# New- cobalt Riddle



## opmustard (Apr 23, 2021)

I recently picked up this Riddle. O.K. iron pontil, great shape for a dug bottle. Not sure that it needs to be tumbled.
opmustard


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## CanadianBottles (Apr 23, 2021)

Beautiful bottle!  Doesn't look like it needs tumbling to me at all.  A bit of patina gives it character after all!


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## J.R. Collector (Apr 23, 2021)

opmustard said:


> I recently picked up this Riddle. O.K. iron pontil, great shape for a dug bottle. Not sure that it needs to be tumbled.
> opmustard



Great bottle. I mean Fantastic bottle!!! I wouldn't tumble it.


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## opmustard (Apr 23, 2021)

Sarasota941 said:


> Great bottle. I mean Fantastic bottle!!! I wouldn't tumble it.


Thanks for the compliments on the bottle and advice.
It so clean that I was the thinking of not tumbling it.
opmustard


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## Knmuray (Apr 23, 2021)

opmustard said:


> I recently picked up this Riddle. O.K. iron pontil, great shape for a dug bottle. Not sure that it needs to be tumbled.
> opmustard


What a beautiful bottle—didn’t know bottles could be repaired/refurbished; this bottle doesn’t look like it needs any touch ups tho. Love the deep blue coloration & clean lines—very nice!


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## nhpharm (Apr 23, 2021)

Very nice!  I dug one of those in Galveston, Texas a while back...but mine is in pretty bad condition due to the soil here in Texas!


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## opmustard (Apr 23, 2021)

Knmuray said:


> What a beautiful bottle—didn’t know bottles could be repaired/refurbished; this bottle doesn’t look like it needs any touch ups tho. Love the deep blue coloration & clean lines—very nice!


This Riddle isn't damaged, I just got it recently and wanted to post pictures. It came out the ground in excellent condition. My only question was maybe to tumble it, but everyone said that it looks good just the way it is. I agree. 
opmustard


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## sandchip (Apr 25, 2021)

Sweet!


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## saratogadriver (Apr 26, 2021)

I don't like a cloudy bottle and am usually one to advocate to tumble those.   I wouldn't clean this one.    It looks great to me.

Jim G


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## bottlecrazy (Apr 26, 2021)

Gorgeous bottle.  What I would give to dig one.


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## opmustard (Apr 26, 2021)

saratogadriver said:


> I don't like a cloudy bottle and am usually one to advocate to tumble those.   I wouldn't clean this one.    It looks great to me.
> 
> Jim G


I am the type of collector that likes my bottles nice and clean. However, this one I've decided not to tumble.
opmusatrd


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## opmustard (Apr 26, 2021)

bottlecrazy said:


> Gorgeous bottle.  What I would give to dig one.


This is probably one of the cleanest sodas that has ever come out of the ground for me.
opmustard


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## Palani (Apr 28, 2021)

Nice


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## TxBottleDigger (Apr 28, 2021)

Probably a $150- $200 bottle. Stunningly beautiful. Don’t tumble it. Remember: A tumbled bottle can never be a mint bottle. This bottle is very close to mint.


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## J.R. Collector (Apr 28, 2021)

TxBottleDigger said:


> Probably a $150- $200 bottle. Stunningly beautiful. Don’t tumble it. Remember: A tumbled bottle can never be a mint bottle. This bottle is very close to mint.





I disagree. Atleast double that.


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## TxBottleDigger (Apr 28, 2021)

Sarasota941 said:


> I disagree. Atleast double that.


Yeah you're probably right !


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## opmustard (Apr 29, 2021)

Sarasota941 said:


> I disagree. Atleast double that.


