (Jan 25, 2008)

Great post Stephen and welcome. Im 21 years old and I dug dumps for about 5-6 years until I started my quest to dig all the privy pits in the mid-atlantic states 2 years ago. My main interest is in Philadelphia stuff...mostly pre civil war era bottles and pottery. My brother likes to dig in dumps and he lives in Pekin Illinois which I think is very local to you. I showed him how to find privys last time he was in my time zone so maybe you guys can start a new quest to dig all the holes in the midwest if Doug doesnt beat you to it.

 hey applelips, line em up.

 Matt


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## zanes_antiques (Jan 25, 2008)

Eccellent Digging! Keep up the good work too!

 Unfortunately I didn't start my digging until I was 38 but better late than never. 

 Congrats!


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## kozmothewonderdog (Jan 26, 2008)

Great pics, awesome dump, and dig as much as you can, while you can!  I got a late start (about 32), and family, work, and other obligations limit my dig time significantly.  Not sure how many Chicago druggist bottles you find, but I'm looking for at least pics of the one described in this thread.  Judging by the illustration in the old ad I found, it's possible (likely?) that the bottles themselves were unembossed, with the name only being on the label.  In any case, if you stumble across a Chicago Chiles bottle, please let me know.

 Thanks!
 - Al


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## hemihampton (Jan 31, 2008)

Great first post & find. I can tell you a little about that green Schroeder's beer bottle. The BWBC stood for Berliner Weiss Beer Company or Schroeders Berliner Weiss Beer Co. Located 1013 Paul St & operated from 1890 to 1917. Before that just called J. Schroeder at 834 Chouteau Ave. City Brewery or Bottling of Peoria was  also known as Huber & Rauschkolb & Operated 1849 to possibly 1874. In 1874 changed name to J.Huber & Son. Hope this helps? LEON.


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## MINNESOTA DIGGER (Feb 1, 2008)

nice stuff great pictures . digging in the winter is safer then spring . .  i try to let someone know if i go alone where i am  going. i have been buried up to my waist before   it was not fun


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