# Is digging this rocky bottle dump worth it?



## PlaneDiggerCam (Nov 6, 2017)

For a while I have been digging a bottle dump where 95% of everything is broken from rocks. I am starting to wonder if the farmers dumped rock on everything to keep the cattle from getting hurt. It is a 1850s-1890s dump with pontil shards and drakes bottle shards but nothing that old has been whole. I have only gotten a couple medicines from the 1890s. Should I continue to dig? 

-PlaneDiggerCam


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## nhpharm (Nov 6, 2017)

Depends on whether or not you have somewhere better to dig!  90% of the dumps I dug in New Hampshire were like this...the same places that were handy for dumping trash were also handy for dumping rocks ploughed up in the fields.  Sometimes I found a surprise hiding in those rock piles but more often it was heartbreak after heartbreak.


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## RCO (Nov 6, 2017)

I really have no idea , but agree it depends if you have other locations to dig at or not . 

if you had any concerns about safety due to the rocks or amount of broken glass I wouldn't keep digging , if that is an issue or not ? 

but most farmers didn't throw away a lot of good stuff so its not uncommon to only find broken glass or mini plain corked bottles in such dumps


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## PlaneDiggerCam (Nov 6, 2017)

I do have other dumps but they are 1880s to 1920s era. This is my oldest one however. Thanks for the help and this is a picture of some big criers.


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## PlaneDiggerCam (Nov 6, 2017)

By the way does anyone know the age of this super thick black glass?


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## nhpharm (Nov 6, 2017)

Looks like a standard 1880's-1890's English blackglass beer.  The earlier ones have a more "v" shaped base kickup.  Nice shards by the way.


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## hemihampton (Nov 6, 2017)

For me I'd get very excited to see & dig killer 1850's & 60's shards. Because of that early age I'd keep digging. I always say to myself as long as I dig or leave with one good whole bottle then it was worth it. Also, you'll never know if you could of popped out a nice whole 1850's pontil bottle if you don't try & for me that would nag at me & bother me as I'd be saying to myself, What if, What if I kept going? LEON.


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## botlguy (Nov 7, 2017)

I guarantee that if I were uncovering DRAKE'S BITTERS shards I wouldn't stop until the place was cleaned out or I was dead.
Jim S


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## sandchip (Nov 7, 2017)

I agree.  Dig it until it runs out.  It doesn't take but one whole bottle to make all the difference in the world.  And what if that one whole one is a rare flask, bitters, medicine...I'd go mad wondering what I might've left behind.


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## riverdiver (Nov 15, 2017)

I would dig that all day long, eventually you will find something whole!


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