# River bottles



## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

Hello everybody,
 Saturday I found some more bottles in Thames. It took me a while to clean them and even now they have a lot of staines but this guy who invented the bottle didn't think about us, how dificult will be to clean the inside. If I only put my hands on him...[]
 Any information regarding the age, producers, location, will be more than welcome.
 They are mainly milk bottles but a Coca Cola one with the following embossing (twice)
              Coca-Cola
       TRADE MARK REGISTERED
 On the base is "57 F 62".
 As far as I found on Internet this bottle could be either from 1957 or from 1962, but I not sure. I'm sorry I cannot say much about size as the imperial measures are totaly strange for me, but is about 0.25litres


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

The next one is a milk bottle embossed "Golden Seal" with a star above that looks like David's Star and with "CONTENTS 1 PT" under.
 On the back is :
                   "THIS BOTTLE COSTS 
                                4d
                PLEASE RINSE AND RETURN"
 On the heel is "Z270" in front and "HUGB33" in the back.


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

Next is a 1 pint milk bottle embossed "United Dairies". On the heel is "R 87 Y".


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

Next is a United Dairies milk bottle but with a diffrent design. "UNITED DAIRIES" in front and "CONTENTS 1 PT" IN BACK. On heel is "Z506" in front and "CUGB 25 R" in the back.


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

Next is an 1 pint milk bottle from Express. On base is:
           V  381
        C   C   47
            UGB


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

The last milk bottle is from London Co-op Society Limited. with the full embossing in front and only the LCS logo on the back. On base is 
           W W
           42/1
           8 A


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## madpaddla (Feb 7, 2006)

Mihai:

 Great finds and pics.  They cleaned well.  Nice post before about metal detectors.  About your bottles.  The coke is common I believe.  If it was from the WWII period it would be worth more.  The milks:  The Golden Seal one is the oldest.  But each is determined by dairy/collectability etc.  The others are more knowledgable but thats what I got.  Keep up the great posts.

 I'm a river finder also:  Uses a kayak.  

 Madpaddla


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

Hi Madpaddla,

 Thank you for encouragement.
 I can see that you have a pretty good idea about the bottles. Could you please tell me roughly how old they are? The value is irrelevant as I don't want to sell them. It could be nice to value a bit thou.
 About the metal detector I can say that, against all advices, I bought on eBay a cheap one which is still to come. I'm not in my best financial situation as I bougtht my house just three months ago. But I consider this one as the backup detector and I'll buy the main one later. Is a bit like putting the carriage ahead of horses but I think is OK.


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

Madpaddla, how do you search for bottles from a kayak. Do you use a fishing net? And isn't this kind of boat a bit unstable? Looking for bottles and clay pipes I saw two girls overturning in one. Or was it a canoe? I don't know.


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## madpaddla (Feb 7, 2006)

Mihai:

 Not knowing much about UK bottles here are some suggestions

 1.  Ebay:  Search it all over.  Pick apart the information.  Some are lies some are real facts.
 2.  Use this search engine.  It searches Google, Yahoo, Msn, Ask Jeeves and more.  I strongly suggest this site to all.  No spam etc.  One of the tricks my girlfriend taught me, Thank Sara.
 http://www.metacrawler.com/info.metac/
 3.  Good to local antique stores.  Buy up good books.  I asked for an amazon gift and bought 5 books for $50.
 4.  Keep digging/wadding/diving/raking/ and all else glass.  Take care.  Your milks are nice and once you get duplicates, save the best.

 Madpaddla


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## Mihai (Feb 7, 2006)

Madpaddla

 Thank you for advice. I'll keep them in mind. But how do you clean the stains? I used Cif this time, works very well on exterior but not much help inside.


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## capsoda (Feb 8, 2006)

Hey Mahai, Nice finds. Don't know much about English bottles and exports but those look like good ones.[]


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## Mihai (Feb 20, 2006)

Hi,

 I draged again the Thames yesterday and here are a few of my finds. There are 10 bottles but I'll post only some, no point to put the pictures of the same kind or of ones similar with what I post previously. Please feel free to come with any info about them. It will be highly appreciated.
 I apologize for the marks, I wasn't able to clean them properly yet.
 First picture is for a couple of milk bottles embossed with LWD ltd, 1 pint and 1/2 pint. I found three of the small one.


