# Beginner finding more bottles than info: are these catsup bottles?



## Mikez (Nov 2, 2017)

Not a young guy but just getting into bottles.
Have been surfing the Internet for info but frustrated. There's so much information it's overwhelming,  but when you have a specific question you can't find it.
I'm particularly interested in soda, acl, pepsi, local. I'm picking up othet stuff but that's what I like.
So the broken NH pepsi with the intact acl got me excited. Found it right off.
Two days later, my back is shot, I  have huge hole to fill in, and all I have for my efforts is 100 plain food jars, the bottles above and the one lonely broke pepsi. 

So are these all catsup? I thought they were soda but have weird tops.
Yes I know they're not valuable and no I didn't keep any. Just looking to educate myself.


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## Mikez (Nov 2, 2017)

And how come every intact acl bottle i find sheds it's paint the minute I touch it, but the brokes always have perfect labels??


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## RelicRaker (Nov 2, 2017)

Have only been doing this a year or so myself but those do look like all catsups—the size, paneled sides, and lack of embossing are all consistent w/ catsup (or relish) bottles.


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## RelicRaker (Nov 2, 2017)

As for the paint, not sure... Murphy's Law perhaps? I've found some ACLs that hold their paint and others that seem to lose it if I look at them too hard. Depends on the chemical comp of the soil I believe. Maybe one of the members with more experience knows for sure.


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## RCO (Nov 2, 2017)

the bottles in top picture all look like ketchup bottles to me . 

often broken bottles were tossed into dumps cause they had nothing else to do with them , this was before recycling and such . so if your digging old dumps its likely your going to find a lot of broken bottles especially pop . as to why some have nicer labels than others ? no real reason as to why , some acl bottles just seem to last long and nicer than others


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## hemihampton (Nov 2, 2017)

When you find old ACL Bottles it's best to let them dry out for at least a month before trying to clean at all, especially if the ground &/or dirt on the bottle is wet or moist. This will definately help preserve the label from washing or wiping off. Try it, works for me. LEON.


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## Mikez (Nov 2, 2017)

Thanks Leon. I was gonna make a separate post about preserving acl labels in the field.
I was wondering if there was a way to stabilize the paint. It looks so good when you find it, it's frustrating seeing it wash off so easy.


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## nhpharm (Nov 3, 2017)

You digging in New Hampshire?  That used to be my stomping grounds.  Did lots of digging there.


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## Mikez (Nov 3, 2017)

I'm actually in North-central Ma, just below the NH border.

I intend to hunt the Merrimack river and tribs as I search for new spots.
I like stream hunting. I'm a fisherman so I'm good at spotting stuff in the water. 
I also like that the streams are constantly eroding out new bottles. Just like with points, bottles in my area been heavily picked over for a long time.


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## nhpharm (Nov 3, 2017)

That should be a very good area...and you are right about rivers.  Good luck!


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## bottlerocket (Nov 9, 2017)

Yes those are catsup Bottles. They seem to be everywhere. 40s to 60s possibly.


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## Tony Kendzior (Nov 9, 2017)

Mikez - did I get your name right? My guess it the ones with flat sides are ketchup or catsup, depending on where you live. None of them look very old to me. Maybe the 40's or the 50's. Certainly the broken Pepsi bottle is no more than 50 years old which suggests the others got buried at the same time. 

It's possible the amber bottle is old but it's too encrusted with dirt to see properly. Next time, take them home in a bucket and wash them thoroughly. Only then can you see the mold marks and other indications of age. Good luck and keep digging!


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## Mikez (Nov 9, 2017)

Tony Kendzior said:


> Mikez - did I get your name right? My guess it the ones with flat sides are ketchup or catsup, depending on where you live. None of them look very old to me. Maybe the 40's or the 50's. Certainly the broken Pepsi bottle is no more than 50 years old which suggests the others got buried at the same time.
> 
> It's possible the amber bottle is old but it's too encrusted with dirt to see properly. Next time, take them home in a bucket and wash them thoroughly. Only then can you see the mold marks and other indications of age. Good luck and keep digging!



Thanks.
Since I posted this I have found way, way too many ketchup bottles. 
I'm starting to realize, the ketchup bottles were non-returnable and not useful for reuse.
The soda bottles I'm after were returned while the ketchups got tossed.

I remember as a little kid, my grandparents kept wooden cases of some cheap local soda. Us kids were allowed to help ourselves to soda with no complaints - but god forbid we forgot to return the empties to the case!


