# “Oh the Humanity” or Paradise Lost



## butchndad (Apr 5, 2021)

A few blocks from my home a couple of years ago, a funeral home was torn down, excavated and the ground leveled.  Work was then halted on a zoning challenge. According to their website they were there for 105 years. Walking the site over the past two days I found 3 trays full of broken bottles and only one (mostly) intact bottle. The name on the bottle is CHAS.HARRIS and the address that if the funeral home so clearly Chas  Harris was there before 1910. How much before I will try to learn when the library reopens.  Most of the pieces are clearly from identical bottles. You’ll see in the photos more than a dozen tops.  My nightmare is that dozens or more of these bottles were sitting forgotten in the basement of the building when the funeral home took over and then were destroyed by the excavation. I can only imagine how many broken or perhaps not are there buried in the ground.  I’m going to keep watch for a time when they start to dig the foundation of the new building.


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## yacorie (Apr 5, 2021)

Damn that’s crazy - hope you’re able to find some whole ones.

On day 1 when you sell the yellow iron show up - make friendly -


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## yacorie (Apr 5, 2021)

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						Flea Finds Today
					

Picked up these 4 bottles for 6 bucks. Couldn't pass on them for that.    First bottle is a unmarked open pontil.  Second bottle is a nice rolled lip Seabury's Cough Balsam ( just missed the pontil)  Third is The Potter- Parlin Co. probably a baking soda  Fourth is Chas Harris 141 Brunswick St...



					www.antique-bottles.net


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## butchndad (Apr 6, 2021)

yacorie said:


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that's it!!! and it is incredibly heavy.  All of 3 blocks from my home.  Do you know anything about it; age or what was in it?  If you want to sell it please let me know


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## hemihampton (Apr 6, 2021)

That Post is from Roaddog way back in 2009, 12 years ago, And he hasn't been in here for almost 2 years. you could try PM (private message) him? LEON.


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## yacorie (Apr 6, 2021)

butchndad said:


> that's it!!! and it is incredibly heavy.  All of 3 blocks from my home.  Do you know anything about it; age or what was in it?  If you want to sell it please let me know



I just saw that it was posted on the site long ago but thought you might want to see it.  As Leon said above - it’s an old post and the OP hasn’t been around


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## butchndad (Apr 6, 2021)

hemihampton said:


> That Post is from Roaddog way back in 2009, 12 years ago, And he hasn't been in here for almost 2 years. you could try PM (private message) him? LEON.


that's funny.  i got so excited that i didn't pay attention to the date. Thank you both
Road Dog was an experienced collector but said " This is hands down the heaviest blob I ever held"
is that any clue as to what would have been in the bottle? (also embossed: "registered not to be sold)


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## PlaneDiggerCam (Apr 6, 2021)

butchndad said:


> A few blocks from my home a couple of years ago, a funeral home was torn down, excavated and the ground leveled.  Work was then halted on a zoning challenge. According to their website they were there for 105 years. Walking the site over the past two days I found 3 trays full of broken bottles and only one (mostly) intact bottle. The name on the bottle is CHAS.HARRIS and the address that if the funeral home so clearly Chas  Harris was there before 1910. How much before I will try to learn when the library reopens.  Most of the pieces are clearly from identical bottles. You’ll see in the photos more than a dozen tops.  My nightmare is that dozens or more of these bottles were sitting forgotten in the basement of the building when the funeral home took over and then were destroyed by the excavation. I can only imagine how many broken or perhaps not are there buried in the ground.  I’m going to keep watch for a time when they start to dig the foundation of the new building.


It's always heartbreaking to have dumps like this. If it makes you feel better I found over 5 that were of this age and 95% smashed. Though who knows! The agony could be wept away by your next spot!


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## UncleBruce (Apr 6, 2021)

There is a ditch near me that is full of smashed, CocaCola bottles.  Nothing even close to being whole.


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## CanadianBottles (Apr 6, 2021)

If it's any consolation those bottler dumps rarely have any intact bottles at all in them, at least not from the bottler whose dump it was.  They would have always been breaking bottles during the filling process and tossing the shards out back, but it wouldn't have made sense for them to toss their intact bottles out back instead of refilling them.  Typically the best you can hope for is either very lightly damaged bottles or their competitors' bottles which they didn't bother smashing.


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## hemihampton (Apr 6, 2021)

Here's a dump with 100's of A.R. Andrews. 99% of them Broken.


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## margclearlake (Apr 24, 2021)

Sanborn insurance maps throughout the ages. VERY useful tool. i find it useful to search with both the town and county name.









						About this Collection  | Sanborn Maps  | Digital Collections  | Library of Congress
					

The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Online Checklist provides a searchable database of the fire insurance maps published by the Sanborn Map Company housed in the collections of the Geography and Map Division. The online checklist is based upon the Library's 1981 publication Fire Insurance Maps in...



					www.loc.gov


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## buriedtreasuretime (Apr 30, 2021)

hemihampton said:


> Here's a dump with 100's of A.R. Andrews. 99% of them Broken.View attachment 222826View attachment 222827



Do you suppose the castaway shards were destroyed “returned “ bottles too worn or scratched to be put back in service as a reuse-able refill bottle?


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