# A very successful dig!



## Wheelah23 (May 29, 2011)

I went back again to my dump today. The success of this dig taught me the best strategy for finding bottles in the dump. Previously, I was focusing on digging deep in the same hole every time. I found this large pocket of bottles by digging shallowly across a rather large area. I think this will be my strategy from now on, as you can't deny these results.

 First is the mild heart attack picture, five blobs and crown tops sticking out side by side. Don't ask me why they're arranged like this, Mother Nature can be a trickster. The picture was taken by my cell phone, so don't blame me for the blurriness.







 Here's the day's finds






 Here they are a bit cleaner. I learned the hard way that I don't have sufficient cleaning apparatus for these taller bottles, so tomorrow I will hopefully get some long bendy wire to which I can attach some sponge.






 This was the first bottle I pulled out. It's a near mint example, the only thing that would make it better is if it was a blob... I dug a broken one here a couple months ago, so I am glad to get a whole one in such nice condition. It's a George Greason tooled crown top from Montclair.






 A bit later, I got a quart sized version of this bottle. Two things strike me about it. First of all, insted of the regular TBNTBS embossing, mine says "THIS BOTTLE/ IS REGISTERED". Secondly, look at the neck. It narrows considerably where the tooling for the crown starts. I think the mold was originally made for a blob, and the glass house just switched to crown tops without changing the mold. This makes 4 different Greason variants I own.






 Next is a common quart blob from Newark. I had a clear one already, and I dug two aqua ones and another clear one today. I am going to give one away at the next bottle club meeting, just for fun. This one is the nicest example, with strong embossing, nice aqua color, and whittled glass.






 I dug a different Newark blob as well. I come across Newark bottles a lot, because I live and dig a few minutes away from Newark. I don't know the rarity of this bottle, but if this website's price is anything to go by, it might be a decent one. "FEIGENSPAN/ P.O.N./ TRADE MARK/ NEWARK, N.J./ THIS BOTTLE NOT TO BE SOLD". I found out P.O.N. stands for "Pride of Newark".






 This one's a puzzler. Don't quote me on this, but I think I saw something similar a while ago that I think was a milk bottle. Ideas?






 I also dug another one of those butter/cheese mini crocks. This one has some blue lines on it that look like cracks, but I don't feel them at all. Second one I've dug, so they're probably common.






 I know these are super common, but I had to bring it home, as it was my first. "CHEESEBOROUGH MFG CO./ VASELINE". 






 Jar lid again? That makes 8 in as many digs. 






 This was the crier of the day, I think. It's an apple green Carter's cone ink. []






 I don't really know what this was. It looks like the base of a light olive green/yellow torpedo soda. It can stand on its own. The base is flat, but on the inside, it has what looks like a kickup base.






 This is a porcelain lid to something. I'll post some more pictures in the "Unexpected" forum.






 And now for the crown jewels of the dig (I apologize for that pun, I couldn't help myself.) Up till now, I had four variations of the J.W. Ransley bottles, all blobs. I never realized they had crown tops, until now, that is. All three are tooled, and look like the molds were used for blobs, then were switched to crown tops, like the Greason quart.

 The first one is identical to the one epackage gave me, except this one is a crown, not a blob. "J.W. RANSLEY/ EAST ORANGE, N.J.".






 This one has "& SON" tacked underneath the regular "J.W. RANSLEY" embossing. 






 This one has "& SON" tacked on after "J W RANSLEY". So it turns out all three are different, but only slightly. Now I've got 7 different Ransley variants.






 That's about it. Questions? Comments? Concerns?


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## madman (May 29, 2011)

those are some really nice finds!  ive seen a ransly bottle similar to the one youve found 7oz crown got it?


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## madman (May 29, 2011)

ok so ransley is a big bottler in orange nj?


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## epackage (May 29, 2011)

Great going Connor, you are the official Ransley King now, freaky how they just took the blobs and put the tooled crown on them, they just don't look right, which really makes them cool in my eyes...Keep up the good work and let me know if you find anything Paterson there....[8D]


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## epackage (May 29, 2011)

I think I count 5 blobs in the group pic but I only see two with descriptions, you holding out on us ????    LOL


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## Wheelah23 (May 29, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  madman
> 
> those are some really nice finds!Â  ive seen a ransly bottle similar to the one youve found 7oz crown got it?


