# Amazing Bottle Digging Finds Today! Local Gems!



## logan.the.collector (Apr 11, 2021)

Recently I have been exploring a lot and I circled back to an old dump I dug at a lot last year. I ended up finding FOUR Altamont Milk Co. Bottles from Tupper Lake, NY! That brings my Altamont count to 11 from that dump alone! Not only that, two of these are VERY RARE slug plate store bottles- very decorative and seldom seen for sale. I have only ever seen one other one so I am stoked to have found TWO for my collection. 

This puts me up to 12 local bottles for 2021, these four being the first bottles I have dug in general this year. The 8 others were purchases.

Needless to say I cannot believe the results of today's dig. Absolutely amazing. Here are photos of them, I still need to clean them.


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## YoloBottles (Apr 11, 2021)

Share pics when you're done cleaning them out! I like the ones that say 5C on them. Any idea on age?


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## logan.the.collector (Apr 11, 2021)

YoloBottles said:


> Share pics when you're done cleaning them out! I like the ones that say 5C on them. Any idea on age?


All four have date codes actually! The slug plate 5 cent ones are 1943 and 1944- surprisingly newer than the other two 1933s. They are also clean now so I need to get another photo


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## logan.the.collector (Apr 11, 2021)

Here they are all cleaned up- very nice condition. I haven't used Iron-Out yet for the rust but there isn't much in them.


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## hemihampton (Apr 11, 2021)

Nice Bottles. Congrats. LEON.


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## YoloBottles (Apr 11, 2021)

logan.the.collector said:


> Here they are all cleaned up- very nice condition. I haven't used Iron-Out yet for the rust but there isn't much in them.


Wow they are in real nice shape. Lucky that you have so many local branded bottles near you. Would love to find some 40's ones especially in that condition.


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## Bottle_lady (Apr 12, 2021)

Do you live in Tupper Lake?  We are in Glens Falls - just bought a camp in Minerva. Finding some cool stuff so far - nothing overly exciting but still fun.


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## logan.the.collector (Apr 12, 2021)

Bottle_lady said:


> Do you live in Tupper Lake?  We are in Glens Falls - just bought a camp in Minerva. Finding some cool stuff so far - nothing overly exciting but still fun.


Yes, I live up in Tupper. Cool to hear you're in Glens Falls, I have been there a lot! Most times I've went down there I actually take the Minerva way too so I'm very familiar with that area. Small world, huh? Cool finds too


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## YoloBottles (Apr 12, 2021)

Bottle_lady said:


> Do you live in Tupper Lake?  We are in Glens Falls - just bought a camp in Minerva. Finding some cool stuff so far - nothing overly exciting but still fun.


Ironically one of my first Coke bottles was a Glens Falls... Got it from @logan.the.collector too lol.


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## willong (Apr 14, 2021)

Nice find. What do you think is the nature of the dump--just a family, a farm, resort or community?

A family that hat a lot of kids and didn't care about recovering the deposit could certainly discard the quantity you are recovering.

(Don't worry; I'm out on the west coast and not trying to home in on your site--just curious due to the number of milk bottles.)


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## logan.the.collector (Apr 14, 2021)

willong said:


> Nice find. What do you think is the nature of the dump--just a family, a farm, resort or community?
> 
> A family that hat a lot of kids and didn't care about recovering the deposit could certainly discard the quantity you are recovering.
> 
> (Don't worry; I'm out on the west coast and not trying to home in on your site--just curious due to the number of milk bottles.)


This is a dump is on a home site, thats for sure, but there had to have been kids there because I dug a toy train there too! Pretty cool. But it was a nicer home so I imagine it was a richer family that didn't need the deposit as well, you are definitely onto something there.


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## cor3y7 (Apr 14, 2021)

Very nice, congrats.


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## willong (Apr 20, 2021)

logan.the.collector said:


> This is a dump is on a home site, thats for sure, but there had to have been kids there because I dug a toy train there too! Pretty cool. But it was a nicer home so I imagine it was a richer family that didn't need the deposit as well, you are definitely onto something there.


Envisioning what sites might have looked like at the time that dump contents were deposited and speculating about the lives of past inhabitants is part of the enjoyment I derive from bottle hunting. In addition to the mere fact that I have always enjoyed wilderness, or areas reverted to wilderness, over urbanized environs, finding and excavating dumps in woods and rural areas always offered more intriguing speculations.

I've only dug in one large urban dump. While it offered a larger haul of bottles than most of my remoter finds, opportunity for such speculations could hardly apply to a dump used by thousands of city residents. Contrariwise, a family farm dump, the site of a late nineteenth century shingle mill or a logging camp offered clues that lead to enjoyable contemplation.



An example is the large quantity of oversized bovine bones that I uncovered at the former site of a sawmill once located in rural western Washington. Although the map that originally inspired me to search out the location dated from 1910--the example above, which I discovered years later and does not show the radiating logging spurs, dates from 1899 and only shows the main RR that accessed the mining district several miles farther east in the Cascade Range--the large bones caused me to think that earlier logging efforts had supplied the mill that was, by 1910, fed by a web of logging railroads. Prior to the advent of steam donkey logging, the most common method of yarding logs out of the Washington woods on skid roads (origin of the term "skid row") employed teams of yoked oxen. I think the bones that I uncovered marked the final dining hall fate of oxen injured, grown too old to "pull their weight" or perhaps discarded in favor of newfangled technology.