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## RCO (Nov 9, 2017)

Mikez said:


> Thanks.
> Since I posted this I have found way, way too many ketchup bottles.
> I'm starting to realize, the ketchup bottles were non-returnable and not useful for reuse.
> The soda bottles I'm after were returned while the ketchups got tossed.
> ...



true that seems to be what happened , there is a lot of ketchup bottles out there and buried in dumps . be crazy to think how many ketchup bottles might be sitting in dumps across north America , have to be millions if not billions


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## Bark (Nov 10, 2017)

We found lots of similar bottles with CCC stamped on the bottom in a dump site in NE CA which dates at about 1928 per the Clorox bottles we found and a 1926 CA license plate we found (attached to a rear bumper).  We were thinking that they were bottled for the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1942) who worked on a dam very close to the site.  We think all the garbage (including baking soda cans and my first blue bromo seltzer bottle) got bulldozed together and burned in the late 40's.
Its been a few years since we have been digging but are getting back into it.


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## tommyc03 (Nov 10, 2017)

*Catsup Bottles*

Yes, they certainly do appear to be catsup bottles. And I would hazard a guess at the amber being a peroxide bottle. I'm in the Berkshires in Mass. and these are both plentiful. Your question about acl bottles could be many answers, freezing/warm weather, lime, iron deposits all affect these. I agree that you should let them dry thoroughly before attempting to clean, but whenever possible avoid the lettering, etc. If there is milkiness inside the bottles, carefully use muriatic acid as a wash. Actually these types of catsup bottles can be used at attractive bud vases. Once cleaned you can coat with a primer paint and then decorate as you wish. If they come out really clean they can also be used for sand art, filling with small glass marbles, a ribbon of the top, with a cork to seal and you have a nice flea market sellable.  I have done so quite successfully. Been meaning to get back here for the longest time, so with winter setting in hope to be able to contribute more. Hello to everyone!


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## splante15 (Nov 12, 2017)

Yep that's the truth with the ACLs......you may be onto an old restaurants dump site..


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## Mikez (Nov 12, 2017)

splante15 said:


> Yep that's the truth with the ACLs......you may be onto an old restaurants dump site..



You guessed it. Restaurant/bar. Hundreds of catsups and generic quart beer bottles and unmarked whiskey.


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## sunrunner (Nov 13, 2017)

I lived in NH in the early 1980s .there were a lot of dumps on the Merrimack around Newberry Port and Haverhill . some were hit pretty hard even back then ,but you may get lucky . with all the newbie's out there now days scraping the serifs there may be some good stuff at the bottom of those 9 to 12 foot dumps that's up there. good luck lol.


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## Bark (Nov 13, 2017)

Hello, One more thing.  Why the heck do those disposable catsup bottles seem indestructible compared to returnable or high value bottles.  Is it a secret plan to drive me nuts? 
I swear I can be digging a site, get into an area where I start finding some old soda, ink and other bottles that all have chips or bottoms missing and than find a perfect catsup bottle.
Its a conspiracy I say.


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## nhpharm (Nov 14, 2017)

Probably Murphy's Law!  You have to look at it from the other side though...if every bottle that was produced survived, there wouldn't be very many rare bottles.  Don't let sunrunner discourage you on digging though.  I know there are plenty of good diggings to be done in New England.  It may take a little perseverance but there is still some awesome stuff out there to be dug!


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## Mikez (Nov 14, 2017)

I have gotten discouraged by the number of useless junk I pull out. Im not spry so to spend my whole morning digging only to come away with 100 plain jars or ketchups.

Also discouraged by how hard most places been hit. 19th century sites look like moonscapes from the holes, broked and commons lying around everywhere. 

My best luck has been a working mill pond which is frequently lowered way down. I find 30s-40s sodas on the pond bottom. 

The other good site is a very old, long ago drained mill pond and the stream running through it. Erosion adds new bottles every flood. Trouble is I have to wait for water level to drop naturally. These bottles all must come from one limited deposit as they date very narrowly to the turn of the century. Bunch of cool very local springwater, milks and preprohibition beers plus medicines. The medicines are all commons so far, the village was on the rail line to Boston so they had access to the larger commercial market. I find stuff from NY and Chicago.

I set aside the farm dump and restaurant/bar for now. As an excited newbie I dug like a maniac because I got blood lust from seeing all the glass. After several backbreaking trips with no good stuff, I been using my free time to scout.


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## nhpharm (Nov 14, 2017)

My digs in New Hampshire were mostly farm dumps...often started out new at the top and went old at the bottom.  Many of these were not dug if the farm was occupied in the 1970's...but often you can get permission to walk the old stone walls and look for dumps.


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## Mikez (Nov 14, 2017)

You are right on. I walk the stone walls toward the steep stream bank or ravine.
I can't do the privey thing. Too much digging. Working in utilities for 30 years, I made a career decision to never again enter a hole but for one last time, hopefully long from now.

I like walking and looking. You'd be amazed what is close to the surface and exposed by a storm. Or beavers. Beavers like to put dams on top of remnants of manmade dams. Sometimes this diverts water onto land with undug bottles. Old mill sites are on virtually every stream around here.


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