 
 I've got the 7 oz. blob, and at this rate, I'll probably get the crown version soon anyway!



> ORIGINAL:  madman
> 
> ok so ransley is a big bottler in orange nj?


 
 Ransley was the only bottler I know of in East Orange, which is a pretty large city. I think his firm had to be large, because he was serving the whole city. In the 1910 edition of "American Bottler", there is a For Sale ad that says:
"*For Sale*
 50 gross Cork Wired Quart Soda Bottles. Rotary Filler and Sirup Filler in fine order. Write us quick. J.W. Ransley & Son Co., East Orange, N.J."​ 
 I assume this to be the end date for Ransley's operations, so all of my bottles are older than 1910. I don't really collect machine made bottles from my area, so it doesn't really concern me who took over Ransley's operations. I think the competition from bottlers who switched to ABMs must have driven Ransley bankrupt. 



> ORIGINAL:  epackage
> 
> Great going Connor, you are the official Ransley King now, freaky how they just took the blobs and put the tooled crown on them, they just don't look right, which really makes them cool in my eyes...Keep up the good work and let me know if you find anything Paterson there....[8D]


 
 Hmm... Ransley King... I could get used to that title! Muahahahaha! I am on my way to becoming the Geason King, too!













> ORIGINAL:  epackage
> 
> I think I count 5 blobs in the group pic but I only see two with descriptions, you holding out on us ????    LOL


 
 Don't you think I would brag about every one if they were worth posting? Lol []. I dug three of the quart Horton & Richardson blobs, and one of the other blobs I dug was unembossed, so I didn't picture it.


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## RICKJJ59W (May 29, 2011)

Good going Kid,you did better then us []
   We had permission  for this lot but nobody told him [8D]


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## Steve/sewell (May 29, 2011)

Nice work Conner thanks for sharing the dig with us. Ouch that 7-up colored ink well would have been a sharp bottle had it been whole.


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## rockbot (May 29, 2011)

Good score Wheel! love the line-up.[]
 That kick up looking bottle is just that.


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## creeper71 (May 29, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  Steve/sewell
> 
> Nice work Conner thanks for sharing the dig with us. Ouch that 7-up colored ink well would have been a sharp bottle had it been whole.


 Isn't that how it always goes? All the decent/rare bottles are busted an almost every dang common is whole?


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## Wheelah23 (May 29, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  creeper71
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
 It does seem that way, doesn't it. There are more commons made than rare bottles, so there's more of them surviving whole. I think on this dig, though, I was pretty lucky. I found as many good bottles whole as broken criers.

 This dump was "renovated" a few years ago by construction machines... That renovation included a turnover of all the soil, and a heaping dose of boulders added to the mix. Imagine how many bottles I'd have if there was no construction done... I estimate that only 20% of the bottles once in this dump are whole today. Half of those are 6 feet under the ground, and I've still found this many...


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## the ham man (May 29, 2011)

awesome finds man!!! I would be so siked  to be pulling those out of the ground. We haven't found any dumps that old yet. Maybe a few years newer than that but I think almost everything was broken[:'(]. Keep em coming


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

I think bottlers in my area switched to crown tops earlier than other parts of the country... Then they either switched to machine made stuff or died. I still find blobs, but the dreaded tooled crowns seem to be more common... I don't know why, but there seems to be some stigma about tooled crowns. They're not all bad!


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## epackage (May 30, 2011)

Connor, this may be your HOLY GRAIL King Ransley...[8D]

 http://cgi.ebay.com/East-Orange-New-Jersey-Stoneware-Ransley-Cider-Cooler-/130526474890?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e63fbf28a


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## epackage (May 30, 2011)

..and you need to keep your eyes peeled for a billhead like this one if you're gonna be KING...[]


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## epackage (May 30, 2011)

....and another without the son, this one sold for $603 two years ago....


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## epackage (May 30, 2011)

...in 1908....

 Seven drivers and eight shopmen employed at the mineral water factory of J. W. Ransley Sons & Co., East Orange, went out on strike to enforce a demand they had made on the firm for an increase of wages.

 from here....


 http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA657&lpg=PA657&dq=%22j.w.%20ransley%22%20-bottle&sig=4u3XYJkIOKFI7dbSpcavQJk0JzE&ei=aqrjTebYKOLV0QHph7S2Bw&ct=result&id=anBJAAAAMAAJ&ots=jH5RgFZwHG&output=text


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## epackage (May 30, 2011)

...this one sold for $575 in 2010...