Have been offered $450.00 awhile ago from a fellow pontiled soda friend/collector. I don't' think that most Riddles are very rare, but I have three more different colored pontiled ones. So this cobalt fit in nicely with the other Riddles. Do have a very light yellow Riddle that was dug from the same privy, but its condition isn't that good. It would clean up nicely but it has a minor crack in the lip.
I can't remember if Riddles were ever that hard to find. Recently, I was really bored, so I looked at Ebay and they had a green pontiled dug Riddle up for auction. It looked like it would clean up nicely. Think it sold around $60.00 or less.
Thanks for the compliments about my bottle.
opmustard


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Apr 29, 2021)

Like you green Riddles bottles, I have seen a few. Cobalt ones not so often. I love the fancy R.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## opmustard (Apr 29, 2021)

ROBBYBOBBY64 said:


> Like you green Riddles bottles, I have seen a few. Cobalt ones not so often. I love the fancy R.
> ROBBYBOBBY64.


O.K. its not just my lousy memory about the cobalt Riddles. I got very lucky on my dug cobalt Riddle. All the rest of them weren't , well they need/ed some sort of work to make them look good. I forgot that I that came also have a very light amber Riddle that came from the same privy. Most of the pontiled sodas were Riddles, named that privy the Riddle privy.
Love the fancy "R" as well.
I don't look at Ebay that much anymore and I don't buy from them (that much.) If I know the seller, I'll go for the bottle. There some good trustworthy sellers on Ebay. However, this seller doesn't accept returns is a show stopper and the only real description are the posted photos, forget it.
opmustard


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## willong (May 3, 2021)

Beautiful bottle! I certainly would not tumble if it were mine. Looks plenty nice as is. Moreover, I'd be concerned that tumbling would remove much of the evidence of it having been attached to an iron pontil when manufactured.


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## opmustard (May 3, 2021)

willong said:


> Beautiful bottle! I certainly would not tumble if it were mine. Looks plenty nice as is. Moreover, I'd be concerned that tumbling would remove much of the evidence of it having been attached to an iron pontil when manufactured.


Thank you the compliment on my bottle. I have decided NOT to tumble this soda, its good enough the way it is.
Tumbled a lot of iron pontiled sodas & mineral waters and was able to keep the iron intact on the pontil without harming the bottle. There numerous was of keeping the iron intact when tumbling.
I recently got a response from a fellow member on protecting the iron. It worked really well and I will be using his method from now on most of my iron pontils.
Here is a Farland iron pontiled soda that I dug out of privy awhile ago. It was really in bad shape, but as you can see that all the iron remained intact after it was tumbled heavily.
opmustard


willong said:


> Beautiful bottle! I certainly would not tumble if it were mine. Looks plenty nice as is. Moreover, I'd be concerned that tumbling would remove much of the evidence of it having been attached to an iron pontil when manufactured.


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## bottles_inc (May 3, 2021)

opmustard said:


> Thank you the compliment on my bottle. I have decided NOT to tumble this soda, its good enough the way it is.
> Tumbled a lot of iron pontiled sodas & mineral waters and was able to keep the iron intact on the pontil without harming the bottle. There numerous was of keeping the iron intact when tumbling.
> I recently got a response from a fellow member on protecting the iron. It worked really well and I will be using his method from now on most of my iron pontils.
> Here is a Farland iron pontiled soda that I dug out of privy awhile ago. It was really in bad shape, but as you can see that all the iron remained intact after it was tumbled heavily.
> opmustard


What's the method?


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## Newfie treasure hunter (May 3, 2021)

Looks great!


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## willong (May 5, 2021)

opmustard said:


> I recently got a response from a fellow member on protecting the iron. It worked really well and I will be using his method from now on most of my iron pontils.



Please share the method with the rest of us. This site is about learning as well as enjoying photos and tales of adventure!


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## opmustard (May 5, 2021)

Here is the part of the post that I received explaining the pontil protection.
I put a tin can lid and silicone in place. Do not get the silicone on the pontil only the base edge. Roughen up the can with sandpaper. I use a 12 inch quick clap to hold until dry. The silicone comes off easily enough. I pick and pull most off with my finger nails. A razor blade or scouring pad should work.I have a home made tumbler.
If you would like to read the entire post, go to cleaning forum and look for my post about cleaning iron pontils.
I made some small adjustments to this method mainly because of my tumbling machine (a JarDoctor tumbler) and my canisters were a little different.
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you, but my computer sucks.
opmustard


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