# Galveston Dig



## nhpharm

Been a while since I posted a dig here so figured I'd get one up.  Went digging last Sunday and ended up digging 5 holes.  First was a trash pit-found one local pharmacy bottle.  Second through fourth holes were duds...stuff was too new (1930's).  Fifth hole was a nice 4' x 4' x 6' privy loaded with glass from 1900-1915 or so.  Mostly broken, but I did rustle up 4 more local pharmacy bottles, a couple local hutch sodas, a very hard to find large Galveston brewing bottle (these commonly come in a smaller size but this larger (quart?) size is the first intact one I have dug in 7 years), and a super hard to find Galveston flask...also the first of this variation I have dug in 7 years.  A super hole and I'm aching to get back out and do some more digging this coming weekend!


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## Robby Raccoon

Wow, a great dig!


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## yacorie

Great job on recovering those bottles.  

After reading through all of these digging posts, I feel like finding and securing permission to dig a privy is definitely a goal for me this winter to line up for spring.


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## nhpharm

Privies can be hit or miss...and there is a lot of variation from lot to lot and from city to city on how productive they are.  Typically the bigger the city, the better your odds of finding trash in the privy.  The privies in some places can be super deep as well and require more than one person to dig them; Galveston they don't get any deeper than about 8' due to the water table.  Of course you see the good stories here on the forum...but a lot of privies turn up nothing at all.


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## yacorie

nhpharm said:


> Privies can be hit or miss...and there is a lot of variation from lot to lot and from city to city on how productive they are.  Typically the bigger the city, the better your odds of finding trash in the privy.  The privies in some places can be super deep as well and require more than one person to dig them; Galveston they don't get any deeper than about 8' due to the water table.  Of course you see the good stories here on the forum...but a lot of privies turn up nothing at all.



That makes sense.  I was thinking of privies that might have been associated with mid 1700s houses here in town.  Perhaps thats not something that would work out but having been on some of the properties with a metal detector - there are no obvious signs of a dump.


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## nhpharm

Any house built before 1900 (or even a touch later) likely had a privy so don't restrict yourself to super old places.


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## ACLbottles

That flask is beautiful. Nice dig!


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## sandchip

I'd be thrilled with any of those finds.  The flask is killer.  Love the deep blue aqua on the Hutch.  I could go on and on.  Great job!


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## CanadianBottles

Those are some great finds!  I'd be itching to get out again too after finding bottles like that.


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## nhpharm

Went out again on Sunday with my son (he's 7).  Found an area just loaded with little tiny trash pits...and many of them had hutch sodas in them.  Pulled out 10 total Galveston hutch sodas...some had damage but still a pretty incredible haul for me...usually lucky to find one or two in a day.  Also found a few Galveston crown tops including one that is very tough to find...a fat Lone Star Bottling Works with F.C.M. Greb embossed.  Never dug one before...they are a bit strange dimensionally.  Also found a North Western Brewery bottle from Chicago...not sure how it traveled all the way to Galveston.  I'll try to take some photos this evening.


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## yacorie

That is fantastic to both find bottles like that and to be doing it with your son.


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## TexasDeere

Great finds.  Best wishes from a fellow bottle collector in SE Texas.


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## nhpharm

Here are some photos of my finds from last Sunday.  Ten hutch sodas (half are damaged), 6 crown tops (4 from Galveston, one from Houston, and one from Chicago), and some other odds and ends (mostly bottles for the dollar box).  Fun dig!  Anyone recognize the canning jar?  It is completely unmarked, but looks to take a Mason's Improved closure.


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## yacorie

Awesome digs.  I would be thrilled with finding just 1 hutch, damaged or not and you nailed 10.  Awesome.

up here in the northeast, those Duffy whiskey bottles fetch more than a buck for sure.  I’m guessing those weren’t going to hit the dollar box


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## nhpharm

The Duffy's will be in the dollar boxes.  People love my dollar boxes at the Houston show.  Last show I did I made $500 just off the dollar boxes and left with a much lighter load!  And lots of people left the show with smiles on their faces, which is part of the fun!


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## GLASSHOPPER55

NH, I want to agree with Sandchip, love that blue-ish Hutch. And who doesn't like hutchies!  Also that flask with the killer screwthreads! 

Very good digs!


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## Warf rat

Wow a dream spot!! Awesome.


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## hemihampton

Nice Finds, Love the Hutch bottles.Congrats.LEON.


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## nhpharm

Got out Sunday again with my son and dug a pair of privies.  The first was a big 1860's/1870's privy that had been heavily dipped (always bad news).  Found a couple of bottles under a center horizontal brace in the privy (an amber flask with a star embossed, an umbrella ink bottle, and a few slicks).  All the way down in one corner I found a nice early W. Hekelnkaemper Atchison Kansas blob top soda bottle...the prize of the day.  Second privy was from the same time period but shaped more like a trough and had a nice big peppersauce bottle, an embossed English blackglass bottle, and a few other odds and ends in it.  Always nice to get into some earlier stuff...never know what you might find!  It was rainy and cold so we called it a day a bit earlier than normal.


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## sandchip

yacorie said:


> Awesome digs.  I would be thrilled with finding just 1 hutch, damaged or not and you nailed 10.  Awesome...



Ain't that the truth.  Been at it 44 years and found only one intact hutch.  At least it was a good local one!


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## yacorie

nhpharm said:


> Got out Sunday again with my son and dug a pair of privies.  The first was a big 1860's/1870's privy that had been heavily dipped (always bad news).  Found a couple of bottles under a center horizontal brace in the privy (an amber flask with a star embossed, an umbrella ink bottle, and a few slicks).  All the way down in one corner I found a nice early W. Hekelnkaemper Atchison Kansas blob top soda bottle...the prize of the day.  Second privy was from the same time period but shaped more like a trough and had a nice big peppersauce bottle, an embossed English blackglass bottle, and a few other odds and ends in it.  Always nice to get into some earlier stuff...never know what you might find!  It was rainy and cold so we called it a day a bit earlier than normal.



That sounds like a great time.  Great job finding and being able to dig the privies.


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## nhpharm

Here is some photos of my finds from Sunday.


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## yacorie

more great bottles.  How will you clean out that bottom one?


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## nhpharm

The flaky iridescence will flake off with a bit of a scrub.  A little acid on the inside will clean up the inside mineral deposits.  The bottle will retain heavy interior and exterior haze unless someone tumbles it.  I like them as they are so if I sell it and someone wants to tumble it, that is their prerogative.  Down here in Texas, most bottles come out quite hazy due to the composition of the soil.


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## shotdwn

Great assortment of bottles.


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## GLASSHOPPER55

Wow an umbrella ink. Is it pontiled?  Nice stuff!


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## nhpharm

Nope...but didn't miss the pontil by much.


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## nhpharm

Went out Sunday again.  Dug a couple holes and found these two treasures.  Civil War USN soap or shaving container and an amber JJ Schott druggist.  These colored pharmacy bottles are tough to find!


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## ACLbottles

That amber Schott druggist is amazing. I never knew there was a colored druggist bottle from Galveston! Great finds!


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## nhpharm

There are actually a few.  Schott had three different styles that were amber, though this is by far the best looking variation.  Leinbach had both amber and teal ones.  All of them are super hard to find; I think the Leinbachs are probably the easiest to find...I've seen a few of them for sale whereas I've never see a colored Schott for sale.


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## yacorie

Those are both great finds but the amber bottle is a real winner


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## vt910815

Curious, are you asking for permission to dig up these privies and how on earth do you find one?? I'm new to the bottle hunting world, but I'm absolutely hooked!


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## nhpharm

Realized I hadn't added to this post for a while.  Been out digging quite a lot the last few months and found a few treasures to add to my collection.  If anyone knows what the item with the Chinese characters is, I'd love to hear.


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## hemihampton

Some nice stuff, Congrats. LEON.


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## CanadianBottles

Really nice finds there!  That Chinese bottle is really interesting, where I grew up there were loads of Chinese bottles but I've never seen one like that before.  I asked my friend who can read Chinese but the only word she was able to make out was "water".  My best guess is that it's an inkwell or maybe some sort of paint pot.


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## sandchip

Good stuff.  That citrate is a killer.  Love the embossing.


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## nhpharm

Thanks so much for the comments and the information!  I do love the citrate...it was one of my bucket list Galveston bottles and I was shocked to see it come out of the hole.  

Went out yesterday...extremely hot and not all that productive but did find one of the Davids' ink bottles (turtle) in amber, which is a first for me.  I've seen them in aqua and teal but never laid eye on an amber one.


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## shotdwn

Nice ink bottle.


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## CanadianBottles

That ink is a stunner!  Fantastic find!


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## bottlecrazy

Dang, you're finding some nice stuff.  Congratulations!


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## nhpharm

Realized I hadn't posted for a while.  Went out this past Sunday (and boy was it hot) but had some luck.  Found two hard to find Galveston hutch sodas, a hard to find quart beer bottle from Galveston, and a nice center script Coca Cola bottle from Galveston (the first I have found intact).  All of this in a trash pit hidden under an old brick walkway...had to break out the sledgehammer to get through it!


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## sandchip

Those are some great finds!  I'd be happy with any one of them.  Don't let that bear slip up on you out in this heat, man.


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## nhpharm

Yeah...I get to my dig site just before daylight and dig until about midday.  Usually go through nearly two gallons of water.


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## hemihampton

Nice finds, better then what I've been finding lately. Congrats. LEON.


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## nhpharm

Made it out again Sunday and dug a lot of holes in the blazing sunshine and heat.  Unfortunately a lot of them were oyster pits or super old pits with broken stuff in them.  Nonetheless, brought home one intact Hutch soda and this neat little tiny medicine bottle from San Antonio.


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## sandchip

Sweet!


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## embe

Super tiny, any idea what was in it originally?


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## nhpharm

Not really...this company sold a few different medicines.  Could be some sort of eye medicine is my suspicion as I have seen newer (labeled) tiny screw top eye medicine bottles from them.  Never seen any embossed bottles from them though!


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## DanielinAk

Awesome


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## nhpharm

Apparently the Chinese "bottle" (page 4 of my post) is actually an opium pipe bowl.  You never know what you might dig up!


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## nhpharm

Went out Saturday for some digging.  Just really wish fall would arrive...was still in the low 90's there in Galveston.  Dug a nice pint and quart Galveston milk bottle, a hutch soda, a nice crown top, and the prize of the day, a nice straight-sided Coca-Cola from Galveston...the third version I have found of these.  I wonder how many there are?  I was pretty excited about the milks as well...tough to find these early milks in good condition.


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## shotdwn

Nice finds. Congratulations.


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## nhpharm

Hadn't posted in a while but have been actively digging while the weather is cool.  A few weeks ago I got into a great old privy dating from 1880's-1910's.  Pulled out a bunch of hutch sodas (including one from Washington DC and one from Chicago), a cool medicine from San Antonio, and a Codd soda bottle from Galveston (super rare).  Was super excited and didn't think it could get any better...best dig I have had in over a year.


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## nhpharm

But then I went out this weekend and had an equal or better day!  Probed out a hole for my son and a hole for myself, then went about opening up my son's hole so he could dig it.  It ended up being much bigger (and much better) than I imagined when I probed it and we dug the one hole the rest of the day.  It was a late 1870's-early 1880's trash pit and was loaded with sodas (which is extremely rare in Galveston). Unfortunately the majority were slick gravitating stopper sodas, but there were a total of 6 very early (and very rare) hutch sodas in the hole from Galveston...some of these were bottles that in the past 8 years I have only dug one of!  To top it all off I dug a great Galveston citrate of magnesia bottle (one I had never seen before), a newer hutch, and a few crown tops.  Super excited about the dig...I'd had several slow months so this is making up for that I guess!


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## Screwtop

Killer hutches, and you've been killin' it since page one! How many "repeats" have you ever found?


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## nhpharm

I've dug a few repeats...Galveston has nearly 60 different hutch sodas including all the variants so there are probably 5 or so of those that I routinely dig repeats of and a ton of them that I have either only dug one of or have never dug an example of.  I've been digging a collection of Galveston bottles (rather than buying a collection) and it has been a great 8 year journey so far...but still a long ways to go to get everything I want/need from Galveston!


