First post: an unexpected find during creek clean-up

[ilyaz]

Hello everyone!

Just join this forum. Excited about it since now I hope I can find out a lot about the results of what started as a community clean-up effort and ended up being a mini "archeological dig".

My son and I were participating in a community clean-up event yesterday picking up trash along a local creek. We came across what looked like a mini land slide where a part of a steep and tall creek bank came crashing down after a lot of rain. It exposed what looked like a mini graveyard of old bottles, many of them intact. We collected a bunch and brought them home. Cleaning them now...

Here are some photos: http://s941.photobucket.com/albums/ad252/ilyaz73/Old%20bottles

According to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clicquot_Club) at least one of them (https://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad252/ilyaz73/Old%20bottles/IMG_2374.jpg) could not be made later than 1965. Pretty neat!

Of course being a complete novice at this I already started imagining that I found some huge treasure worth a million bucks. Yeah, right... []

Regardless of their value, I want to find out about these bottles as much as I can. But first I need to clean them up. So my 1st question is if there is any sort of thread on this forum summarizing how to clean bottles like these. I've started with an old toothbrush, a bottle brush and a lot of hot water and dishwasher liquid but they are doing only half a decent job. I need something better.

My second question is whether there is a similar "bottle id for dummies" thread. Some of these bottles have markings of various types, some don't. I can google the markings if they have a lot of text (like "Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of this Bottle" on one of them) but what should I do with the other type?

Thanks much!

 

[carobran]

ORIGINAL: ilyaz

Hello everyone!

Just join this forum. Excited about it since now I hope I can find out a lot about the results of what started as a community clean-up effort and ended up being a mini "archeological dig".

My son and I were participating in a community clean-up event yesterday picking up trash along a local creek. We came across what looked like a mini land slide where a part of a steep and tall creek bank came crashing down after a lot of rain. It exposed what looked like a mini graveyard of old bottles, many of them intact. We collected a bunch and brought them home. Cleaning them now...

Here are some photos: http://s941.photobucket.com/albums/ad252/ilyaz73/Old%20bottles

According to this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clicquot_Club) at least one of them (https://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad252/ilyaz73/Old%20bottles/IMG_2374.jpg) could not be made later than 1965. Pretty neat!

Of course being a complete novice at this I already started imagining that I found some huge treasure worth a million bucks. Yeah, right... []

Regardless of their value, I want to find out about these bottles as much as I can. But first I need to clean them up. So my 1st question is if there is any sort of thread on this forum summarizing how to clean bottles like these. I've started with an old toothbrush, a bottle brush and a lot of hot water and dishwasher liquid but they are doing only half a decent job. I need something better.

My second question is whether there is a similar "bottle id for dummies" thread. Some of these bottles have markings of various types, some don't. I can google the markings if they have a lot of text (like "Federal Law Forbids Sale or Reuse of this Bottle" on one of them) but what should I do with the other type?

Thanks much!

well,first off.........WELCOME TO A-BN[][]........secondly,you should have posted this in "DIGGING AND FINDING",but you wont get arrested by the forum police this time[]..............thirdly,if you scroll up a little youll find a "CLEANING AND REPAIRING" post the bottles along with pics there...............but keep in mind ,smetimes if a bottle is sick the stain wont clean except by tumbling,.............but for general dirt and grime i reccomend a good soak in ammonia(in a well ventilated area of coarse) and a container of bb's...[][]

 

[carobran]

oh,and be careful with the hot water.............dont wanna crack them![][]

 

[ilyaz]

ORIGINAL: carobran

well,first off.........WELCOME TO A-BN[][]........secondly,you should have posted this in "DIGGING AND FINDING",but you wont get arrested by the forum police this time[]..............thirdly,if you scroll up a little youll find a "CLEANING AND REPAIRING" post the bottles along with pics there...............but keep in mind ,smetimes if a bottle is sick the stain wont clean except by tumbling,.............but for general dirt and grime i reccomend a good soak in ammonia(in a well ventilated area of coarse) and a container of bb's...[][]

Thanks carobran. I realized I misplaced the post after I submitted it. I tried editing it and moving it but did not find a way to do it. Are you one of the moderators? Can you move it? I'll appreciate it. Or I can just create a new post -- or posts -- in the other forums. Hope I won't get arrested for that either. []

 

[carobran]

no,im no moderator(itll say moderator under their username[])..............im sure cyberdigger will move it for you

 

[blobbottlebob]

Welcome Ilyaz,
Looks like you are having some fun finding and cleaning those which is great. Welcome to the hobby. The best thing that I see on your pictures is the milk of magnesia bottle and that is because collectors love color and anything cobalt looks great in a window. I don't see much in terms of old or valuable - but if you keep at it, eventually that stuff will come. Congrats on your first glass pieces.

 

[RED Matthews]

Hello ilyaz; Welcome to the FORUM. From your description of events, I have to assume that you are somewhat of a newbee to bottle collecting. I have often sent messages to help people learn about some basic points to consider, as to what kind of bottle needs to be note for later research for the facts about their collecting value. So I am going to check on them and send you the information in an email. So I would like to know that address.

Also I want to advise you about checking out my homepage regarding early bottles. Please check it out. It is shown below. RED Matthews

 

[Plumbata]

Welcome, I'm glad that the discovery sparked some healthy curiosity. There is a range of ages in that material, looks like late 20s/30s to the 50s to me, and judging from the fact that you just collected what you saw and did not do much in the way of digging there is a chance of finding some good stuff (local soda and milk bottles, for example) if you went back with some digging tools. The oldest (and often best) stuff is at the bottom layer of the dump. Perhaps what you found was just the newer tip of an older iceberg.

Digging into the bank and uncovering huge piles of shards and bottles seems like the opposite of the activity you participated in, though. [] Digging in creek dumps tends to be messy, environmentally speaking.

 

[ilyaz]

ORIGINAL: Plumbata

Digging into the bank and uncovering huge piles of shards and bottles seems like the opposite of the activity you participated in, though. [] Digging in creek dumps tends to be messy, environmentally speaking.

Plumbata, thanks for the info. I've read on bottle cleaning today so will be cleaning them one by one. When I am done -- hopefully with all the pieces intact -- I'll start my research.

Most of the bottles we saved out were intact. The broken ones we piled with the rest of the garbage we collected. So I am clean here. [][]

I am thinking of returning there but I have reservations about more digging. First, the creek bank is very steep -- almost 90 degrees. I am afraid of setting off another mini-landslide with me at the bottom of it. I am then I'll have to wait for another 50 years for archeologists or volunteer cleaners to find me. [] Second, this is within city limits in a public park so I am not even 100% sure that the digging we have done was legal. But it is too tempting, especially if any of the bottles we found turn out to be really old or really rare or really cool...

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Hi.

You are into a30s 40s dump,you better dig deeper if you want a bottle worth a million dollars
[]