# Finding treasure at a traffic light!



## Flasks (Mar 23, 2020)

While waiting  for a traffic light to change in a near by community, I noticed to my left an excavator was dumping its bucket on a hill of previously dumped dirt from  the basement of an old building being torn down. Rolling down the dirt was this stoneware canning jar with a stuck on lid still in place. I quickly found a parking spot around the corner, ran back to the dig area, jumped over the "keep out" ribbon and ran to where the jar stopped. Quickly getting  off that mound of dirt, for obvious reasons, I spotted a double eagle historical flask, grabbed that and escaped to my car with my treasures. Fortunately for me, and the items, the dirt was dry and a light washing off was all that was required. I've seen lots of stoneware storage and canning jars but never one with stenciled cobalt pattern...this one I think is a rose. It is a wax sealer style and holds a bit over a quart...it has no damage. I think the jar was made in my hometown, 3 miles away as  two potteries were operating here starting in 1840s. I'd date this canning jar about 1865-1870. It is proudly displayed with other stoneware items from this same area. The flask is nothing special and should have been listed in another forum, but finding both in the same spot, at the same time, I've included it in this forum. It is an aqua-blue Pittsburg marked oval with an eagle on both sides.


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## J.R. Collector (Mar 23, 2020)

That is a story I dream about. That is fantastic


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## yacorie (Mar 23, 2020)

I love that the “flask is nothing special” - that speaks volumes about the stuff you’ve found before.  Finding that flask would be the highlight of my digging career to date - hands down.

was the literary molded around a glass wax sealed?


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## embe (Mar 23, 2020)

Cool, that would be awesome to search.  Sometimes all it takes is to talk to the excavator guy (so he knows to look out for you as he's working)


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## martyfoley (Mar 23, 2020)

Awesome story.  The stuff of which bottle digging dreams are made of.  I'm gonna buy me an excavator!


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## jarsnstuff (Mar 23, 2020)

Now that's being in the right place at the right time!  Makes you wonder what else may be in that pile of dirt!


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## Cola-Coca (Mar 23, 2020)

Nice saves!


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## ajohn (Mar 23, 2020)

I'd be night owling!!!


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Mar 23, 2020)

Great story.


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## Flasks (Mar 23, 2020)

ajohn said:


> I'd be night owling!!!


Strange that you mentioned "night owling".  In all reality I've spent many thousands hours doing just that.  I worked river shore lines, probing in a foot of water by moonlight (Fl). Extracting the bottle a foot or deeper through a foot of water is another story I may describe at a later time. I I used small flashlights, covered in rubber that I could hold by my teeth while digging on terra firma. I designed a special probing rod over the years that almost talks to you as to what stopped it in the soil and made many super finds. The trouble is that where the pottery canning jar and flask came from is surrounded by street lights with cops near every intersection.


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## Raypadua (Mar 23, 2020)

That’s a scene right out of “Fruit Jar - The Movie”!!!

amazing story, thanks for sharing!!!


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## dh1786 (May 11, 2020)

nice find!!!!


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