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## sandchip

Good stuff!  I'm really liking the magnesia.


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## nhpharm

The citrate was the bottle I was most excited about.  Maybe not the most valuable, but definitely my favorite bottle from the dig.


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## UncleBruce

That CODD bottle is out of this world AMAZING.  Thanks for sharing.


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## nhpharm

Bruce-thanks so much!  One of my favorite bottles from Galveston and oh so hard to find!  Both Galveston and Houston had Codd sodas but both are super rare.


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## nhpharm

Three weeks ago I also went out digging and although it was a bit of a slow day overall I did dig this awesome early Henry Cortes blob from Galveston...super rare variation of this bottle that made the whole day worthwhile!


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## photolith

Holy cow, what awesome finds, I lived in Houston but before I got into bottle collecting, sure wish I could dig some of those privies now. It’s probably fairly easy digging since it’s mostly sand there.


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## nhpharm

I've never dug in Houston, but Galveston can be challenging because of the sandy clay, the oyster shells, and the water.  Lots and lots of water.  And the probing is super tough because there is 2' or more of compacted crushed oyster impregnated with bricks on most lots.


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## nhpharm

Went out last Sunday to do some digging.  Was disgusted to find that someone poached my digging spot and left a number of large open holes...this on a lot that is mowed periodically!  I lay down wood, cut sod, and so forth to keep things looking nice so the lot owner won't revoke my permission but these folks just tore open several big holes and left them.  Nonetheless, I got into a few trash pits and found some odds and ends, including a super uncommon machine-made embossed pharmacy bottle from Galveston with a pour spout, a hard to find milk, an extremely rare Galveston codd soda, a Houston Christmas coke, and some miscellaneous medicines and so forth.  Of course spent half the day filling in the holes the other diggers made.  Made me sick to my stomach...I really can't stand lazy diggers.  If you are going to poach someone's spot, at least have the courtesy of leaving it as nice as the digger you are poaching from!


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## nhpharm

Any ideas on what the hobnail bottle could have been?  I assume some kind of shaker but not sure.  Its a real pretty light amber.


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## shotdwn

Looks like the base part of a small kerosene lamp.


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## nhpharm

I think you are right!  Thanks much!


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## hemihampton

nhpharm said:


> Went out last Sunday to do some digging.  Was disgusted to find that someone poached my digging spot and left a number of large open holes...this on a lot that is mowed periodically!  I lay down wood, cut sod, and so forth to keep things looking nice so the lot owner won't revoke my permission but these folks just tore open several big holes and left them.  Nonetheless, I got into a few trash pits and found some odds and ends, including a super uncommon machine-made embossed pharmacy bottle from Galveston with a pour spout, a hard to find milk, an extremely rare Galveston codd soda, a Houston Christmas coke, and some miscellaneous medicines and so forth.  Of course spent half the day filling in the holes the other diggers made.  Made me sick to my stomach...I really can't stand lazy diggers.  If you are going to poach someone's spot, at least have the courtesy of leaving it as nice as the digger you are poaching from!




I know exactly how you feel. I know of some local Diggers that leave open holes & trash everywhere they dig. I had a whole desolate abandoned city block to myself where me & Tom dug  roughly 20-30 privies but filled them all in. put sod back over them if it had sod, sometimes just dirt but after a few weeks & a couple of rains you'd never know we were there. Then these guys intercept, leave holes every where & now all the neighbors made about the mess. The guy leaving the holes is mad we filled our holes in, because he probes our old hole & starts digging it only to find we already dug it. Said if we left our holes open like he does then he'd know where we dug & were not to dig. Anyways, enough complaining, I really like that Codd, seems any American Codd is tough to come by as most are from overseas but a Texas one has gotta be really rare I'd assume, most of the American ones I've seen are more from the East Coast area. Congrats. LEON.


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## nhpharm

As far as I am aware, only Houston and Galveston had Codd sodas in Texas, and both are super rare.  I was over the moon to dig this example.  Someday I want to dig one of the Houston ones!


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## UncleBruce

nhpharm said:


> Went out last Sunday to do some digging.  Was disgusted to find that someone poached my digging spot and left a number of large open holes...this on a lot that is mowed periodically!  I lay down wood, cut sod, and so forth to keep things looking nice so the lot owner won't revoke my permission but these folks just tore open several big holes and left them.  Nonetheless, I got into a few trash pits and found some odds and ends, including a super uncommon machine-made embossed pharmacy bottle from Galveston with a pour spout, a hard to find milk, an extremely rare Galveston codd soda, a Houston Christmas coke, and some miscellaneous medicines and so forth.  Of course spent half the day filling in the holes the other diggers made.  Made me sick to my stomach...I really can't stand lazy diggers.  If you are going to poach someone's spot, at least have the courtesy of leaving it as nice as the digger you are poaching from!


Selfish scum that I would love to catch in the act.  Wish I lived closer I would have helped you fill in those holes.  I actually caught some folks I knew digging in a nearby town.  I stopped and asked them if they had permission, to which they said yes.  I asked who was it as I know everyone in town and knew who owned the lot.  I told them to clean up and get real permission as they were caught in a lie.  Sad.  Haven't seen them since.


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## nhpharm

A little while back I had a mediocre dig that I didn't post about, but looking back on it, it really wasn't too bad a dig.  Dug a Gust. Feist Tabasco competitor bottle from Galveston (there are two versions of these and this version I had never dug intact) out of a big privy (that was otherwise basically empty) and this cool British medicine (Morton's  Chok Marafet) in cornflower blue out of an early 1880's trash pit.


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## nhpharm

Went out on Saturday and dug a bunch of newer shallow trash pits.  A bit of a slow day but did dig one of the nicer-looking Galveston hutch sodas (Oleander City), a couple tooled top crowns (including a pretty scarce one), a raised letter Houston Dr. Pepper, a couple of "Deco" Man's Size bottles (always loved those!) and a ton of "dollar bottles" (Bromo's, poisons, etc.).  Found a few milks too but they were all damaged...stuff in pits this shallow tends to be damaged as it wasn't well protected.


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## nhpharm

Dug this in a privy my last trip out.  Looks a bit like an ink bottle but has an almost completely enclosed top with just a tiny broken off opening that looks like there could have been more to it.  Anyone have any ideas what it is?


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## sandchip

That one has me confounded.  Looks sorta like a bottle blown in a full height blowback mold retaining the blowover, but it's not that.  I wonder if the gaffer was making some kind of whimsey using an ink mold.  Cool and unique for sure.


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## Warf rat

Incredible finds!


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## nhpharm

Last weekend I dug a huge trash pit/privy hole.  In addition to the strange bottle I posted earlier, I rustled up a pile of bottles including the ones in the photos.  My favorite is the strange bottle with the Native American head embossed on it.  The jug looks to be 2 gallon...probably the largest I have dug intact.  Some nice early Hutch sodas.


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## hemihampton

I like those Hutch Soda's. Congrats. LEON.


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## CanadianBottles

Those are some great finds!  Never seen one in that shape before, I'm guessing it's a perfume but not certain.  And I love the "Open All Night" embossing on those pharmacies, don't think I've seen that embossed on a drug store bottle before.  Probably weren't that many open all night back then, even today there aren't that many all-night drugstores.


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## nhpharm

Also dug this neat old master ink bottle, a Washington, Indiana 1915 Coke, and a bit of a heartbreaker...Dr. McGork's Drug Store bottle...first I had seen from this Galveston pharmacy.


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## Lordbud

The perfume bottle with the embossed head is a good one. Don't let it go for cheap. That is a keeper for sure. Along with the Galveston dandy flask. I'm not an expert on local bottles from Texas but I'd guess the pharmacies from Galveston are also good ones for keeping. Or for sale to a Texas specialist's collection.


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## yacorie

I love your posts Because you find some much great stuff.  Thank you for continuing to share.


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## nhpharm

Been kinda slow lately...might be time to find another lot.  Went out last week and dug a couple of nice trashy trash pits but they were full of slick wines, Bromos, and junk.  I did pull out this super cool pickle bottle though so that made my day.


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## yacorie

nhpharm said:


> Been kinda slow lately...might be time to find another lot.  Went out last week and dug a couple of nice trashy trash pits but they were full of slick wines, Bromos, and junk.  I did pull out this super cool pickle bottle though so that made my day.



can you post a few more pictures of this?  Not sure what it is but I’ve been collecting pictorial bottles and I’m definitely adding this to my list.

ok found it online.  King George slaying a dragon - and it’s affordable which is even cooler !!!


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## nhpharm

Went out yesterday and dug a huge privy...4' x 10' x 6'.  Had high hopes but had been heavily dipped and the use layer was just a few inches at the very bottom...found a cracked hutch soda, a pottery master ink bottle, and the prize of the day, this nice marble.  There were a bunch of marbles tucked into one corner of the privy but mostly plain pottery, but this is as nice as they get in Galveston...anyways, not a great day but the weather was good and you never know what you might find in these 1880's privies.


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## midway49

Love that marble!   I have a display of painted China's.


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## sandchip

That's a beauty!


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## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and dug a huge privy (maps show it supported 2 houses) that measured about 10' x 5' x 7'.  The trash layer was about 6" thick down about 6' and the finds were fairly sparse, but the stuff I did find was local, which is what I collect.  Found three H. Cortes gravitating stopper bottles (last one of those I dug was in 2013!), a nice Charles Marschner hutch soda, a very rare 1870's Baylor pharmacy bottle, and a nice uncommon Schoolfield pharmacy.  Also found a bunch of odds and ends like marbles, doll parts, etc.  as well as a few other non-local bottles.  Dug for 10 hrs straight and was wore out but drove home with a smile on my face...as did my son, who loves digging with me.


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## Lacsco

nhpharm said:


> Been a while since I posted a dig here so figured I'd get one up.  Went digging last Sunday and ended up digging 5 holes.  First was a trash pit-found one local pharmacy bottle.  Second through fourth holes were duds...stuff was too new (1930's).  Fifth hole was a nice 4' x 4' x 6' privy loaded with glass from 1900-1915 or so.  Mostly broken, but I did rustle up 4 more local pharmacy bottles, a couple local hutch sodas, a very hard to find large Galveston brewing bottle (these commonly come in a smaller size but this larger (quart?) size is the first intact one I have dug in 7 years), and a super hard to find Galveston flask...also the first of this variation I have dug in 7 years.  A super hole and I'm aching to get back out and do some more digging this coming weekend!


   Do you have a email ?


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## nhpharm

Sent you a PM


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## nhpharm

And here is the heartbreaker of the day.


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## nhpharm

And a few of the other odds and ends I dug.  Love the marbles and the little chamber pot.


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## martyfoley

Nice finds, good luck on the future digs!


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## hemihampton

I really like the Hutch's & Gravitating Stopper Bottles. Nice finds. Bummer about the Crier. Glad to see I'm not the only one out digging Privy's. LEON.


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## nhpharm

Leon,

I love digging early stuff, so the gravitating sodas really made me happy.  Hard to get that sort of age in Texas.


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## nhpharm

Went out Saturday and poked around...probed a medium sized privy and got my hopes up, but it was not to be.  Privy was loaded but with 1915-1920 stuff and mostly junk.  Also had a ton of scrap wood in it that made the digging super hard.  Came home with a bunch of stuff for the dollar box (and some stuff that my son packed up when I was not looking that I would not normally have taken home).  You win some and lose some!  At least I got enough dollar bottles to pay for gas!


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## planeguy2

In westren New York the soil is so rocky and the bedrock is like 2 feet down. Most of the bottles are on thr surface or half buried.


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## hemihampton

Thought I seen a Hutch in your Recent Pic, your going to throw that in a $1.00 box? Is it a Slick? LEON.


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## nhpharm

Leon,

It's a Galveston hutch but damaged.  I might get $5-$10 for that.