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## Mihai (Feb 20, 2006)

Next is a half pint from London Co-op Society ltd. I've found a 1 pint bottle from the same company before and this looks just nice besides it. Shame is a bit cloudy.


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## Mihai (Feb 20, 2006)

Next one is the most embossed found yesterday. Is a half pint from the Rees Price diary and it says where about the milk was delivered: Hammersmith, Shepards Bush, Ealing and Southall.


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## Mihai (Feb 20, 2006)

The last thing (bottle seams to be a bit unfair to call it) is about 130mm high and 60mm wide and I have no idea what could have been used for. I guess is for cream but I'm not sure. No embossing except for a "68" on heel on one side and a funny thing, for which I'll put another picture, on the other side. Ther is also a star on the base.


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## Mihai (Feb 20, 2006)

Close up of the marks on the heel.


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## Mihai (Feb 20, 2006)

And this is the base. Please tell me what it is or I have another white night  in front of me. Thank you for watching.


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## capsoda (Feb 20, 2006)

Nice looking milk bottles Mihai. Thats a neat little whatcha callit too.

 Some of the milk bottles look really old.


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## CanadianBoy (Feb 22, 2006)

Hey Mihai ,
                 as Ben can tell you,hunting from a kayak is a great way to find dumps.Not under the water but along the edges of rivers,streams and lakes.
 People who live along rivers and streams throw there rubbish there,so we just drift along keeping our eye's peeled for that hint of glass.
 A small boat would work about the same,course with a kayak you can get in much closer.
 There as to be some really ancient tips along that river.I think the Thames as being used 
 as a road for at least 2000 years.Good Luck and keep us posted,Dave.
 I was born and lived in Yorkshire til I was 14.


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## Mihai (Feb 23, 2006)

Hi CanadianBoy,

 I was tempted to give it a go with hunting bottles from a boat but it looks like a bit too much for me in this time of my life. I just bought my house three months ago, for which I'll have to pay for 25 years, I have to pay for all the furniture and apliances I have and in this context I work a lot and I cannot aford, not only financialy but time wise, to go more often than once in a while to get some bottles from Thames.

 On another level I think that Thames is pretty much draged already and I'm amaized how many people still find good staff in this river that pass thru a 7 million people city. I saw in another thread on this forum somebody asking why are not so many privies in England. My answer is because England and especially London were populated places hundreds of years ago and like they have to do something about the Great Stink in 1858 they probably have some organized way of taking the rubbish. The victorian rubbish dumps are common. If this theory is correct than the presence of rubbish deposits on Thames shores is less probable than in New World where the number of people per square mile, and maybe the laws, didn't stop anybody from throwing bottles, bless them, in rivers.

 But as often I will be able I WILL hunt for bottles, clay pipes and whatever the good river will give me.


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## madpaddla (Feb 25, 2006)

Mihai:

 Still finding the milks huh! !  Great job and keep it up.  Remember that the bottles really, really shine in the water on clear sunny days (Summer), but being in England I don't know how many of those clear days you guys get.  haha

 Two things to help ya with your bottles:  Watch for the seams and the type of letters (style) can indicate era made.  And one more Important note for you:  Use the river to clean areas for ya.  Such as, clear away some brush/roots/movable rocks/etc. from the sides of the river beds.  Come back in a few days to that same spot and see what shows up.  Especially after a big rain, the river flow will "sweep away" excess dirt leaving you a clean slate of possible bottles etc.

 Also keep all those old pipes, marbles, etc.  Coming from your area could be quite old.  AND that show on the BBC where they "raid" someones house for valuables and then go to an auction house is AWESOME and full of information, especially for you.

 Madpaddla


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## Mihai (Feb 25, 2006)

This site is killing me. After I wrote two pages I was kicked out and lost everything. No problem, I start again.

 Madpaddla, you are right, last year we didn't have Summer at all, it just passed from Spring to Autumn. This year looks to be the same, with temperatures still below zero and some snow. I must admit, was warmer before this "global warming".

 And yes , I still find only milk bottles, like people in this fine town used to drink only cow-beer. This elusive 18th century wine black bottle...

 It's a good ideea to put the mighty river at work, especially because Thames is, for a long distance, a tidal river and twice a day water comes and goes. The only trouble is the banks are build in concrete and is not much to do about it.

 You said something about marbles. Maybe you want to have a look at mines. No, not that ones. Some looks like modern but there have to be some old ones.


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