# Favorite Find That You Kept



## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

I would like to see everyone's favorite finds still in their possession today!  Here are one of mine...


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## nhpharm (Mar 20, 2015)

Carl Schultz closure.


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## Robby Raccoon (Mar 20, 2015)

Bobby, very nice, even if damaged. What does that say? 
I'm not sure about mine...  NHPharm, I've never seen that kind of closure.


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## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

nhpharm said:
			
		

> Carl Schultz closure.


Wow that is niiiiiiice!


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## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

Porter & Fraser....yeah a little chipped on the spout.....I still love it.  It was covered in rust when I dug it.  Took me 2 weeks of soaking and scrubbing to reveal anything (I didn't want to use any kind of acid).


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## nhpharm (Mar 20, 2015)

Here is the patent drawing for the closure.  Carl Schultz, who was a bottler himself, apparently bought the patent but never used it for his bottles. Pretty early bottle (1872 patent).


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## Robby Raccoon (Mar 20, 2015)

Depends on the strength, but most things tend to be acid or base-- 7.00 is neutral. 0.00 will wreck almost anything. So will 14.00. If I recall, it's the lower the pH, the more acidic.  That bottle is so unique-looking. Not too common a closure, though? How long were they in use?


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## nhpharm (Mar 20, 2015)

Only one bottler used the closure and probably only had one run of bottles made.  I am told there are less than 5 known intact examples.


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## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

I used Dish Soap and elbow grease.....no acid there lol.  I believe it that there are only 5 known intact examples of that bottle.....never seen one like it!


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## BellwoodBoys (Mar 20, 2015)

Although not my oldest finds, these are by far my rarest and my favorite finds. The C.V Hurley is an early tin top from Asbury Park and is the second one known. The A.T Rogers is one of the most desirable NJ shore milks because it is one of the only bottles from Bradley Beach. On top of that mine is an unknown variant. Pulled both of these out of a small coastal lake.


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## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

Love those Milks.....I like how the first one is embossed....looks unusual.  Here's another one of my favorite recent finds....I just need to find a clock that fits, which I am working on and have been told by a buddy who owns a clock shop it is a french boudoir clock frame and they can go for thousands....


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## digger dun (Mar 20, 2015)

This bronze aquamanile is my favorite artifact that I've dug, and it's a kind of bottle, sort of. It's at least from the 1880s as that was the age of the layer I dug it from, but it's probably older. I found an image of an identical one in the collection of a German castle that hosted period events. The man I spoke with there figured it was an 1860s-70s piece but he wasn't sure, having bought his on ebay. That would date to the dump I dug it out of. So it's not as old as I originally dreamed it might be, but it's still really cool!  [attachment=photo (2).JPG][attachment=IMG_0679.JPG]


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## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

That is very ornate......if I ever dug that...I'd consider it my best find....holy crap that is nice.  Thanks for sharing...I will now be admiring the pictures of this for the next hour............Love the one back leg, and very nice patina.


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## Bottleworm (Mar 20, 2015)

I have been digging for almost 3 years now and I have some sodas and other misc. things but my best is my milk I dug the first time I ever went bottle hunting on October 14th 2013. It was a beautiful day and the creeks were dry so I decided to walk down one local creek and discovered 2 dumps and multiple other dump spots. I spotted this under a root and started digging it out which took 15 minutes because all I had with me was a broken chunk of glass. I knew it was a milk but there were none this size from my town. Until now! That day I found this and a soda and a med. Since then I have pulled 80+ bottles and artifacts out of the two dumps. This milk is the only known and is unlisted in the local bottle book. I had an offer of $800 for it. Declined it. Never dug another since although I have dug shards of the pint and other half pint ones. Also dug shards from the other milk bottle my town has. Here's the pic! About as mint as a dug bottle can get. My only bottle from my hometown I have ever seen/dug.


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## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

Very nice....Pint is it?  Great story to go along with it.....it's amazing how much you can find if you just go for a walk sometimes!  Thanks for sharing.


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## Bottleworm (Mar 20, 2015)

Nope its a half pint! Probably the only reason it survived because its small. Yeah you never know where treasure can be found.


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## goodman1966 (Mar 20, 2015)

Found this in a pre-civil war house that was being torn down. [attachment=image.jpg]


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## BobbyCommonBottles (Mar 20, 2015)

Seated Liberty!  Very nice!