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## nhpharm

Went out again on Saturday.  First pit was an oyster pit; even though these don't usually have many bottles they do often have pottery so I always dig them.  Found this cool small (quart) pottery jug in there that I am super happy with.  Second hole was a large privy but unfortunately completely clean...literally not a bottle in it.  My son (who turned 9 this weekend) dug his own hole and found a bird cage feeder so he was quite happy.  Tough day overall (it was super hot too) but the jug made me happy.  Could even be a Texas pottery.


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## Skadman4

nhpharm said:


> Went out again on Saturday. First pit was an oyster pit; even though these don't usually have many bottles they do often have pottery so I always dig them. Found this cool small (quart) pottery jug in there that I am super happy with. Second hole was a large privy but unfortunately completely clean...literally not a bottle in it. My son (who turned 9 this weekend) dug his own hole and found a bird cage feeder so he was quite happy. Tough day overall (it was super hot too) but the jug made me happy. Could even be a Texas pottery.


Marbles are my weakness! Those are lovely and I can't get over the fact that you guys are digging them! Here in Alabama, red clay and chirt are the norm and it's almost impossible to do holes unless you have a specific location to go into. Any marbles I've seen found, I have not been so lucky, were from tractors turning under field's. Or in creeks as well.

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## nhpharm

Went out yesterday…dug a privy I found last time I was out and it ended up being completely empty…someone filled it with sawdust and there was one broken 1870’s bottle in one corner.  Probed what felt like an oyster pit…discovered they had dug a hole for a barrel privy and filled around the outside of the barrel with oysters.  Dug the barrel privy and it ended up being pretty big (started 3’ down and went to 7’ down and super wet)…found the three attached blobs from Galveston in it.  Over the moon!  I’ve never dug the middle version of the Cortes whole so super happy to find an addition to the collection…and it has a great amber swirl in the glass too.   
I average 1 blob a year digging so this is pretty much a record for me.  8 hours of digging in the heat between the two privies but definitely worth it!


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## nhpharm

Here are all of the finds from Sunday (minus a few that went back in the hole).


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## midway49

Good Stuff!   Thanks for your reports.


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## nhpharm

Went out digging on Sunday...it was quite hot.  Nonetheless, I probed a hole that felt like it had iron in it about 4' down, so I opened it up. Ended up being a broken up cast iron stove in the hole.  Under it were a couple of late 1860s' bottles, including the prize of the day...a Dr. S.W. Leak's Vegetable Tonic.  Never seen or heard of the bottle before but a little research indicates that it was exclusively sold by J.K. Moore of Galveston, Texas in 1868...I found advertising starting in March of 1868 and ending in June of 1868.  Still trying to figure out who Dr. Leak was...there are some references to a Dr. Leak in Indianola so may be him but still searching for confirmation.  Super excited to add this super early Texas medicine to my collection!  Pretty much the only bottle I found all day!


----------



## nhpharm

Here is an advertisement from the May 3, 1868 Galveston Daily News.


----------



## nhpharm

Another day digging in the brutal heat...and honestly not much to show for it except some heartbreakers.  Digging an area with a thin layer of trash down fairly shallow.  Found a broken Constitutional Beverage bottle, a broken rare G. Krausse bottle from Galveston, a few pretty rare broken hutch sodas, and that was about it except for some dollar bottles.  Highlight was probably the nice pot lid, though a pretty common example and the early squat blackglass beer.  Lots of snuff bottles and other odds and ends.


----------



## midway49

Thanks for your reports.  Love to see them!


----------



## hemihampton

Bummer on the Broken Hutch's. What was the big amber broken top kinda looking like a Bitters Top? LEON.


----------



## nhpharm

It was a Constitutional Beverage bottle.  Would have looked like this whole.


----------



## sandchip

Those Olmsteads are beauties.  I used to have a yellow one many years ago.  Wish I had it back!


----------



## nhpharm

Yeah...would have been nice.  First one I have seen digging in Galveston.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out again on Sunday and got into one heck of a trash pit.  It was full of bricks and boulders and was all mixed up age-wise with newer stuff under older stuff but had some real great bottles.  Below are some photos of the finds.  One of the prizes was a G. Krausse gravitating soda-been searching for this for 8 years and finally dug one.  He was a grocer in Galveston in the 1860's and this is one of the early gravitatings that have wooden stoppers.  The other big prize was a super H.C.L. Aschoff citrate of magnesia.  Aschoff was dead in 1876 so this predates that.  Overall just a super day!  There were some heartbreakers too but I'm not complaining as the two bottles above were ones I have never dug and are both super rare local bottles!


----------



## sandchip

Heckacious!  Glad to see you finally put a Krausse on the shelf, and the embossing on that citrate is the best I've seen on that type bottle.  I hope you're staying cool through all the dirt flingin'.  It's brutal here in south Georgia right now.


----------



## nhpharm

It's hard to stay cool but I've been at it so long digging in the summer that I've gotten sort of used to it.  Definitely brutal though and easy to get overwhelmed by the heat.  The citrate has great strong embossing...these early citrates often have very light embossing so I was very excited about this.


----------



## hemihampton

Got a pic of the Hutchs? What are they? Congrats on some excellent finds. LEON.


----------



## nhpharm

The hutches were a GG from Galveston, two private mold Charles Marschners, a tombstone slug Marschner, and a Mexican hutch soda.  Unfortunately three of the five were cracked, but they were icing on the cake!


----------



## hemihampton

Nice, are they all listed or pictured on Hutchbook.com?  LEON.


----------



## nhpharm

They sure are!


----------



## TxBottleDigger

nhpharm said:


> Been a while since I posted a dig here so figured I'd get one up.  Went digging last Sunday and ended up digging 5 holes.  First was a trash pit-found one local pharmacy bottle.  Second through fourth holes were duds...stuff was too new (1930's).  Fifth hole was a nice 4' x 4' x 6' privy loaded with glass from 1900-1915 or so.  Mostly broken, but I did rustle up 4 more local pharmacy bottles, a couple local hutch sodas, a very hard to find large Galveston brewing bottle (these commonly come in a smaller size but this larger (quart?) size is the first intact one I have dug in 7 years), and a super hard to find Galveston flask...also the first of this variation I have dug in 7 years.  A super hole and I'm aching to get back out and do some more digging this coming weekend!


Great job !!! Beautiful bottles.


----------



## nhpharm

Been quite some time since I posted; been digging still but not in Galveston.  Sunday I went back to Galveston for my first dig there in nearly 4 months.  Did a ton of probing in rock hard ground, dug a bunch of fruitless oyster pits, and came home with very little but was rewarded with these two very nice and quite scarce 1880's hutch sodas...love these with the horseshoe.


----------



## TxBottleDigger

It’s crazy to think that most of the bottles you dig where in Galveston under the ground during the storm of 1900.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Saturday to dig a privy I had put off until I could get some help.  Ended up being a bit disappointing with some junk bottles but not much else.  Had this heartbreaker broken local jug and the little creamer.  Dug a few other holes as well and found this very strange little green bottle in one of the holes...anyone know what that might have been used for?  I'm guessing some sort of liquor...


----------



## yacorie

Not sure but I agree with liquor.  It’s a form I’ve always like - the mount vernon rye and the blood boiler/widow maker bottle or whatever it is -


----------



## TxBottleDigger

I have always loved the history of Galveston and I certainly wished I had some of your items in my possession. I’m very jealous!  I always love to see what you find. Keep up the good work and keep posting your finds. As for the green bottle, I’m guessing it’s a wine bottle or maybe a decanter.


----------



## GACDIG

Just following all your dig pic and post. Love the time period your in. Think the green is some kind of nice Lady Leg Liquor bottle. Its a keeper.
gac


----------



## nhpharm

Been a bit since I posted here but I have been out digging.  Went out Sunday with my two sons to dig a few pits and had some pretty good luck in a shallow layer of 1910's trash.  A few of the highlights were a quite rare Bay Shore Bottling Works hutch from Seabrook, Texas (first I have ever dug whole, though it does have some heel damage), a bone toothbrush handle marked "The Star Drug Store", which of course is a famous drug store in Galveston, and a little "split size" Galveston Mignon crown top soda I have never seen before.  Capped the dig off with a nice Union City, Tennessee hutch soda as well...wonder how that got to Galveston???


----------



## nhpharm

Went out for another dig with my oldest son on Sunday and found some odds and ends...and some bottles that have traveled a long ways.  Found another (damaged) Bay Shore Bottling Works bottle (from Seabrook, Texas), a Lake Charles, Louisiana hutch, a St. Paul, Minnesota hutch, a Parsons, Kansas pharmacy bottle, and a Galveston pharmacy bottle along with some other "dollar" bottles.  The area I am working right now is super intriguing because of the non-Texas stuff on the lot...very unusual for Galveston to find pharmacies or hutch sodas from anywhere else.


----------



## nhpharm

Dug this too...some sort of arrowhead pendant with a buffalo nickel on one side and a Mercury dime on the other.  Date on the Mercury looks like 1939 but not sure.


----------



## logan.the.collector

nhpharm said:


> Dug this too...some sort of arrowhead pendant with a buffalo nickel on one side and a Mercury dime on the other.  Date on the Mercury looks like 1939 but not sure.


As a coin collector I think I'd have a heart attack if I dug something that cool when at a bottle dump. Even in poor condition those things are awesome


----------



## Found a collection

nhpharm said:


> Been a while since I posted a dig here so figured I'd get one up.  Went digging last Sunday and ended up digging 5 holes.  First was a trash pit-found one local pharmacy bottle.  Second through fourth holes were duds...stuff was too new (1930's).  Fifth hole was a nice 4' x 4' x 6' privy loaded with glass from 1900-1915 or so.  Mostly broken, but I did rustle up 4 more local pharmacy bottles, a couple local hutch sodas, a very hard to find large Galveston brewing bottle (these commonly come in a smaller size but this larger (quart?) size is the first intact one I have dug in 7 years), and a super hard to find Galveston flask...also the first of this variation I have dug in 7 years.  A super hole and I'm aching to get back out and do some more digging this coming weekend!


Feeling like ya hit the lottery, huh?


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and continued digging a thin layer of trash that normally would not be worth digging but in this case has been a pretty good producer of sodas provided you move a lot of dirt.  Extremely compacted dirt so tough to chip through it without damaging the bottles.  Nonetheless, had a pretty successful day; found a nice Lone Star & Coca-Cola mug based crown top soda, a Galveston Mignon crown top (a scare version), an Italian Soda Water Association hutch soda, a Galveston Brewing crown top, and the real find of the day, a Seawall Lemon Splits bottle...really a historic and rare bottle from Galveston commemorating the construction of the Galveston seawall.  Advertised in 1905 and 1906 (initial section of the seawall was finished in mid 1904).  Over the moon on this bottle...they are very rare and are quite thin bottles that rarely survive.  Lots of embossing too...script on one side and more standard embossing on the other.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Sunday with my oldest son and I was determined to find a privy after a few quiet digs.  After about an hour, I finally found a privy right where the maps said it should be...it was only about 2' wide (and 5' long/7' deep) so I had been missing it with my grid.  Nonetheless, it had quite a number of bottles in it, including a nice Galveston pharmacy bottle, a broken Schott & Colby druggist bottle from Houston (when JJ Schott opened a branch there-I never knew there was a bottle from his time in Houston), and all the way at the very top of the hole, an extremely rare Galveston Codd soda bottle.  While I was poking around for another hole, my son decided to dig a random hole...he got down about 3' and hit water, which is a good sign that there is a trash pit nearby.  Sure enough, it was a pit of water, hundreds of leather shoes, and some nice late 1870's/early 1880's bottles including some slick gravitating sodas, two hutch sodas (one quite scarce and one extremely rare), and an awesome round bottom Ginger Ale from Houston.  Just an awesome day of digging with my son and some very historic bottles for our neck of the woods.


----------



## midway49

Nice stuff!   thanks for sharing.


----------



## UncleBruce

NICE to find stuff.  Thanks for sharing.


----------



## GRACE ABOUND

Very Interesting .I Know There Are A Lot Of Old Bottles Around Galveston. Buried With Alot Of Other Stuff .You Have Some Nice History To Share With Others. I Have An Old Star Dairy Embossed  With Big Star On The Side An On The Bottom  A Big S . I Used To Go There But All WE Did Was Empty Bottles .Thanks For Allowing Us A Chance To See It.