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## epackage (May 30, 2011)

....and finally this seltzer, a member here has it and I would see if he wants to do some trading....








 here is the post it's from, I would contact Mike O if I planned on being the Ransley King. I've given you some stuff to hunt for now, best of luck buddy.....Jim


 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:0S6aZvdylCoJ:www.antique-bottles.net/forum/fb.asp%3Fm%3D338385+%22j.w.+ransley%22+-bottle&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  epackage
> 
> Connor, this may be your HOLY GRAIL King Ransley...[8D]
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.com/East-Orange-New-Jersey-Stoneware-Ransley-Cider-Cooler-/130526474890?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e63fbf28a


 
 For that price, I'm more like the Ransley court jester... I could insult the seller by offering him $75 or $100, but I don't think that would get me anywhere... In my dreams, I can get one of those jugs. I've dug a couple jugs in pieces, so there's hope.


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## epackage (May 30, 2011)

The billhead sold for $1.99 and you might be able to get that seltzer for a song, and you may just find one or two of these jugs, you never know buddy.


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

*Hit and miss!*

I went back again today. The effectiveness of this dump seems to change every time I go there. I didn't strike out, but I didn't do so well either.

 I got a Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce bottle. They're super common, but it's my first anyway.


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

*RE: Hit and miss!*

Another common, I think. "HORLICK'S/ MALTED MILK"


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

*RE: Hit and miss!*

Amber lid to something. It's too hot out, I'm too lazy to type any more.


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

*RE: Hit and miss!*

wreg


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

*RE: Hit and miss!*

I dug my first whole plate. The shards are always incredibly tantalizing, but I'm more interested in the bottles than gluing back pottery.


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

*RE: Hit and miss!*

It's like a half bowl, half plate shape.


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

*RE: Hit and miss!*

The potters mark on the bottom says "GREENWOOD CHINA/ TRENTON N.J." I think the plate is 1880's.


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## VTdigger (May 30, 2011)

> It's a George Greason tooled crown top from Montclair.


 Whats the specific  name for the type on embossing on this bottle or the bottling company? I see alot of different bottles with different names but the same  type of embossing and symbol.  I just found a nice broken bottle, same type of embossing and symbol, but it says George Geiger Holyoke Mass. Theres just something extra cool about that type of embossing.


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## KBbottles (May 30, 2011)

Beautiful finds Conner!  One of these days you will find one of those awesome jugs.   Your local collection is really starting to look fantastic!  Also, when theres one cone ink, sometimes there are many more!  Those carters come in just about every color imaginable too.  Would be cool to collect them and create a color spectrum.


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## madman (May 30, 2011)

great finds!


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## Wheelah23 (May 30, 2011)

> ORIGINAL:  VTdigger
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
 It's slug plate embossing. The bottling company carved their name, logo, etc. into a metal plate, then sent it off to a glass blowing factory, where they put that plate into the bottle mold, then made the bottles. It was cheaper for the glass company and the bottling company to not have to make a new mold every time they wanted a bottle with different embossing. At least, that's how I think it works...



> ORIGINAL:  KBbottles
> 
> Beautiful finds Conner!  One of these days you will find one of those awesome jugs.   Your local collection is really starting to look fantastic!  Also, when theres one cone ink, sometimes there are many more!  Those carters come in just about every color imaginable too.  Would be cool to collect them and create a color spectrum.


 
 Thanks! I've found shards of everything in this dump, including 3 gallon jugs and other awesome inks. So far, I've only dug clear and amber cone inks whole. The green one would've been awesome.


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## KBbottles (May 31, 2011)

Yes green is pretty exciting to dig for a cone ink.  I think the 7-up green ones bring around $30-40 bucks though so not the rarest of colored inks but they are beautiful little gems.  Got two last summer in my local dump which has since been depleted (by me)...  It's probably not what you collect, but if you're ever interested I do have doubles of that one available for a trade or purchase.  Keep digging that site though, looks amazing so far!!


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## Wheelah23 (May 31, 2011)

I'm sure there's many more inks where that one came from. 

 Just wondering, though, is there any value to gold leaf plated items? I've found dozens of plate and red glass shards which had designs of gold plated on them. Is the amount there even possible to extract & sell?


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