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## cowseatmaize (Mar 21, 2015)

Mine are the few I have left and have sentimental value. They're about as common as the dirt and ash I dug them from but mean a lot to me. I can still remember each dump any of them came from and the work that went into getting them home. There is one left that has ties to my mother that I bought that as a lamp.Actually, it's the memories, not the objects so except one bottle I want my ashes to go in, I don't need any of it. Here's one I'm particularly proud of. Holbrook & Co. Worcestershire sauce. I must have spent 6 hours cleaning it to preserve what little label was left and I don't think I lost more than 2% of that.PS: I was maybe 10.[attachment=holbrook.jpg]


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## sunrunner (Mar 21, 2015)

just one of many


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## BellwoodBoys (Mar 21, 2015)

Thanks Bobbycommonbottles, Love the stock farm embossing! And nice sunrunner, I have always loved the hirschfelds. ever dig anything embossed Belmar?


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## botlguy (Mar 21, 2015)

Here's 2 I found in 1964 or 65, my first bottles. The green flask came out of the attic of an 1884 house in Tustin, California, the WARNER'S SAFE K. & L. CURE came from under it the next day. It was the Warners that really got me hooked. I sure wish I still had all the bottles I found in and around that house. Like Eric, it's the sentimental part that makes them priceless.       Jim


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## Ace31 (Mar 21, 2015)

I know it's broken but this is the bottle (Copp Guelph.C.W.) I found back in 2010 that got me started into the hobby.


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## CanadianBottles (Mar 21, 2015)

Man, even broken that Copp is a heck of a way to get started!


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## coldwater diver (Mar 22, 2015)

Nice Stoddard dome ink, 1/2 pint stoddard eagle


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## cannibalfromhannibal (Mar 24, 2015)

Well okay, I can never seem to pass up the chance to show off my favorite bottle. But first, I have to show off my _first_ favorite bottle. This was found in an old California Spanish adobe backyard fountain that had been filled in with trash probably by the 1880s. I went there with the Boy Scouts on a weekend to do some cleanup on the property in 1964. Yes, I can honestly say the Boy Scouts corrupted me! We stayed at the Adobe overnight, and the next morning we tackled the backyard where the fountain was. Not knowing exactly what it was, we began pulling weeds and bottles came up clinging to the roots! I got to keep a couple bottles, but one, a very tiny medicine, was broken accidentally in a move. This one that survived 50 years with me is a common everyday extract bottle worth all of 50 cents on a good day, but to me priceless! The second bottle pictured was found sometime in the late 60's in, of all places, Crescent City, California. How it wound up there I'll never know, but I'm glad it did. I took the Greyhound bus all the way up from central coast California to visit one summer with a high school friend who had just moved away to this town. We spent the week or so that I was there knocking on every door we could find asking permission to crawl around under their floorboards looking for old bottles. We had assorted luck here and there, but the best finds were located under one house. I remember after getting permission from the lady of the house, one of her kids tried to inform her that old bottles were worth money. Fortunately, she didn't think that they were, and pretty much ignored the child. This kid could not have been more than 10 years old, but already smart for that age. My buddy and I got to poking around under the house, and I recall finding bits and pieces here and there, but nothing whole. There was a big wooden box in the corner that looked like a fire wood box. The space was barely high enough for us kids to stand stooped over, and so when the lid to the box was opened, there was barely room enough to see inside of it. They were gunny sacks and rope, and fortunately what we were looking for-bottles! I recall we stood on either side of the box hanging over the edge to the point where we almost fell in while reaching for bottles. Back in those days there was nothing mentioned about splitting our finds, as we were used to dump digging rules-what you find you keep. So he had his pile on one side of the box while I had mine on my side. In my pile I had a number of San Francisco whiskeys, the best being an inside screw thread P. Claudius. I also pulled out a bottle wrapped in wicker that I sort of threw to the side with little interest. I don't really recall what my buddy pulled out except for a sparkling apple green masons 1858 jar. I had never seen a green one before and it knocked me over. We gathered up our booty and moved it into the sunlight. After examining all the others, I finally turned attention to the wicker covered thing. The wicker was pretty rotted and falling off, so I just helped it along its way. You can imagine my surprise when I see this beautiful palmetto tree staring back at me with South Carolina dispensary embossed! My ride home on the Greyhound bus was memorable to say the least. Lastly is my most recent favorite found in 2012, and likely will remain my most valuable favorite, the Dr. Wilcox's Fever and Ague Cure. It has everything going for it: it's color, it's pontiled, it's a cure, it's in perfect condition , and super rare! The auction guys at ABA have appraised it at a pre-auction estimate of $10-$12,000! So far none have ever come up for auction, so who really knows? Maybe I will someday, just not today! Jack


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## coldwater diver (Mar 24, 2015)

Jack that Dr. Wilcox is sweeet!  Great color, shape, and embossing. How did you come across that one? Could you show a picture of the bottom please. Did you research where Dr Wilcox was from?  Kevin


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## cannibalfromhannibal (Mar 24, 2015)

coldwater diver said:
			