----------



## webe992

Awesome Bottles!


----------



## hemihampton

Nice Finds, That Codd has gotta to be a rare one. Congrats. LEON.


----------



## buriedtreasuretime

nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday with my oldest son and I was determined to find a privy after a few quiet digs. After about an hour, I finally found a privy right where the maps said it should be...it was only about 2' wide (and 5' long/7' deep) so I had been missing it with my grid. Nonetheless, it had quite a number of bottles in it, including a nice Galveston pharmacy bottle, a broken Schott & Colby druggist bottle from Houston (when JJ Schott opened a branch there-I never knew there was a bottle from his time in Houston), and all the way at the very top of the hole, an extremely rare Galveston Codd soda bottle. While I was poking around for another hole, my son decided to dig a random hole...he got down about 3' and hit water, which is a good sign that there is a trash pit nearby. Sure enough, it was a pit of water, hundreds of leather shoes, and some nice late 1870's/early 1880's bottles including some slick gravitating sodas, two hutch sodas (one quite scarce and one extremely rare), and an awesome round bottom Ginger Ale from Houston. Just an awesome day of digging with my son and some very historic bottles for our neck of the woods.



Wow, what a glorious day of digging. You must be beaming with pride. That better then pulling in a trophy fish! Congratulations on your find.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## UncleBruce

buriedtreasuretime said:


> ... better then pulling in a trophy fish!


WHAT!!!!! That's smack talk... you made the list... if I could just find it now.


----------



## nhpharm

Haha...my son would probably rather a trophy fish any day, but he does enjoy digging with me.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out last Sunday and probed out a nice crunchy spot.  First 3' or so was 1950's stuff and I was a little discouraged, but I kept at it and about 4' down I hit the top of a huge barrel privy.  Ended up being roughly 4' in diameter and 10' deep at the bottom. Water table was at about 7', so I had to stop bailing at that point and shovel into a bucket while standing in water over my waist. Nonetheless, there was a lot of glass but a lot of it was broken.  Privy dated from roughly 1860-1870 and had some interesting stuff...a few peppersauces, a Hostetters, a Donnaud's Remedy for Baldness from New Orleans, an Elixir De Guillie, a Worcestershire sauce knockoff embossed just "W.O.M. & Co.", and a beautiful olive green umbrella ink with a burst lip...seemed very unusual for an American bottle but I've seen a few aqua ones in the past that were the same way.  No intact Galveston bottles and plenty of heartbreakers but still always super fun to dig in a privy this old.


----------



## TxBottleDigger

nhpharm said:


> Went out last Sunday and probed out a nice crunchy spot.  First 3' or so was 1950's stuff and I was a little discouraged, but I kept at it and about 4' down I hit the top of a huge barrel privy.  Ended up being roughly 4' in diameter and 10' deep at the bottom. Water table was at about 7', so I had to stop bailing at that point and shovel into a bucket while standing in water over my waist. Nonetheless, there was a lot of glass but a lot of it was broken.  Privy dated from roughly 1860-1870 and had some interesting stuff...a few peppersauces, a Hostetters, a Donnaud's Remedy for Baldness from New Orleans, an Elixir De Guillie, a Worcestershire sauce knockoff embossed just "W.O.M. & Co.", and a beautiful olive green umbrella ink with a burst lip...seemed very unusual for an American bottle but I've seen a few aqua ones in the past that were the same way.  No intact Galveston bottles and plenty of heartbreakers but still always super fun to dig in a privy this old.


WOW! That Civil War era cathedral pepper sauce !!! That toothpaste jar was imported from England to Galveston. Probably boarded the ship at Liverpool. If your not aware, the White Star Line was founded in Liverpool by Bruce Ismay. The Titanic, which was part of the White Star Line, was a Liverpool registered ship and bared the name Liverpool on her stern.
PS- Galveston, being such a historical city it is, you may want to donate or sell some things to a museum. Maybe even the local Rosenberg Library museum.









*R.M.S. Titanic at Queenstown 
April 11, 1912*
Her finial stop until her fateful maiden
voyage to New York.










*Stern sinking *
James Cameron’s
1997
“Titanic”​


----------



## nhpharm

Been a bit since I last posted, so here goes.  Went out Sunday and probed out a promising spot...unfortunately it was a 1950's trash pit full of liquor bottles.  Continued to probe and found an area under a cement slab that felt interesting, though definitely not a slam dunk.  Broke up the cement and found a 6' x 3' x 5' privy full to 2" off the bottom with cinders.  The last 2" was paved with bottles though.  Privy appears to date from 1900-1905 or so.  I ended up with 4 hutch sodas (some rare ones at that), 3 crown tops (two sodas and a beer) with one of the crown being very rare, and some other odds and ends such as a pewter whistle, some Gray's Medicine Co. bottles (contained Catarrh Cure with cocaine).  The striking thing about the privy was that there were over 200 (I counted 205 intact) little clear glass slicks about 2" tall and 3/4" in diameter.  I suspect those were "catarrh cure" as well and someone was an addict.   There were also about a dozen amber gauze jars in the privy.  After I filled in the privy, I probed around a bit more and dug a few small holes; one ended up having another hutch soda in it as well as an absinthe bottle.  All around a fun day...very rare for me to find 5 hutch sodas in one day and a couple real rare ones to boot!


----------



## UncleBruce

I really like that TEXAS SPLITS beer.  Find one like that for me!!!


----------



## hemihampton

I like the Hutch's, Congrats, Nice Finds. LEON.


----------



## nhpharm

UncleBruce said:


> I really like that TEXAS SPLITS beer.  Find one like that for me!!!


Ask and you shall receive!  Went out in today's mail and I hope you enjoy.  It's one of the earliest of the "Texas Splits" bottles with the tooled lip.


----------



## UncleBruce

nhpharm said:


> Ask and you shall receive!  Went out in today's mail and I hope you enjoy.  It's one of the earliest of the "Texas Splits" bottles with the tooled lip.


Thanks.  I will treasure it.  Very kind of you.  Are you sure there is nothing I can offer in return?  I don't know why, but I do adore these embossed beers.


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## nhpharm

Happy for you to have it!


----------



## nhpharm

Went out last Sunday and dug 4 trash pits.  The first turned up nothing except a sealed absinthe bottle.  The second pit was loaded...so loaded most everything was broken.  I did come up with a  Columbo Peptic Bitters and a rare Galveston hitch with some lift damage as well as a broken Coca-Cola stopper.  The third pit was much earlier and had just a F.G. Wells & Co. bottle in it (I believe they were a medicine company in New York).  The last pit was a complete dud.  Starting to get hot here in Texas!


----------



## UncleBruce

nhpharm said:


> Happy for you to have it!


Hey Brandon, I really like that beer.  Got busy and forgot to tell you it arrived safe and sound.  I will post a photo of it when the weather gets bad.  Been to nice to stay inside.


----------



## nhpharm

UncleBruce said:


> Hey Brandon, I really like that beer.  Got busy and forgot to tell you it arrived safe and sound.  I will post a photo of it when the weather gets bad.  Been to nice to stay inside.


Awesome-so glad it made it to you safely!


----------



## nhpharm

Been a little while but I made it out last Sunday for a day of digging in the Texas heat.  Unfortunately, the first three holes I probed and dug were duds, with really nothing of interest in them.  The last hole was a little different story...it had some newer stuff in one area and some very early stuff to one side of where I probed. Dug a nice 1870's Western blown spice jar and the prize of the day, a very nice 1860's blob soda bottle from Galveston...both came out in the last 30 minutes or so of the dig.  It's always special to get into some early Galveston stuff.


----------



## hemihampton

Nice Stuff, Really hard for me to find any Privy's from pre 1880's in my area. Congrats. LEON.


----------



## nhpharm

hemihampton said:


> Nice Stuff, Really hard for me to find any Privy's from pre 1880's in my area. Congrats. LEON.


It's hard in Galveston as well...a large percentage of the privies and trash pits we find are post-hurricane (1900).  After the hurricane they filled in much of the island so the early stuff is only found where they didn't fill too much or at all, which is only a limited area.  Luckily for some reason many people dug pits in their yards and buried trash as well as having privies, so you can find some nice early stuff in these early trash pits sometimes.​


----------



## nhpharm

Went out last weekend (in the blazing heat) with my son and dug four holes.  In the end, the first hole was the only one that produced, but produce it did!  Dug a "small" F. Solyer blob from Galveston and two of the F. Solyer "Schultz" patent bottles, which are extremely rare and even harder to find in fair condition.  Over the moon with this dig.  The hole was strange...roughly a 6' x 6' area boxed in with a single board about 6" deep (set 3' or so below the ground now).  Maybe a lazy man's privy or some sort of animal enclosure or trough?  Always exciting to find 1870's stuff in Texas!


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and found a privy pretty quickly in the morning.  Unfortunately, with all the rain down here, it was a battle keeping it dry and the privy ended up being huge (8' x 4' x 7' deep) so I only dug to the center brace and left the other 4' for next time.  Unfortunately, though it was early (1860's), it had a very thin use layer (6" thick at the bottom of the privy) and I only found one slick and a bone toothbrush that were whole.  With the last bit of energy I had, I punched a small hole in an area with a thin layer of trash and found this beer advertising coaster, which I was pretty excited about even though it was in three pieces.  Just to give an idea of the size of the toothbrush, the coaster is 6" in diameter.  Its a big toothbrush!


----------



## nhpharm

Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm just talking to myself on this thread but I did go out yesterday (it was hot as hell) to finish the other half of the privy I found 3 weeks ago.  A little less water thankfully and a few more bottles...found a little doll head, a Mrs. Winslows, an early Lea & Perrins, a couple slicks, and the prize of the day, this awesome Russ'/Aromatic Schnapps/New York bottle.  I've seen a few of his bitters bottles (broken) digging in Galveston but this is the first time I have seen even a piece of the Schnapps.  Has the cool rivet marks in the neck from some repair to the mold and is in great condition overall considering it sat 7' down in the privy for 150 years.  My son was with me and he dug a nice little poison bottle in his own hole.


----------



## CanadianBottles

nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday and found a privy pretty quickly in the morning.  Unfortunately, with all the rain down here, it was a battle keeping it dry and the privy ended up being huge (8' x 4' x 7' deep) so I only dug to the center brace and left the other 4' for next time.  Unfortunately, though it was early (1860's), it had a very thin use layer (6" thick at the bottom of the privy) and I only found one slick and a bone toothbrush that were whole.  With the last bit of energy I had, I punched a small hole in an area with a thin layer of trash and found this beer advertising coaster, which I was pretty excited about even though it was in three pieces.  Just to give an idea of the size of the toothbrush, the coaster is 6" in diameter.  Its a big toothbrush!


I love that advertising coaster!  Shame it's broken but I suppose that's typical for that sort of thing, and it'll repair really nicely.  The Russ' is great too, never seen that one before.


----------



## bottlecrazy

Very nice!  I also love that coaster.  Looks like something you might see today, which is an awesome tie to the past.  What age do you think it is?


----------



## nhpharm

bottlecrazy said:


> Very nice!  I also love that coaster.  Looks like something you might see today, which is an awesome tie to the past.  What age do you think it is?


I think it is from around 1910 or so.  Definitely pre-prohibition, but based on the context it was found in, post 1900.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Sunday for a dig on a lot that I last dug several years ago.  Probed a strip down the center of the lot before the sun came up and marked some possible pits.  The first hole was a dud but the second hole ended up being a trash pit from around 1900...turned up an Oleander City hutch soda, a couple of Galveston Brewing bottles, a baby bottle, several marbles, and some odds and ends.  Poked around the sides of the trash pit and found that it opened up into a second trash pit that was much earlier than the first...probably early 1870's.  Pulled out a nice early Galveston pharmacy bottle, a super rare Schultz patent Solyer soda bottle, an umbrella ink, and a few other interesting bits as well as some heartbreaker bitters shards (Senour's Calisaya Bitters and an Argyle Bitters).  Might have to do a bit more digging on this lot!  Good day, but with the late August heat of Texas in full force.


