# My very first dug bottle ever



## tsims (Jan 17, 2021)

Well it's my very first and maybe even last bottle, who knows. Nothing fancy , no embossing and probably not super old. Thinking it might be an aspirin bottle but can't remember if they were ever amber.


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## Shades of History (Jan 17, 2021)

Good guess, looks like a basic screw-top '30s medicine to me(but I can't be sure because of the gunk, it could be a pre-1900 applied screw top which would make it really neat and much more uncommon). Can probably use some CLR to get that crap off the threads/neck area. I found tons of 1930's screw top bottles just like that in a desert lot right across the street, including some 30's and possibly 20's cork tops. I found emerald green ant poisons with the weird shape, and other little things, but lots of basic medicines like that one too all between like 1925-1940. I sold most of those in a bundle to the local antique store when I came back to collecting with an emphasis on mostly pre-1900 bottles, but I still have the three best small 30's bottles I found as a kid.

The one thing keeping me from being 100% sure how old it is is not seeing the threads and lip fully.


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## tsims (Jan 17, 2021)

There you go, cleaned it up for you


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## CanadianBottles (Jan 17, 2021)

Aspirin is a good guess, or something else similar.  Probably dates to the 1950s, I can say from experience that there are thousands upon thousands of those in the woods around your area.


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## Shades of History (Jan 17, 2021)

tsims said:


> There you go, cleaned it up for you


Common machine made medicine, anywhere from mid 30's to mid 50's in my estimation. Nothing rare of fancy, but hey-still a good looking old bottle.


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jan 17, 2021)

Hope it's not the last.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## tsims (Jan 17, 2021)

Shades of History said:


> Common machine made medicine, anywhere from mid 30's to mid 50's in my estimation. Nothing rare of fancy, but hey-still a good looking old bottle.


Thanks, i was thinking 40s or 50's as well so nice to hear an expert. Thanks again


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## Shades of History (Jan 17, 2021)

tsims said:


> Thanks, i was thinking 40s or 50's as well so nice to hear an expert. Thanks again


Wouldn't call myself an expert at all. The spot across my street I first discovered the joy of "old bottles" as a kid just had a ton of bottles from that timeframe, so I generally know what they look like.


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## logan.the.collector (Jan 17, 2021)

tsims said:


> Well it's my very first and maybe even last bottle, who knows. Nothing fancy , no embossing and probably not super old. Thinking it might be an aspirin bottle but can't remember if they were ever amber.View attachment 217308


Everyone starts somewhere. My first bottle was a 1967 8 ounce Pepsi swirl ACL in 2010. Eleven years and probably 100+ dug quality bottles, and maybe 500 total, here we are. Keep looking and you'll have a pile yourself! Thanks for sharing


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## tsims (Jan 17, 2021)

logan.the.collector said:


> Everyone starts somewhere. My first bottle was a 1967 8 ounce Pepsi swirl ACL in 2010. Eleven years and probably 100+ dug quality bottles, and maybe 500 total, here we are. Keep looking and you'll have a pile yourself! Thanks for sharing


Wow, that's a lot of bottles and a lot of digging. Now i know how a fisherman feels like coming back empty hanged, i was dragging my tired butt home dragging a spade in one hand and a metal detector in the other looking very bedraggled LOL


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## Palani (Jan 20, 2021)

Don't stop it's all about the hunt!


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## tsims (Jan 20, 2021)

Palani said:


> Don't stop it's all about the hunt!


Thanks for the encouragement!


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## K6TIM (Jan 20, 2021)

Shades of History said:


> Good guess, looks like a basic screw-top '30s medicine to me(but I can't be sure because of the gunk, it could be a pre-1900 applied screw top which would make it really neat and much more uncommon). Can probably use some CLR to get that crap off the threads/neck area. I found tons of 1930's screw top bottles just like that in a desert lot right across the street, including some 30's and possibly 20's cork tops. I found emerald green ant poisons with the weird shape, and other little things, but lots of basic medicines like that one too all between like 1925-1940. I sold most of those in a bundle to the local antique store when I came back to collecting with an emphasis on mostly pre-1900 bottles, but I still have the three best small 30's bottles I found as a kid.
> 
> The one thing keeping me from being 100% sure how old it is is not seeing the threads and lip fully.


You might want to leave the patina as is since you'll ruin it's value.To find how old it might be look at the seam line.If it goes all the way to the top of the lip it's a machine made bottle after 1903.The seam line that ends below the bottle lip it's pre-1900! A mouth blown in a iron mold!


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## historic-antiques (Jan 20, 2021)

tsims said:


> Well it's my very first and maybe even last bottle, who knows. Nothing fancy , no embossing and probably not super old. Thinking it might be an aspirin bottle but can't remember if they were ever amber.View attachment 217308


That's a nice, little, old bottle!!  Never stop searching, you will find many more, and even older bottles, never give up because there are tons of them!!!

Some people make fun of my collecting and preserving habits.  After 50+ years of leisurely collecting antiques (including digging bottles which was not leisurely!!!) I have a collection worth over $175,000 - not incredible, but respectable.  Remember, great bottles are also found in antique shops, house/estate sales, and garage sales, and "junk" shops.  Don't ever, ever get discouraged!!  Protect them for the future!!

Much more important than money, I think, is the importance of what we as collectors do.  Every time I visit a museum and look at all the great old things on display, I think to myself, what would have happened if the family of this Civil War soldier used his letters as fireplace tinder?  What if somebody smashed that 1830 whiskey flask against some rocks?  What if somebody failed to protect those copies of the Declaration of Independence?   What if........

The joys and education we get, looking at and learning from antiques because thoughtful people 100, 200, 1,000 years ago or more protected them for us, are incalculable!  We should be grateful to them all!!  I hope people feel the same way about us 100 or 1,000 years from now!  

Bottom line:  Keep searching, discovering, and collecting!!!  Guard and cherish what you have, and when the time comes, hand it off to others who value them similarly!  Or even to a museum!  Never give up!!!  Never stop!!!!!


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## ronkusa (Jan 20, 2021)

Good start!


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## Nickneff (Jan 21, 2021)

tsims said:


> Well it's my very first and maybe even last bottle, who knows. Nothing fancy , no embossing and probably not super old. Thinking it might be an aspirin bottle but can't remember if they were ever amber.View attachment 217308


Not to be a smart-ass this is my opinion you know what I usually do with screw tops that I dig I usually set them up on a fence line shoot them they make good target practice see there's a use for everything. I am all about cork bottles with me non machine but I live in Kentucky I guess that's a good old boy and me


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## Nickneff (Jan 21, 2021)

tsims said:


> Well it's my very first and maybe even last bottle, who knows. Nothing fancy , no embossing and probably not super old. Thinking it might be an aspirin bottle but can't remember if they were ever amber.View attachment 217308


That statement I made was really harsh I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you I was just stating what I do with them but I remember when I first started hack my first bottles they had Topps knocked off of them and everything but I want to apologize I didn't mean to be so harsh to you I'm a ironworker and I don't know if you're familiar with Ironworkers but we got tough skin and we are not sensitive at all I'm sorry though I apologize to you for that but that's just my opinion of what I do with those stick with it. You'll be happy you did it's a fun hobby regardless of what you're digging if you like it that's all it matters again I apologize maybe that ain't the good old boy in me may be a Kentucky redneck you think LOL but hey just to make things right with you be ever want my opinion on a bottle which you may now but if you do feel free to send me a picture and if I can identify. I sure will buddy God bless you have a good day


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