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## willong (Apr 21, 2021)

logan.the.collector said:


> This is a dump is on a home site, thats for sure, but there had to have been kids there because I dug a toy train there too! Pretty cool. But it was a nicer home so I imagine it was a richer family that didn't need the deposit as well, you are definitely onto something there.



Please let us know if you obtain date of production information on the milk bottles. Due to the toy streamliner locomotive, my first impression of the dump's age was about the time of The Great Depression. However, I'm not a steam or RR buff; and I had to do a little online searching to narrow the dates of the Streamlined Steam era:  http://streamlinermemories.info/?p=325  and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamliner  It seems that the era began a little later than I thought.





Naturally, one assumes that the toy was enjoyed, perhaps for many years, before being discarded. Thus, I am thinking that much of the refuse in the dumpsite was deposited after the Great Depression ended with the advent of America's production boom associated with World War Two. If my guess is correct, it would help explain the disinterest of the residents' in recovering bottle deposit money. While rationing reduced availability of some commodities for civilians during the war years, it was otherwise a relatively prosperous time of ample employment opportunities.


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## logan.the.collector (Apr 21, 2021)

willong said:


> Please let us know if you obtain date of production information on the milk bottles. Due to the toy streamliner locomotive, my first impression of the dump's age was about the time of The Great Depression. However, I'm not a steam or RR buff; and I had to do a little online searching to narrow the dates of the Streamlined Steam era:  http://streamlinermemories.info/?p=325  and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamliner  It seems that the era began a little later than I thought.
> 
> View attachment 223831
> 
> Naturally, one assumes that the toy was enjoyed, perhaps for many years, before being discarded. Thus, I am thinking that much of the refuse in the dumpsite was deposited after the Great Depression ended with the advent of America's production boom associated with World War Two. If my guess is correct, it would help explain the disinterest of the residents' in recovering bottle deposit money. While rationing reduced availability of some commodities for civilians during the war years, it was otherwise a relatively prosperous time of ample employment opportunities.


The milk bottles are actually mostly Great Depression era, but the dump seems to have been used for many years as well. The non-slug plate ones happen to be 1932 and 1933, while surprisingly the slug plates are 1943 and 1944. The ones I dug most recently are 1931 (2) and 1933 as well, and almost EVERY quart Altamont from that dump is 1933. The Coke bottle I found from Tupper Lake there was also a 1938 and had no case wear so it had to have been thrown away possibly after the first time it was used.


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## willong (Apr 21, 2021)

logan.the.collector said:


> The milk bottles are actually mostly Great Depression era, but the dump seems to have been used for many years as well. The non-slug plate ones happen to be 1932 and 1933, while surprisingly the slug plates are 1943 and 1944. The ones I dug most recently are 1931 (2) and 1933 as well, and almost EVERY quart Altamont from that dump is 1933. The Coke bottle I found from Tupper Lake there was also a 1938 and had no case wear so it had to have been thrown away possibly after the first time it was used.


Interesting; thanks for the information.


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## Joelbest (Apr 21, 2021)

logan.the.collector said:


> Recently I have been exploring a lot and I circled back to an old dump I dug at a lot last year. I ended up finding FOUR Altamont Milk Co. Bottles from Tupper Lake, NY! That brings my Altamont count to 11 from that dump alone! Not only that, two of these are VERY RARE slug plate store bottles- very decorative and seldom seen for sale. I have only ever seen one other one so I am stoked to have found TWO for my collection.
> 
> This puts me up to 12 local bottles for 2021, these four being the first bottles I have dug in general this year. The 8 others were purchases.
> 
> Needless to say I cannot believe the results of today's dig. Absolutely amazing. Here are photos of them, I still need to clean them.View attachment 223242View attachment 223243View attachment 223244


I love the enthusiasm that comes through in your story. I remember those feelings. I had a dozen local milk bottles from my area. Ironically un-dug bottles are worth a lot more but digging and finding them yourself is a very exciting experience especially when you are rewarded with unbroken specimens that kind of stuff  you can’t put a price on.


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## logan.the.collector (Apr 21, 2021)

Joelbest said:


> I love the enthusiasm that comes through in your story. I remember those feelings. I had a dozen local milk bottles from my area. Ironically un-dug bottles are worth a lot more but digging and finding them yourself is a very exciting experience especially when you are rewarded with unbroken specimens that kind of stuff  you can’t put a price on.


I agree, I love it. This dump in particular is amazing as well because the rust is not nearly as bad as the rest of my dumps. With some elbow grease and some iron-out to remove the specs of rust, these bottles will look even more attic mint with no scuffs or chips!


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## buriedtreasuretime (Apr 30, 2021)

logan.the.collector said:


> I agree, I love it. This dump in particular is amazing as well because the rust is not nearly as bad as the rest of my dumps. With some elbow grease and some iron-out to remove the specs of rust, these bottles will look even more attic mint with no scuffs or chips!



Where does one find iron out?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## logan.the.collector (Apr 30, 2021)

buriedtreasuretime said:


> Where does one find iron out?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I believe it can be bought on walmart. We had some at the dollar store in my town though, thats where I got it.


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