----------



## webe992

The Solyer's looks to be in great shape too!


----------



## nhpharm

Yep...probably the best one I've ever dug.


----------



## TxBottleDigger

I really like the pepper sauce bottles you find. Forget the hutch, I want the damm condiment bottles. LOL!


----------



## nhpharm

I love the food bottles as well...I have quite a large collection of different fancy food bottles.  You find a lot of variation in Galveston on the food/condiment front for sure.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Sunday with the boys and dug a couple of pits.  Found a few odds and ends with the real treasure being this nice F.A. Conant pontiled soda from New Orleans.  Never imagined I would be finding pontiled bottles in Galveston...blows me away every time.  It was the hottest dig so far for the year so we only lasted until about noon.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64

As always, killer stuff. Glad to see your helper digging with you. Heat never got to me before but this year maybe the turning point. I never sweat so much.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## TxBottleDigger

This shit is crazy !!! I’d think you were digging old privies up north or in the west, not in the south! This stuff is really old. Crazy to think this stuff is coming from Texas. Can you imagine what the guys in the 1970s found?  They were having the time of their lives, so much so, they wiped out a majority of the old stuff in Texas and the United States.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64

People are inherently lazy. Bottle diggers miss things. Even i am guilty of rushing through a dig. One thing or another, my aching back or the heat...add some mosquitos and well you get what I am trying to say. 
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## nhpharm

Diggers had different targets back then as well.  I go through the process of getting permission on residential lots, researching what was there, probing a million holes, digging a bunch of dud holes and filling them in, and hopefully finding some stuff from time to time.  Back in the 1970's, the big dumps in Galveston and Houston were accessible as well as lots of big construction sites, so that is where the diggers around here focused.  There was some privy digging going on, but they certainly didn't dig it out.  I think this goes for just about any town in Texas...look for the privies and the backyard trash pits.


----------



## nhpharm

Here is some of my aquas...mostly peppersauce or other condiments.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64

nhpharm said:


> Here is some of my aquas...mostly peppersauce or other condiments.


I like the aged look sometimes. You get some of the best looking stuff. That one lying down with the seal, is it a sauce or an olive oil? It looks huge. Great post by the way. I like the way you keep adding to the same Galveston dig post.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## nhpharm

Its a "Zara"...contained Maraschino Liqueur.  It is super tall. 

I typically don't get stuff in my collection cleaned...I get the dirt off, use a little muriatic to get some of the deposits out, but the haze/etching/stain stays.  I personally like it.

This site gets a little cluttered with posts sometimes...since I am a repeat poster mostly posting about my digs it makes sense to compile them all in one post.  It's also fun for me to go back to the beginning and scroll through sometimes...lots of memories.


----------



## east texas terry

nhpharm said:


> Been a while since I posted a dig here so figured I'd get one up.  Went digging last Sunday and ended up digging 5 holes.  First was a trash pit-found one local pharmacy bottle.  Second through fourth holes were duds...stuff was too new (1930's).  Fifth hole was a nice 4' x 4' x 6' privy loaded with glass from 1900-1915 or so.  Mostly broken, but I did rustle up 4 more local pharmacy bottles, a couple local hutch sodas, a very hard to find large Galveston brewing bottle (these commonly come in a smaller size but this larger (quart?) size is the first intact one I have dug in 7 years), and a super hard to find Galveston flask...also the first of this variation I have dug in 7 years.  A super hole and I'm aching to get back out and do some more digging this coming weekend!


Very nice


----------



## Wildcat wrangler

Wow!!! Such great stuff. That lady leg whiskey is amazing , as well as that soda bottle! 
Love both sodas ….super nice.  Is that’s your kid, being raised right?  My daughter was raised like that- now that she’s grown, she is still digging - has her husband hooked and she’s raising her kids like that too.  Good addictions for life, beyond the hoarding part of this thing!  We are a sick bunch always looking for heaps of garbage or old toilets….who would have ever thought ….


----------



## nhpharm

My 7 year old and my 10 year old both dig with me...my 10 year old comes out almost every time I go.


----------



## TxBottleDigger

nhpharm said:


> Here is some of my aquas...mostly peppersauce or other condiments.


Is that a Maltese cross ?


----------



## nhpharm

Sure is.  Cool 1880's pickle bottle I dug.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64

nhpharm said:


> Sure is.  Cool 1880's pickle bottle I dug.


I love the bottle especially the flash of Benicia on the cross. Beauty!
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Saturday for a dig...dug a strange pit that turned up a fair number of bottles, though most were nothing special.  I did, however, find a bottle I have been searching for since I started digging in Texas...this super fancy Marschner crown top that I suspect was this company's first crown top.  The mold maker was extremely skilled that made this!  Also found this neat amber Palo Pinto bottle, which appears to have held mineral water salts sold by JJ Schott of Galveston.  I've never seen an example of this bottle before, so that was exciting (though the bottle does have some damage).  In my son's hole, we found this neat railroad baggage tag so that was pretty cool!


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and found a nice old 1870's pit.  Dug some cool stuff including a very odd Cantrell & Cochrane dumpy torpedo.  Love getting into this older stuff!  Mockingbird Food bottle came out of a second hole...always fun to find those.  Everyone seems to have had one down here!


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64

nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday and found a nice old 1870's pit.  Dug some cool stuff including a very odd Cantrell & Cochrane dumpy torpedo.  Love getting into this older stuff!  Mockingbird Food bottle came out of a second hole...always fun to find those.  Everyone seems to have had one down here!


Nowadays it is illegal to keep migratory birds. The torpedo would have been a day maker for anyone. That's a great spot your digging in. Thanks for the pictures, amazing as always!
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## nhpharm

Yeah...I was pretty excited about it.  A cool color too.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64

nhpharm said:


> Yeah...I was pretty excited about it.  A cool color too.


I've never seen this variation or a Cantrell & Cochrane that wasn't aqua, usually taller. My favorite of your finds by far. Thanks for the close up pictures, I'm sure they do not do it justice. So happy for you. Thanks again.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## TxBottleDigger

nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday and found a nice old 1870's pit.  Dug some cool stuff including a very odd Cantrell & Cochrane dumpy torpedo.  Love getting into this older stuff!  Mockingbird Food bottle came out of a second hole...always fun to find those.  Everyone seems to have had one down here!


Once again, I don’t know how to express how *FUCKING RADICAL* the stuff you’re finding is. Shit, you must hit the $100 quota every single fricken time you dig !!! Crazy stuff dude.


----------



## nhpharm

Thanks!  Any time I dig something cool for my collection, that fulfills my quota.


----------



## hemihampton

I dug a Cantrelle & Cochrane in a 1870's Privy & it looked nothing like that one. Thats a Cool one. Congrats.


----------



## ROBBYBOBBY64

These are the ones I am used to. Aqua and taller. Thanks for that picture Hemi.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


----------



## nhpharm

Thanks!  We find the aqua long ones often-Galveston was a port city so lots of them came in.   Like you all have said, until I dug this example, I had never seen one of the fat light amber ones.


----------



## buriedtreasuretime

nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday and found a nice old 1870's pit. Dug some cool stuff including a very odd Cantrell & Cochrane dumpy torpedo. Love getting into this older stuff! Mockingbird Food bottle came out of a second hole...always fun to find those. Everyone seems to have had one down here!



Beautiful opalessence


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## Wildcat wrangler

nhpharm said:


> Yeah...I was pretty excited about it. A cool color too.



That is just an amazing, AMAZING bottle. I have never seen a soda bottle that color. I either want to go digging with u and the family- or I am just going to have to live vicariously thru your pix and continue drooling on my brand new iPad! The other was a minute past AppleCare when it quit on me- probably a drooling issue! I guess that’s a pretty long drive, anyway! Lol! Still, your sure digging some incredible stuff, there!


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## nhpharm

After an involuntary month off, got back to it yesterday.  Still quite hot here in Texas but dug 4 pretty big holes...very little showed up out of any of them but we did come up with two cracked local hutch sodas, a pharmacy bottle, and the prize of the trip, a beautiful dark amber umbrella ink bottle that just missed being pontiled...my son dug that one up.  It was awesome to get back out digging and always nice to come home with something to add to the collection.


----------



## webe142

I've been following this thread for a while.  I dig on Galveston too and thought I'd start sharing as well.

I've been chasing an 1870s-ish oyster layer, and digging the area out in a grid.  There are more "recent" deposits on top and I've hit everything from 1890s to 1940s above the oysters.  

I didn't find much in the oysters this trip, but hit a hutch cache immediately above.  15 hutches, including the elusive caveman, 2 scarce big "O" WOGs, and 8 pheonix bottling works.  Previously, I'd never found more then two hutches on a dig before.  I found a rare TX cure bottle too.

A great day!


----------



## hemihampton

I really like that Wells Hutch. I like any Hutch really. LEON.

Lots of Galveston Hutch's Pictured on Hutchbook.com





__





						Hutchinson Project-Search Results
					





					www.hutchbook.com


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## UncleBruce

CAVEMAN!!! 
*If anyone wouldn't want one of those they're not a bottle collector....*
Awesome jackpot find.


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## Wildcat wrangler

Wow…. That Wells is really nice. Apparently, Galveston has better trash than northern Cali! That’s a lot of hutches, there…. 


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## nhpharm

Wildcat wrangler said:


> Wow…. That Wells is really nice. Apparently, Galveston has better trash than northern Cali! That’s a lot of hutches, there….
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Trust me-Webe142's haul is not typical.  I've gone entire years without digging that many hutch sodas in Galveston.


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## webe142

Wildcat wrangler said:


> Wow…. That Wells is really nice. Apparently, Galveston has better trash than northern Cali! That’s a lot of hutches, there….
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


These results aren't typical.  Its probably pretty accurate to call this a dream dig.  

I dug twice as many hutches in one morning as the prior 20 months of routine digging combined.  And I've never dug so much as a shard of the caveman before.  

There is the potential to find some awesome stuff in Galveston though.  I figure if I'm stubborn enough, and move enough dirt, I'm bound to find something eventually.


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## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and did a lot of probing and digging.  The first hole of the day was the best...it was a tiny trash pit but loaded with early 1870's stuff...ended up finding a Gilka, a nice blackglass ale in a bit of an odd form, a large stoneware beer, and two very interesting amber case gin bottles that look to me to be American...honestly never seen anything quite like them.  Pretty excited about those.  The next four holes were basically duds with some buttons and a few marbles but not much else.


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## TxBottleDigger

I


nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday and did a lot of probing and digging.  The first hole of the day was the best...it was a tiny trash pit but loaded with early 1870's stuff...ended up finding a Gilka, a nice blackglass ale in a bit of an odd form, a large stoneware beer, and two very interesting amber case gin bottles that look to me to be American...honestly never seen anything quite like them.  Pretty excited about those.  The next four holes were basically duds with some buttons and a few marbles but not much else.


I like those Gins. Do you ever find labels on bottles you dig up ? Seems like the right conditions for it. The environment has to be constantly wet or dry, and being in a island, I would think the ground stays fairly wet. Galveston is really a treasure trove. Most houses there are 100 years old, and from what I can remember of years going, there isn’t much modern buildings taking up the island. Truly a historical city.


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## nhpharm

No labels...they are long gone on anything I have dug in Galveston.  I've seen some label traces digging in Houston, but not Galveston.


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## webe142

Found a good mix of things my last trip out.  The pheonix is a great galveston pictoral hutch.  The galveston brewing pint comes in several different varieties.  This clear version is new to me and the 4th this size in my collection.  Also dug a nice early India Chologogue that just missed having a pontil.


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## webe142

Tried out a new spot this weekend.  Galveston can be a little tricky, since so much of the island was raised after the 1900 storm.  Still, set out hoping to find some 1910/1920s era stuff.  No such luck.  I didn't find much of anything.  A headless local 50s dr pepper, 4 marbles, and this brick, fired in Marlin, Texas.


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## JerryN

Very cool bottles. Have you ever found anything with the name Sampson on it? My great grandfather was a prominent doctor there through the hurricane. I think he moved away in 1902 or 1903. The Arthur F. Sampson house survived the storm and is still there in the historic district


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## nhpharm

So far as I am aware, Sampson did not have any embossed bottles.  The only doctor in Galveston that I am aware of that had his own pharmacy that had embossed bottles was Dr. McGork.