		

> Jack that Dr. Wilcox is sweeet!  Great color, shape, and embossing. How did you come across that one? Could you show a picture of the bottom please. Did you research where Dr Wilcox was from?  Kevin


Thanks Kevin. If you do a search for Wilcox's Cure here on abn, scroll down to about the 7th post which was my original with insitu shots and fresh dug pics, as well as cleaned up and the IP base. It is also embossed Albany (NY) and was apparently a short lived product as the advertising was from about 1846 to 1851 from what I was able to find. They also produced a gorgeous sarsaparilla in the same color and one variant with a backwards "S" that sell in the 4-6k range. Seems there are a dozen or so out there of the sarsaparillas, so far only 4 cures and I heard one had some damage. It was found in an 1870's privy in Quincy Il. and was a late throw along with a pontiled ice blue Townsends Sarsaparilla in pieces. The Wilcox was only the second bottle from the hole at about 3 feet deep and had me quite excited. Even though I had no clue to its rarity I knew it was a good one for the reasons mentioned. I dug 25 productive holes in 49 days and this was from hole #21. Mine is also the one in Knapps book on medicines. (My bottle is famous, I'm not.....Just the way I like it! Ha!) Jack somebody-or-other........


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## Bass Assassin (Mar 25, 2015)

There are a lot of great finds on this post. And for each person, there is sentimental value that is unlike monetary value. I have enjoyed looking at everyone's favorite finds. Jack, the palmetto SC Dispensay is a really great bottle. It would be a fantastic day for me to find one of those. Then you showed the last bottle and it is plain and simple a jaw-dropper. Unbelievable. Finding that one  would be a dream come true. With that said, I'll post my Garry Owens Strengthening Bitter's, New Orleans, LA. It was the 1st bitters I ever dug and still my favorite bottle.


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## cannibalfromhannibal (Mar 25, 2015)

Now THAT's a cool bitters! You musta felt spoiled after being the first bitters to find. (And I thought Gary Owens started with Laugh-In!) HA! Jack


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## Bass Assassin (Mar 26, 2015)

That is funny about Gary Owens. When I first researched the Bitter's, all the hits were concerning the latter  Owens. (I think spelled Gary Owens, my Bitter's is spelled Garry Owens) When I finally found the information on the Bitter's I was amazed. They ran a full page ad in the 1875 Texas Almanac. This Bitter's cured everything from women's hormonal problems to serpent bite. I printed a copy of the ad and keep it rolled up in the bottle. I do that with any of the Bitter's and quack medicines I have. That way when someone wants to know what the Bitter's was used for they can read the ads.


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## riverdiver (Apr 19, 2015)

I found this back in 2012 while scuba diving for bottles, it is an OP Gothic arched panel cologne witha roman soldier (I believe) on the front panel, it is about 3" high.


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## digger dun (Apr 20, 2015)

One of these colognes was my first pontiled bottle from my first privy...I was going to post it as my favorite find at first as well.


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## adshepard (Apr 21, 2015)

Portland Steamship Company pitcher found in about 40 feet of water.[attachment=Portland-SS-pitcher.jpg]


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## adshepard (Apr 21, 2015)

Portland Steamship Company pitcher found in about 40 feet of water.[attachment=Portland-SS-pitcher.jpg]


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## RED Matthews (May 24, 2015)

My first bottle was a 1/2 pint milk given to me my a neighbor farmer that had a lot of cows.  I was nine at the time, and my Dad had two cows.  My Dad was trying to teach me how to milk our cows.  This man had about 20 of them, so I asked him how they milked that many.  He showed me through the barn and system - and gave the bottle to drink. When I tried to give him the bottle back - he told me to keep it.  I did and it became my first bottle.  I asked everyon how it was made, and ended up beitn taken to Thatcher Glass in Elmira.  Twenty years later I went to work for Thatdhers as a mold metals engineer.   One never knows where a hobby will take you, but I ended up traveling the fowld for 22 or 23 years selling mold metal castings to the worlds glass industry.   One never kinows where an interest will take theml - until it does.  RED Matthews


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## hemihampton (May 24, 2015)

Newmans Golden Fruit Bitters from 1860's. LEON.


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## RED Matthews (May 24, 2015)

Well, when I was 11 or 12, my GrandMother found out about my bottle collecting, and she gave me a cold cream jar that she had emptied.  It has been my favorite since then.  It is clear glass made in a two part mold with rose flowers all over it, and the seam goes accost the bottom.  The mold maker that cut that design in the mold iron, had to realize that the mold opening had to do it, without being resisted sticking in the mold when the mold opened.  Most of these items were mad in three part molds or differently.  The lip was just a little round edge to the sheared off blowpi-e.  RED M.


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