# 3/4 Philly Dig



## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Good digging weather in Philly to dig an enormous hole.  This pit was eight feet across and 14 feet deep.  More to follow later.  Just starting the thread.


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## botlguy (Mar 5, 2013)

Why was it only a three quarters dig?   [][8D]


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## soda bottle (Mar 5, 2013)

Must have been a 3 seated crapper?


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

View from the back of these houses that seemed to share this privy.  Late 17's or early 18's.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

1


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

2


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Back yard starts to get smaller.  Half of the hole is on the other side of the fence.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Some pottery from day one.  This dig was a little tricky for a variety of reasons.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

3


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

1st quarter of the hole.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Cleaning out to continue digging on day 2.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Sorting some more shards.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Two of these were found.  One with a little lip damage.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

4


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## deenodean (Mar 5, 2013)

Nice adventure. Glad someone is diggin..Keep up the pursuit !! []


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Embossing not too clear..."Leidy's Chemical Laboratory Philadelphia" May not have spelled "Liedy's" correctly.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Photos taken on the fly.  Open pontil.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

More shards....


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Half of the hole dug.  Maybe some of the other guys will chime in to explain some of the challenges.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Very cool tea cup.  Hope someone finds the missing chip!


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Another interesting example from this dig.


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## epackage (Mar 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  rpinkham
> 
> Another interesting example from this dig.


 *OH MY!!!*​


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Very old "Philadelphia Dispensary".


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

2


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## epackage (Mar 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  rpinkham
> 
> Very cool tea cup.  Hope someone finds the missing chip!


 Here's another, very similar, great piece...

 http://phillyarchaeology.org/artifacts/jul2011.htm


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

Thats all the photos i have as there was a good bit of earth to move!  I'm not 25 anymore...Hope some of the other guys have some to add. Thanks for checking this out!


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## JOETHECROW (Mar 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  rpinkham
> 
> Another interesting example from this dig.


 
 What's the story with this bottle?? Waaaay cool. This is some seriously old stuff.


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## deldig (Mar 5, 2013)

The majority of the bottles were 1815-1840. I added a photo to show the color of the cologne. Also, Ray eluded to the challenges of this hole. It was previously dug (partly. The back half of the pit was partially exposed down to 12 feet, several years ago, when the houses at the back of the property were built. A couple of diggers wers able to recover part of the layer. They stopped when they felt it was unsafe. Luckily, they left a couple of nice things.


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## deldig (Mar 5, 2013)

Picture file was too large. The color is a puce/rootbeer color.


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## rpinkham (Mar 5, 2013)

One last shot.  I found this stuff to be very interesting.  I had never heard of open pontil windowpanes before.  Quite a bit came up.  The photo is not very good.  Maybe Ben Franklin peeked through!


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## epackage (Mar 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  deldig
> 
> Picture file was too large. The color is a puce/rootbeer color.


 I'll be happy to post it if you want to email it to me Alan....Jim epackage@msn.com


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## epackage (Mar 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  rpinkham
> 
> One last shot.  I found this stuff to be very interesting.  I had never heard of open pontil windowpanes before.  Quite a bit came up.  The photo is not very good.  Maybe Ben Franklin peeked through!


 

 Pretty common back in the day, they still make them today to recreate that look...


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## RIBottleguy (Mar 5, 2013)

Wow, that is a great early pit!  Very nice bottles.


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## RICKJJ59W (Mar 5, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  rpinkham
> 
> Another interesting example from this dig.


 
 That's a awesome looking cologne


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## maxbitters (Mar 5, 2013)

Nice dig but your really pushing the limits of safety by not opening up any hole to its full dimensions. A cave-in of the fill material in the the other portion of the hole can happen and if down that deep your chances of survival are not going to be good. Two friends were almost killed on separate digs by doing the exact same thing. No bottles are worth taking that kind of chance no matter how safe it appears, at least for me anyway.


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## j.dinets (Mar 6, 2013)

Great pics. Love the age of the material. How did you keep the fence post from joining you in the hole? I presume you undercut at the very base, but with that much overburden, it seems like a great risk?


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## GACDIG (Mar 6, 2013)

Alot of good finds from that pit. Hope to see more !!!![]


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## soda bottle (Mar 6, 2013)

The cup is outstanding!!!!!   

 Beautiful piece of Americana.