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## nhpharm

Here are my finds from the new spot.  As was mentioned, we found 6' of fill (likely from 1905 or so).  Hoped to find a privy or something in the newer fill, but no such luck.  Did a lot of probing and found one 1950's trash pit with three 6-1/2 OZ Cokes from Galveston.  My 10 year old son actually probed the oldest pit of the day...early 1920's trash pit with a couple of generic citrates and a poison bottle.  We probed some stuff deeper than the fill but because the fill is sand and is saturated with water down at about 5', there is no way to get to the deep trash unfortunately...we tried but no dice-the sand sloughs in too quickly.  We did have 6 kids between the two of us and the kids had fun, so that was a positive!


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## PlaneDiggerCam

yacorie said:


> Great job on recovering those bottles.
> 
> After reading through all of these digging posts, I feel like finding and securing permission to dig a privy is definitely a goal for me this winter to line up for spring.


I have one I want to dig badly behind an early 1800s house. dug a test pit and hit 1800s glass and ironstone about a foot down. Never got to dig it yet though, but I will! I've been looking mainly for the old houses because I want to get into a pontil era pit to start off, lol.


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## webe142

Here is today's find of the day.  

DAVID R. FLY & CO
177 POST OFFICE ST.
GALVESTON, TEX.

I find this address particularly interesting.  His store would have been located on the very outskirts of town.  So much so, the area was excluded from the original seawall.

I also found a nice drippy lip Udolpho Wolfe Aromatic Schnapps and fancy cologne or peppersauce.


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## webe142

JerryN said:


> Very cool bottles. Have you ever found anything with the name Sampson on it? My great grandfather was a prominent doctor there through the hurricane. I think he moved away in 1902 or 1903. The Arthur F. Sampson house survived the storm and is still there in the historic district


I looked up the house.  Very nice!  I like the wrap around porch on both stories.


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## Mailman1960

nhpharm said:


> Went out again on Sunday with my son (he's 7).  Found an area just loaded with little tiny trash pits...and many of them had hutch sodas in them.  Pulled out 10 total Galveston hutch sodas...some had damage but still a pretty incredible haul for me...usually lucky to find one or two in a day.  Also found a few Galveston crown tops including one that is very tough to find...a fat Lone Star Bottling Works with F.C.M. Greb embossed.  Never dug one before...they are a bit strange dimensionally.  Also found a North Western Brewery bottle from Chicago...not sure how it traveled all the way to Galveston.  I'll try to take some photos this evening.


One or two a day, found one broken one in 1/2 years. Would like to see the Chicago one.  One in half years


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## Wildcat wrangler

PlaneDiggerCam said:


> I have one I want to dig badly behind an early 1800s house. dug a test pit and hit 1800s glass and ironstone about a foot down. Never got to dig it yet though, but I will! I've been looking mainly for the old houses because I want to get into a pontil era pit to start off, lol.



Doesn’t that just make ya crazy? You know it’s there…. My problem is I know it’s there and people had the nerve to put a house up and fence it all in! I know where it’s at. Do I ask and offer to cut them in, or hop the fence and get shot by a local pot farmer, Buford, before becoming a chew toy for his 5 German shepherds? Dilemmas of the bottle addicted…. 
The houses/garbage pit/privys Im looking for are probably flat on the ground for a long time! But we don’t have a lot of really old trash around here, unfortunately…. That I’ve ever found, anyway. Post pix when u finally go back to that place, k? 


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## nhpharm

Here's my finds from last week out of a total of 4 holes.  Just couldn't get into a pit that was productive...was definitely a slow day.  You win some and you lose some!  The 1870's French pontiled perfume was neat...hadn't gotten one from this particular company before.


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## willong

nhpharm said:


> Here's my finds from last week out of a total of 4 holes.  Just couldn't get into a pit that was productive...was definitely a slow day.  You win some and you lose some!  The 1870's French pontiled perfume was neat...hadn't gotten one from this particular company before.


I'd be happy with that take!


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## nhpharm

I'm spoiled...but also have a 3 hr round trip to get to and from where I dig, so always go with high expectations haha.


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## webe142

The dig this weekend involved going through hundreds of interlocked oysters with the occasional bottle in it.  It was a fun dig though, because of the age, and the bottles were stuff I'd never dug before.  The find of the day was this (damaged) Kelly's Old Cabin Bitters.  Its a patent 1870 variant.  Also found partials to 3 Wilders cabin bitters.  The fancy peppersauce gets an honorable mention, and the green beer is unusual because of the embossing on the base (lyon bros makers)


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## willong

nhpharm said:


> I'm spoiled...but also have a 3 hr round trip to get to and from where I dig, so always go with high expectations haha.


 Biden-fueled inflation is definitely having a negative impact on my own recreational plans and activities!


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## hemihampton

I like that Kelly's old cabin bitters. nice find. LEON.


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## nhpharm

On Sunday I went out with my son and did quite a lot of probing until I found a promising spot.  Dug down and found a wooden frame and figured privy, but there was no wood below the first board.  Excavated down a ways and noticed that the soil was peeling away from the "walls" in a square...it was indeed a privy but the wood had either rotted away or had been removed at some point.  There were a fair number of bottles in it, including a case gin, a few Galveston pharmacy bottles, and a nice and quite scarce Galveston hutch soda that made my day.  Found a second privy next to the first, but it had a floor, which usually means it was heavily dipped...and indeed it was.  Just a few junk bottles in that one.  A good day nonetheless.  Pardon my finger haha.


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## webe992

nhpharm said:


> On Sunday I went out with my son and did quite a lot of probing until I found a promising spot.  Dug down and found a wooden frame and figured privy, but there was no wood below the first board.  Excavated down a ways and noticed that the soil was peeling away from the "walls" in a square...it was indeed a privy but the wood had either rotted away or had been removed at some point.  There were a fair number of bottles in it, including a case gin, a few Galveston pharmacy bottles, and a nice and quite scarce Galveston hutch soda that made my day.  Found a second privy next to the first, but it had a floor, which usually means it was heavily dipped...and indeed it was.  Just a few junk bottles in that one.  A good day nonetheless.  Pardon my finger haha.


What’s the little amber bottle 4th from the right?


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## nhpharm

webe992 said:


> What’s the little amber bottle 4th from the right?


Valentine's Meat Juice.


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## nhpharm

Had an opportunity to go out Wednesday and brought my oldest son and my 5-year old daughter.  It was absolutely beautiful out.  Ended up digging a total of 5 holes; started one for my son (he pulled out a Young American Liniment bottle and a nice 1870's ketchup bottle) and 4 myself.  Unfortunately only one of the holes I dug turned up anything...managed to find a Galveston pharmacy bottle (cracked) and the prize of the day...a nice Lone Star Bottling bottle...the FFF stands for Frederick F. Fischer who had a bottling works in Galveston and one in Alvin, Texas before he lost it all to gambling and womanizing.  His bottles are tough to find and this was an example my son did not yet have in his collection so he was very excited.  Looking at my records, the last Fischer bottle I had found was in 2016.  I also dug the wooden carved pipe bowl shown; it is cracked across the bowl and I'm not sure how it is going to dry but hopefully it will stay together at least.  Wood artifacts are so hard to preserve.  I hope everyone has a Happy Holidays!


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## CanadianBottles

Great finds, I love the pipe bowl!  Hopefully you're able to preserve it.  I've never seen anyone find one like that before.  I've only found the clay ones.


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## webe142

I was able to work in a bonus holiday dig, and it turned into a special day.  It included a rare Galveston blob, an intact Cathedral Pickle jar, and several other gems.


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## nhpharm

A special dig there for sure.  I'm green with envy haha!


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## boxesofbottles

nhpharm said:


> On Sunday I went out with my son and did quite a lot of probing until I found a promising spot.  Dug down and found a wooden frame and figured privy, but there was no wood below the first board.  Excavated down a ways and noticed that the soil was peeling away from the "walls" in a square...it was indeed a privy but the wood had either rotted away or had been removed at some point.  There were a fair number of bottles in it, including a case gin, a few Galveston pharmacy bottles, and a nice and quite scarce Galveston hutch soda that made my day.  Found a second privy next to the first, but it had a floor, which usually means it was heavily dipped...and indeed it was.  Just a few junk bottles in that one.  A good day nonetheless.  Pardon my finger haha.


01-05-2022
I enrolled as a member because I need to pass on to someone interested in old "dug" bottles the three medium size boxes of bottles that I inherited from my father as the remaining results of his digging around old homesites and farms in SE Louisiana (1960's-70's) and Central Alabama (1980's-90's).  Hence my user-name. 

Bottles were just a sideline to his other found items, and none of my generation know/knew much about bottles, but they were not thrown out when the Montgomery house was cleared, but I know that some of the "pretty" ones were taken by family members.    Most remaining look like medicine bottles.  

I think you are in the Galveston / Houston area, (I am in Cypress) and I would happily meet someplace to pass on the boxes to you or someone who can knowledgeably analyze and use them.   And no wet, cold weather digging required!   
boxesofbottles


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## nhpharm

I'm right over in Spring so not far away at all.  I'll shoot you a private message.


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## webe142

Here are the finds from my last two outings.  I've really been enjoying this spot.  There are three distinct trash layers on top of each other, and I can find anything from blobs to square cokes and anything in between.  

I think my favorite is the little Laplace New Orleans bottle, found in the oldest layer amongst a lot of oysters.

The embossed food is also a first for me.  C J FELL & BRO 
PHILA


----------



## nhpharm

Been a little while since I posted...had a couple digs but they didn't pan out.  Nonetheless, went out this past Sunday and got into a hole I had probed a few weeks ago.  Turned out to be a privy...about 5' x 3' x 6' or so.  Dug it out but it was pretty sparse...the most interesting thing was a somewhat damaged CD 105 insulator, which was a bit of a surprise.  Before I filled in the hole, I poked around to the sides and found that there was a small trash pit wrapped around one side of the privy.  Started digging it out and the bottles started coming out pretty quickly...mostly English applied crown top split beer bottles and slick flasks, but there were two hutch sodas (both damaged, though one was an upgrade for me) and a couple crown tops (also with some damage) as well as a nice embossed case gin.  However, the real prize was this green seltzer bottle...when I pulled it out I expected it to be clear and all cracked up, but it was green and looked pretty good.  Thought for sure it could not be from Galveston, but it was...and not only from Galveston, but from Coca Cola in Galveston.  H.C. Milligan was apparently from Nashville and opened the Galveston Coca Cola Bottling Works in August of 1907-Galveston didn't have Coca Cola prior to that.  It doesn't appear he was around for more than a few months, so likely this was from the first run of seltzer bottles made for the bottling works.  So far as I am aware, there are no other known examples of this seltzer.  Absolutely over the moon over this...a bit of haze and some scratches but no cracks or big fisheyes which is a big surprise.  This made up for the past rough digs for sure!


----------



## HouTxSoda

Incredible seltzer,congrats on that beauty.
Has anyone ever seen a Buck Brand from Galveston?


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## webe992

Awesome Find! That seltzer is super cool!


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## nhpharm

I have not seen a Buck Brand bottle from Galveston, nor have I dug any of the San Antonio Buck Brand bottles in Galveston.  The 1907 advertising is the only place I seen the Buck Brand stuff advertised in Galveston, and its also the first year I see it advertised in San Antonio.  The embossed Buck Brand bottles I have seen always struck me as mid-Teens, not pre-1910, so I'm guessing that maybe the stuff was initially sold in plain unembossed bottles.  Something to watch for though!


----------



## ccpe

Amazing finds!


----------



## hemihampton

WOW, That Green Coke Seltzer is absolutley KILLER. Congrats. LEON.


----------



## sandchip

Hot damn on the seltzer!  What a great find.


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## nhpharm

Went back out Sunday in some glorious weather with a friend and my son to a lot that I had not hit for a while but felt there was still some potential on.  We probed for a while and found a few promising spots.  First hole had a couple blackglass bottles, a broken Sand's Sarsaparilla, and a German Syrup bottle but not much else.  Second hole was absolutely packed with 1850's or early 1860's blackglass bottles...mostly broken but some that were whole.  That hole also turned up two pontiled soda bottles, a pontiled mustard bottle, and in the shallower parts of the hole, a total of 7 hutch sodas and two local pharmacy bottles.  The third hole continued the streak with a total of 3 more hutch sodas and two beer bottles surfacing.  Just an awesome day of digging and we all went home with something for our collections.


----------



## hemihampton

Nice Finds. Congrats. wish I could get out to dig. Big Snow Storm coming. LEON.


----------



## nhpharm

Leon,

Yeah...that is one nice thing about this area-you can dig year round.  Gotta brave the summer heat though.


----------



## nhpharm

Went out last weekend and dug several holes in a grid around where we dug last trip.  One of the holes dove down into a nice early trash pit that had a very early Galveston pharmacy bottle in it (Henry Veers), a Civil War bayonet, and a Mexican Mustang Liniment, and some sort of pontiled bottle that looks a bit like an ink.  That same hole had a crown top Oleander City up high as well as a center script straight-sided Coca-Cola bottle.  Another of the holes had a bunch of beer bottles in it from Houston and Galveston.  Lots of "dollar bottles" too.  Overall a great day!


----------



## nhpharm

Went out yesterday with all three kids in tow...I did a lot of moving dirt while the three kids did all the bottle pulling.  Got into a nice pit with some 1910 beers and hutch sodas to start the day...then my 7 year old was hollering from his hole that he had something showing.  Ended up being a super rare Sea Wall Splits bottle ("the Healthiest of Beverages" haha) in great shape.  Rounded out the day with some earlier stuff including a nice Ayers, an umbrella ink, and a round bottom Caswell.  Lots of buttons or marbles too.  We got into a pit at the end of the day that had some real heartbreakers in it including an iron pontiled Lockport green Booth & Sedgewick London Gin...all that came out of that pit was a brass spur, which I really thought was pretty cool!  Beautiful weather and a fun day for sure!


----------



## Old Wiltshire

-
Great to see youngsters involved.

​


----------



## nhpharm

Went out Sunday with my oldest son...was a bit windy and cold but we dug several big holes and came home with a few bottles, mostly all from one hole.  A bit of a slow day but at least we didn't get skunked!


----------



## willong

nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday with my oldest son...was a bit windy and cold but we dug several big holes and came home with a few bottles, mostly all from one hole.  A bit of a slow day but at least we didn't get skunked!


Must be nice to have such diggin's close to hand.

Is that one devise a hydrometer?

Thanks for posting.


----------



## nhpharm

It's not so close unfortunately...we drive about 1.5 hrs each way to get to Galveston from the house.

I believe it is a douche syringe of some kind.  We find a lot of such items in the area we are digging (which was a hotspot for brothels), though usually made of hard rubber, not glass.


----------



## Clayton J. Migl

nhpharm said:


> Went back out Sunday in some glorious weather with a friend and my son to a lot that I had not hit for a while but felt there was still some potential on. We probed for a while and found a few promising spots. First hole had a couple blackglass bottles, a broken Sand's Sarsaparilla, and a German Syrup bottle but not much else. Second hole was absolutely packed with 1850's or early 1860's blackglass bottles...mostly broken but some that were whole. That hole also turned up two pontiled soda bottles, a pontiled mustard bottle, and in the shallower parts of the hole, a total of 7 hutch sodas and two local pharmacy bottles. The third hole continued the streak with a total of 3 more hutch sodas and two beer bottles surfacing. Just an awesome day of digging and we all went home with something for our collections.



I really like the slick Civil War era whiskies that come out of Galveston. I’d buy those all day. 


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## buriedtreasuretime

nhpharm said:


> Went back out Sunday in some glorious weather with a friend and my son to a lot that I had not hit for a while but felt there was still some potential on. We probed for a while and found a few promising spots. First hole had a couple blackglass bottles, a broken Sand's Sarsaparilla, and a German Syrup bottle but not much else. Second hole was absolutely packed with 1850's or early 1860's blackglass bottles...mostly broken but some that were whole. That hole also turned up two pontiled soda bottles, a pontiled mustard bottle, and in the shallower parts of the hole, a total of 7 hutch sodas and two local pharmacy bottles. The third hole continued the streak with a total of 3 more hutch sodas and two beer bottles surfacing. Just an awesome day of digging and we all went home with something for our collections.



Wow, that’s quite a haul, you must be smiling ear to ear.


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## buriedtreasuretime

nhpharm said:


> Went out last weekend and dug several holes in a grid around where we dug last trip. One of the holes dove down into a nice early trash pit that had a very early Galveston pharmacy bottle in it (Henry Veers), a Civil War bayonet, and a Mexican Mustang Liniment, and some sort of pontiled bottle that looks a bit like an ink. That same hole had a crown top Oleander City up high as well as a center script straight-sided Coca-Cola bottle. Another of the holes had a bunch of beer bottles in it from Houston and Galveston. Lots of "dollar bottles" too. Overall a great day!



The fourth image, what kind of large flared lip bottle was that, some kind bath or toilet water? Super cool. The coffin flasks and the ribbon flasks are cool too.


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## Sunflowerlover7

nhpharm said:


> Went out Sunday with my oldest son...was a bit windy and cold but we dug several big holes and came home with a few bottles, mostly all from one hole. A bit of a slow day but at least we didn't get skunked!



I love that small aqua ink bottle! 


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## nhpharm

buriedtreasuretime said:


> The fourth image, what kind of large flared lip bottle was that, some kind bath or toilet water? Super cool. The coffin flasks and the ribbon flasks are cool too.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I'm guessing some kind of ink.  It is pontiled.


----------



## nhpharm

Clayton J. Migl said:


> I really like the slick Civil War era whiskies that come out of Galveston. I’d buy those all day.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I'll have some cheap at the Houston show that hopefully will happen in October.


----------



## Clayton J. Migl

nhpharm said:


> I'll have some cheap at the Houston show that hopefully will happen in October.



Make it to Round Rock next year Brandon!


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## nhpharm

I'll try .  Its a long haul.  I was sad to miss it this year.


----------



## webe142

I went out last weekend and came home with mostly odds and ends.....buttons, marbles, pipe bowl, doll pieces, and a first, what appears to be part of a rosary.  A few bottles too.  

Find of the day was this J. BOURNE master ink.  From the research I've done, he purchased the Codnor Park factory in 1833, and added "& SON" to the company in the early 1850s.  If the bottle is from that date range, it makes it the oldest bottle I've ever dug, and strangely a good 15ish years older then anything I've dug at this particular site.  If anyone can confirm or tighten that date range, I'd appreciate it.


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## webe142

I found a little 3x3 privy on my last trip out.  The find of the day was a Drakes Plantation Bitters.  The small cyndrical bottle has an open pontil.  The Durkees is the earliest I have seen, but thats not saying much.  

Also fun, I've found many clay pipe bowls, but on this trip I found my first decorated one.  IRELAND FOREVER.


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## nhpharm

Incredible find with the Drake's!


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## nhpharm

Now to bring things back down to earth haha...I went out last Sunday with a friend and my three kids.  We moved a lot of dirt including from one small privy  and brought home what is pictured...a bunch of dollar bottles/slicks, one absinthe bottle, and the prize of the day, a very nice Schoolfield pharmacy bottle from the early 1880's.  Been digging now for 10 years in Galveston and this is the first of this variation I have found from him, so I went home with a smile on my face.


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## webe142

Dug a heartbreaker on my last trip out.  My first ever shards of the rare JJ Schott Lighthouse bottle.  Would have been a 12" tall blob.  Pretty sure it depicts the Lighthouse on Bolivar Peninsula, which still stands.  Find of the day was this cobalt blue beauty.


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## Clayton J. Migl

webe142 said:


> Dug a heartbreaker on my last trip out. My first ever shards of the rare JJ Schott Lighthouse bottle. Would have been a 12" tall blob. Pretty sure it depicts the Lighthouse on Bolivar Peninsula, which still stands. Find of the day was this cobalt blue beauty.



I don’t think the bottle depicts the Bolivar peninsula lighthouse. Just a generic lighthouse to fit a nautical theme, especially for Galveston. I hope they restore the old Bolivar lighthouse soon. It’s not in the best shape. I like to say that that is what capitalism does to historical structures. Just saying…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and dug a couple of holes.  It was beautiful out but definitely hinting at summer!  Nonetheless, got into some really neat stuff and drove home happy.  The Hyatt's does have a 2" crack in the lip and one of the hutch sodas and both of the pharmacy bottles were cracked as well, but the ladies leg bottle was perfect as was the rarer of the two hutch sodas.


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## nhpharm

The last two digs have been a bit quiet so I just got around to washing things up.  A couple weeks ago I rustled up a few odds and ends out of a couple of tiny but early trash pits...but nothing of note.  Yesterday we tried another lot...first privy was pontil era but had been previously dug-still did get a few bottles out of one corner that the previous digger didn't quite get to, but they were common stuff and not pontiled.  My son probed out a spot and dug is first privy, and it was also pontil era.  Sadly it just had a few smooth based slicks in it, but he was exited.  Lots of marbles, buttons, doll parts, and pipes, so that was fun.  Hopefully the next dig will be more productive!


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## nhpharm

This was yesterday's heartbreaker.  Quite rare, I believe.  Pontiled.


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## nhpharm

Made it out for another dig and dug outside a privy I had dug some time ago as sometimes there is some trash outside these where trash was used to backfill the hole made to install the privy frame.  There did end up being a thin layer of trash outside the privy and we rustled up a beautiful real ink bottle (looks like it says FBA on the base?), a nice marble, a couple hutch sodas (one was damaged, but the good one was a quire rare variant), and a blob soda (cracked unfortunately).  Filling in the hole I found what appears to be a cannonball...nonetheless, made up for the last two unproductive digs.  By the end of the day the hole was enormous.  A bit of a puzzler is the small pharmacy bottle marked "D.M. Stern & Bro/32 Broadway/New York"...can't find any reference to this company in the NY directories. My digging partner said he had dug a few broken ones so it was apparently some product that the folks on this lot were using.


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## nhpharm

x


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## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and did some digging with my oldest son...dug two holes and although we didn't find any concentration of stuff, there was a scattering of bottles here and there that kept us going.  Most everything was unfortunately damaged but my son was very excited about finding the little Crown Perfumery bottle and the teal medicine.  The heat is here!  Heartbreaker was the yellow Hostetter's....lightest one I have seen.


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## nhpharm

Another Sunday and another dig.  Two holes, but one of the two holes had a privy on each side of it so it ended up being a huge hole.  One privy was post hurricane and had basically nothing in it.  The other privy was 1890's and didn't have much except a Dewar's Perth Whiskey bottle and a Marschner hutch soda.  A few odds and ends came out of the area between the two privies as well.  My son had his own hole and found the sauce, ink, and whiskey in it.


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## nhpharm

Went out last Sunday and dug three holes with my oldest son.  It was hot...summer is for sure here.  Nonetheless, none of the holes really panned out but I didn't get skunked.  A few marbles, a few dollar bottles, and a nice early spice bottle.  Due for a better dig soon!


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## Clayton J. Migl

nhpharm said:


> Went out last Sunday and dug three holes with my oldest son. It was hot...summer is for sure here. Nonetheless, none of the holes really panned out but I didn't get skunked. A few marbles, a few dollar bottles, and a nice early spice bottle. Due for a better dig soon!



Great western spice!


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## nhpharm

Went out to a lot that I last dug several years ago for a short solo dig on Saturday.  Oh so very hot but managed to open up a nice big hole.  It had bottles...just not the ones I was looking for.  Brought home some stuff that would normally end up back in the hole as well as a few buttons, marbles, and one reasonably scarce Galveston soda variation.  The shard is a piece of an extremely rare Galveston hutch soda...nonetheless, summer's here for sure!