 The cologne looks like the one my cousin found.  His is in clear and doesn't have the same lip treatment. A few people that looked at it agreed it was of european origin. I think the winged man is of Hermes/Mercury or some other GOD of health/science .  Here is the pics of his. Cologne

 Nice dig.


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## rpinkham (Mar 6, 2013)

> Great pics. Love the age of the material. How did you keep the fence post from joining you in the hole? I presume you undercut at the very base, but with that much overburden, it seems like a great risk?


 
 As was mentioned earlier in this post, there were a variety of "challenges".  I'll just leave it at that.


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## cobaltbot (Mar 6, 2013)

Great post - as fun as it is to look at that old stuff it had to be great diggin n it!  My Stonetown site is nearly that old but sadly has not given up anything whole yet though I aint really complaining!  Did you guys sift any of that stuff?


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## RCO (Mar 6, 2013)

to think i'm still looking at a few feet of snow here , not digging weather and i'm in ontario which isn't really that far from pennsylvania 

 the cologne bottle is definity cool , don't know anything about its history or value but its cool factor is high


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## Ratzilla (Mar 6, 2013)

The early history of this dig...several years back they dug a large excavation right behind this property to build new houses, just nicking the outside of this pit in the process.  At that time, we just poked a hole in the bottom of the wall and raked out what we could, since there was no way to get it from the top back then.  Given the gigantic size of the hole, there was a lot we missed, although we were quite content with what we managed to salvage.   So this time around, the idea was to just dig straight down to the areas I didn't get the first time, and leave the dug area alone.  The problem was to figure out where I had dug before and just how much of the layer I'd gotten from below.


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## DIGS CHESCO (Mar 6, 2013)

Nice finds!  I really like that little Philly med, way to stay ahead of the bad weather thats coming thru the region.

 Tom


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## DIGS CHESCO (Mar 6, 2013)

Oh by the way, did that box contain vegitarian pizza?

 Tom


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## Ratzilla (Mar 6, 2013)

That was the reason for this little test hole in a very large pit. This was the area least likely to have been dug before.  If we had found dug area in this test hole, we could just fill it and walk away without a lot of wasted effort.  The test hole was quite successful, however, resulting in the entire north side of the pit being opened.


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## Ratzilla (Mar 6, 2013)

The north side of the pit turned out to be almost completely untouched, apparently the earlier effort had centered on the south side of the pit.  We cleaned out the north side, didn't really see a need to redig the south side.  This shows the hole fully exposed - the fence post was screwed to the fence quite securely, so we just let it hang there.  Not a huge number of intact artifacts were found given the size of the thing -  this was more a quality, rather than quantity, hole.


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## Ratzilla (Mar 6, 2013)

This was the take from the original dig from the bottom of the south side.  Still have to check to see if any of the pottery shards from the two digs match up, I still have a few from the original dig...


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## tigue710 (Mar 6, 2013)

nice, looks like a fun dig.


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## jarhead67 (Mar 6, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  rpinkham
> 
> Another interesting example from this dig.


 

 Very interesting bottle. Is that a fouled anchor I see just below the shoulder? Maritime bottle of sorts? And that cup is priceless.


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## rvcdigger (Mar 6, 2013)

Nice one guys!


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## epackage (Mar 6, 2013)

..


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## epackage (Mar 6, 2013)

.


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 6, 2013)

That thing is gorgeous! It's heavy too. I'll post some pictures of my picks tonight.


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 6, 2013)

Neat stuff!


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## RICKJJ59W (Mar 6, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  epackage
> 
> ..


 
 That's bad ass! is that a chip on the lip or is that worn like that?


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 6, 2013)

Its a chip on my lip... oh, your not talking to me... []


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 6, 2013)

VERY nice bottle! It looks like it came from a Harry Potter movie or something like that. [8|]

 I am such a nerd sometimes... sorry []


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 6, 2013)

Am I the only one who sees it?.....


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## RICKJJ59W (Mar 6, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  frozenmonkeyface
> 
> Its a chip on my lip... oh, your not talking to me... []


 
 I thought maybe you had a chipped tooth. []


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## RICKJJ59W (Mar 6, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  frozenmonkeyface
> 
> Am I the only one who sees it?.....


 
 OMG time to get rid of that thing lol


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 6, 2013)

[][][][] 

 NOPE! I may be from the South, but I have all of my teeth. []

 [][][]


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 6, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  RICKJJ59W
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 

 HAHAHAHAHA


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## jarhead67 (Mar 6, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  epackage
> 
> .