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## nhpharm

After a bit of a hiatus due to summer vacation and so forth, I finally made it back out Sunday and dug a few holes.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of the stuff in the main hole I dug was broken, including probably 15 hutch sodas.  I came home with a few bottles for the dollar box, a few marbles and buttons, and a spoon that ended up being the find of the day...it's marked on the handle "R. Kruger"; Rudolph Kruger was a very successful restaurateur for many years in Galveston in the 1880's and 1890's.  I've dug hundreds of utensils in Galveston and this is the first I have seen that was identifiably from a Galveston establishment.


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## nhpharm

The last few digs have been pretty miserable so I haven't posted about them.  Went out this past Sunday and got into a bit more volume, though it was still a bit quiet on the "quality" side of things.  Found a Dr. Kennedy's Medical Discovery, an Acme gonorrhea medicine bottle from New Orleans, a few poison bottles, a Hood's Pills bottle, and a few other odds and ends.  The little glass shoe is odd...it's tiny and I'm not sure what it would have been for.  Also dug one of those mystery CCSGCo. bottles that looks like a cabin ink...but the one I found had an atomizer top.


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## nhpharm

Went out Sunday and braved the heat to dig a few holes.  One of the holes I probed out ended up being what appeared to be a small privy; no wood walls like I normally see but a perfect rectangle and loaded with bottles.  Definitely post-hurricane and light on the "good stuff" (local bottles) but a few interesting products.  The marble was in one of the other holes and is a real nice shooter.  Overall, I can't complain but still looking for that next great dig!


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## nhpharm

Went out yesterday and did some probing on a part of the block that we hadn't hit previously.  Nothing really jumped out as worth digging but my son dug a small hole where I felt some crunch and pulled out a bit of 1940's stuff and I dug a disturbed area that felt a little different than the rest of the lot; my hole ended up being a small privy loaded with a ton of bricks but with a 1' or so use layer at the bottom.  Unfortunately it only had 2 broken and 1 whole bottle in it, but fortunately the whole bottle was a good one-Jno. Parker pharmacy bottle from Galveston.  I've been digging Galveston for 10 years and never found one from Parker before that was actually marked Galveston (he has some bottles that are marked from Bowling Green).  Filled that hole in and moved back to where I've been digging for the last year and got into a trash pit that was loaded with sauce bottles...mostly Leudemann's Sauce but one Eddys Brand Sauce (never seen one before but I believe this held Eddys Old English Sauce, sold out of New York).  Nothing special out of there but at least things were turning up.  The milk bottle shard was a Charles Balez bottle; never knew until yesterday that he even had embossed milk bottles.


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## nhpharm

Headed out Sunday yet again and probed out a spot that felt pretty good and glassy.  Glassy it was, but unfortunately not really the sort of glass I was searching for.  A bunch of common 1890's bottles plus a few newer plus a few odds and ends.  I think my favorite is the big snail shell...wonder what the story was with that...

Still kinda hot but hopefully it was the last hot dig of the year.


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## nhpharm

Bit late posting, but back in early November, my son and I went out for a dig on a new lot that I thought may have been dug previously but was worth a try.  The maps showed a large privy in the center of the lot, so I focused on trying to find it and after a short time probing, I was pretty sure I knew where it was.  Opened up a hole and it turned out to be a huge (6' x 8' x 6') privy that had a fairly thin use layer at the bottom and lots of fill that did also have a few bottles in it.  Dug some interesting stuff, including a nice Bay Shore Bottling Works hutch from Seabrook, Texas and a few other odds and ends.  My son was very excited to dig his first Warner's Safe Cure bottle. Before we filled the privy in, I proved outside the wall on one face and found a small void; chased it and found a large pocket of pieces of stained glass and a few bottles.  Kept chasing a few odds and ends along the outside wall of the privy and exposed a square teal colored base...figured it might be a pickle until I exposed one panel that I could see had some embossing...got the "STON" exposed and started to get real excited as it had to be either Boston or Galveston.  Finally got it fully exposed and it was one of my bucket list bottles.  Devereaux Cordial Gin from Galveston, Texas.  Dates to around 1870.


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## sandchip

That gin is nothing short of hellacious.  Great, great bottle.


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## HouTxSoda

Incredible gin bottle, congrats.


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## hemihampton

Yeah, That Teal Gin is a Killer Find. Congrats. LEON.


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## ROBBYBOBBY64

What is the carved stone? Gin is amazing I agree with everyone.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## nhpharm

It is a bisque egg with an African American boy hatching from it.  Apparently those were made by some of the doll companies.  I believe there are some milk glass figural bottles with the same motif.


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## nhpharm

Went out for a dig Sunday to a cistern that I first had dug in a little 10 years ago but thought might warrant a bit more attention.  Brought in some help as these are always tough to dig with the water and the amount of soil to move.  It was great weather and good company and a few interesting things were dug; my takes were a (broken/topless) milk from Galveston that I have not seen before, a red light bulb, a Real Shine shoe shine bottle from Galveston that was made by 3 Rivers, and a few other odds and ends.  We dug about 2/3 of the cistern (11' diameter, 6' deep)...not sure if the rest of it is worth digging or not.


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## hemihampton

All the Pontils are at the Bottom of Cistern, Go Man GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  LOL.  Leon.


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## nhpharm

Leon,

Haha...we got to the bottom in 2/3 of the cistern.   No pontils.  Full of cinders, so really nasty and smells like creosote.  Most of the bottles are sitting right on top of the cinders about 5' down.


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## hemihampton

Maybe something in other 1/3rd?


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## nhpharm

Perhaps...most of the cisterns in Galveston were filled in around 1910-1925.  Some of them turn up some great stuff and some of them turn up nothing.


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## webe142

Here are some of the other items that came out of that cistern.  The intact crowns are early Triple XXX bottles (my first time to dig either intact) and the sauce bottles are 3 rivers.


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## Mailman1960

webe142 said:


> Here are some of the other items that came out of that cistern.  The intact crowns are early Triple XXX bottles (my first time to dig either intact) and the sauce bottles are 3 rivers.


I could look it up but I'll let you tell me. What is a cistern?


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## nhpharm

Its a tank for storing water (rainwater, primarily).  In Galveston there were two types; wooden ones positioned above ground and in-ground ones made of brick and mortar.  The in-ground ones were often filled with trash when they were no longer in use.


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## nhpharm

Went out last Sunday for a dig with both of the boys.  Punched a total of 3 holes but two of them were pretty sparse except for some buttons and marbles.  The third hole was loaded with crushed bottles, but at the very bottom there were some bottles embedded in the clay that ended up being intact.  Dug a great Lone Star & Coca-Cola mug based crown top, a very scarce Lone Star hutch soda, and the find of the day, a super rare Mignon Bottling Codd soda from Galveston.  Also dug a scarce quart milk from Galveston but it was cracked unfortunately.  Nonetheless, just an incredible day out with the boys.


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## CanadianBottles

nhpharm said:


> Went out last Sunday for a dig with both of the boys.  Punched a total of 3 holes but two of them were pretty sparse except for some buttons and marbles.  The third hole was loaded with crushed bottles, but at the very bottom there were some bottles embedded in the clay that ended up being intact.  Dug a great Lone Star & Coca-Cola mug based crown top, a very scarce Lone Star hutch soda, and the find of the day, a super rare Mignon Bottling Codd soda from Galveston.  Also dug a scarce quart milk from Galveston but it was cracked unfortunately.  Nonetheless, just an incredible day out with the boys.


Wow, great finds!  I didn't know Texas had any Codds.  Not sure I've ever seen any from the southern US at all.


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## Mailman1960

CanadianBottles said:


> Wow, great finds!  I didn't know Texas had any Codds.  Not sure I've ever seen any from the southern US at all.


What are codds


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## hemihampton

Codds are usually foreign made not U.S. made. With a Marble in the top to seal it. Any US Codd is tough to find & one from as far west as Texas has got to be rare as most US Codds seem to be more from the East or midwest. LEON.

P.S. Nice finds, I'm jealous.


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## nhpharm

Yep...as far as I am aware, Texas had a total of 3 different Codds from 2 different companies.  The Mignon Bottling Works had them from Galveston, and the Star Bottling Works had two different versions of them from Houston.  All are extremely rare...used for just a short period of time and then even more handicapped for survival because every child wanted the marble out of them.


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## nhpharm

Here is the newer of the two versions of the Star from Houston.


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## Mailman1960

hemihampton said:


> Codds are usually foreign made not U.S. made. With a Marble in the top to seal it. Any US Codd is tough to find & one from as far west as Texas has got to be rare as most US Codds seem to be more from the East or midwest. LEON.
> 
> P.S. Nice finds, I'm jealous.
> 
> View attachment 242587


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## Mailman1960

I'll have to keep my eye open.


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## nhpharm

Went out on Saturday for one last dig in 2022.  It had rained a few inches in Galveston a few days before and it made digging this sandy lot a real mess.  Holes kept filling with water and caving in.  Dug 3 holes; all three had stuff in them but it was a battle all day to keep them from flooding.  First hole had a rare but damaged hutch soda from Galveston in it.  Second hole had a very rare quart Galveston Brewing beer bottle in it; these are very tough to find and this was definitely the find of the day.  In the second hole, there was an earlier area that dove down and was super sandy and wet and we found a pickle jar, a heartbreaker 16 ounce Galveston pharmacy bottle, and a headless 2 gallon demijohn in it.  The third hole had dozens of slick flasks and pharmacy bottles in it but did turn up one Galveston crown top soda...always nice to find something local.  Nonetheless, hopefully the next time I go out the water will be less of an issue...it was a battle all day.


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## UncleBruce

nhpharm said:


> Went out on Saturday for one last dig in 2022.  It had rained a few inches in Galveston a few days before and it made digging this sandy lot a real mess.  Holes kept filling with water and caving in.  Dug 3 holes; all three had stuff in them but it was a battle all day to keep them from flooding.  First hole had a rare but damaged hutch soda from Galveston in it.  Second hole had a very rare quart Galveston Brewing beer bottle in it; these are very tough to find and this was definitely the find of the day.  In the second hole, there was an earlier area that dove down and was super sandy and wet and we found a pickle jar, a heartbreaker 16 ounce Galveston pharmacy bottle, and a headless 2 gallon demijohn in it.  The third hole had dozens of slick flasks and pharmacy bottles in it but did turn up one Galveston crown top soda...always nice to find something local.  Nonetheless, hopefully the next time I go out the water will be less of an issue...it was a battle all day.


Nice finish for the year.  Hope 2023 is productive for you.  That's a great beer.  Wouldn't mind having an example in my collection.  Thanks for sharing and put my name on the next one you find.


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## nhpharm

Went out Saturday for a dig...lot had dried out some but it looks like at about 4-4.5' water table will be a problem regardless.  Nonetheless, dug two holes...first hole had some bottles super shallow...some unmarked slick quart beers, some big whiskies (also slick), and some quart milk bottles.  Found four that were whole...three embossed and one slick.  I had never seen the Weaver before and had previously only seen a pint of the Schaper.  It is extremely rare to dig quart milks in Galveston...in 10 years of digging there I have only found perhaps 5 in reasonable condition.  Dug these three practically before the sun came up so it was already a good day!  The hole was strange...almost like someone had laid these bottles in a low spot to bring the level of the lot up or something; they were literally side by side in the hole.  Dug a second hole that ended up being a super trashy trash pit but in which unfortunately almost everything was broken.  I pulled out a great little 1/2 ounce Galveston pharmacy bottle and a few other odds and ends.  The hole opened up into a small barrel privy, but the privy was completely devoid of any bottles.  Behind the privy I found this gorgeous emerald green rolled lip ink bottle, so was super excited to find that.  At the very top of the hole was the nice crown top Marschner with the super thick base glass.  Just a great day of adding to the collection-definitely went home with a smile on my face!  The heartbreaker was a Peachstone Liniment from Dallas...so far as I am aware there are no intact examples of this larger size known...it's a great 1870's medicine from Texas.


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## hemihampton

Some nice finds, Congrats. You forgot to mention straight sided Coke? LEON.


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## nhpharm

Yeah...dug a SS Galveston Coke, but badly cracked as this style usually is.  They are quite scarce, so I am typically able to market them even when they are as damaged as this one is.


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