 

 OK, I don't see the fouled anchor now. But I do see a face or a skull on that oval part of the neck. And is that the Virgin Mother Mary.........??? LOL. Anyone have a Rorschach test i can take?


 That's an amazing bottle.


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## druggistnut (Mar 6, 2013)

> NOPE! I may be from the South, but I have all of my teeth. []


 
 How far are you from Athens, Julie?


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## frozenmonkeyface (Mar 6, 2013)

I don't know if you meant me or not, my name is Wendy. I am about 80 miles from Athens, AL []


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 6, 2013)

Here's the two pottery pieces I took from the dig. I have a few bottles too, but it's dark now and I'm having trouble getting a good picture. I'll try in the morning. Anyway, here's a small hand painting saucer.


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 6, 2013)

plate 2


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 6, 2013)

Here's a mochaware bowl with a beautiful earthworm pattern.


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 6, 2013)

How sad. I'm really getting hooked on this pottery. I've found that I'm just as happy admiring it as I am admiring my favorite bottles. Hopefully I can add some complete (or completely glued!) pieces to my collection soon!


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 7, 2013)

Here's a IP no name Porter


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 7, 2013)

#2


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 7, 2013)

Swaims too bad about the busted lip. Oh well, one side looks good. "Displays well"


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 7, 2013)

Swaims 2. This is the good side.


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## PhilaJDH (Mar 7, 2013)

Wicked crude puff. It too has a busted flared lip. Still pretty cool though.


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## rpinkham (Mar 7, 2013)

Nice!  Is that my Swaims?  Incidentally, kudos to philajdh for another great philly permission!


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## Plumbata (Mar 7, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  rpinkham
> 
> Very cool tea cup.  Hope someone finds the missing chip!


 
 Amazing cup, I love it!

 Assuming the 24 stars in the flag represented the actual number of states in the union when it was made, the cup would date between 1821 and 1836. Arkansas was the 25th state, added June 15th, 1836. Seems like that age range matches perfectly with the stated age of the pit. Truly a fabulous find, it would be my #1 pick hands down. Thanks for sharing the dig, great stuff all around.

 That amber figural bottle is a strange one. Seems like a winged skull above a faint caduceus above an urn. Personally, it visually strikes me as being somewhat morbid; imagery which would be better suited to an 18th century gravestone than a cologne bottle. That makes it much more appealing overall though. Sweet stuff.


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## Clam (Mar 8, 2013)

That cup looks quite familiar ! Pretty cool to see that they kept the # of stars contemporary with the # of states. Chris and Doug should have remembered digging this ones older brother in Fells Point a few years back the one with 13 stars..............


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## baltbottles (Mar 8, 2013)

Personally I don't think there is any age difference in the two cups with both being circa 1820s-30s. Its more likely the number of stars is more of part of an English ceramic decorators artistic interpretation of what an American flag of that era looked like. One decorator went by an image of the flag with 13 stars and another had a more contemporary flag to go by. I would say both cups were made at the same pottery within a few years of each other.


 Chris


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## rpinkham (Mar 9, 2013)

> Did you guys sift any of that stuff?


 
 There were always two sharp eyed guys scratching through the spoils.  There were many other finds.  Couple of coins, a cows horn, but mainly pottery.  Hope some gets glued and photographed.


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## rpinkham (Mar 11, 2013)

Just back from Philly helping philajdh spank up the dig site.  Homeowner approved of the entire job and picked up a few relics for her shelf.  The photo shows an OP window pane and OP cordial/wine glass.  Surprised to find some glassware bits that matched!


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## rpinkham (Mar 11, 2013)

Sort of a toast to those before us who left evidence of themselves!


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## Ratzilla (Mar 11, 2013)

After crud removal, the larger coin turned out to be a large cent of unreadable date, probably 1820's - 30's.  The smaller coin, if that's what it was, was about the size of a half cent but pitted and corroded beyond all hope of identification.  Privy coins generally don't hold up very well, especially the copper ones - the, ah, acidic nature of the privy contents really does a number on them after nearly 200 years...


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## rpinkham (Mar 17, 2013)

> This was the take from the original dig from the bottom of the south side. Still have to check to see if any of the pottery shards from the two digs match up, I still have a few from the original dig...


 
 Hey Tom,  Were there any decent gluebacks?


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