Like some advice from Bottle Digggers

beepinggeorge

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I once found an old Chlorox bottle back in the woods on my property. I had noticed glass had washed out in a shallow dry creek. Evidently my neighbor who has lived near my land for a long time had been getting bottles from there that washed up each year.

So, today I was walking past that site and noticed a lot of glass...when I was lookin around, I found three marbles....and some broken glass and some pieces of old crocks. I have attached pics. Please take a look at see if you see anything that if unbroken would be worth digging. Also, if you might provide any information on these marbles as to age/value. Two are chalky white looking and 1 is half red and half white.

I am basically wondering if I should begin digging this dump out or if it is not old enough to mess with. The area has been occupied since 1850, with a log home from then still lived in within 500 yds. I have 26 acres and a new by-pass limited access highway is going to be built acrossed it right over this area. BTW, this does not appear to be a dump unless you see all the broken glass in the creek that isnt 6 inches deep and 2 foot acrossed. There is no metal, glass or trash laying around outside the creek.
 

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It's hard to tell from the pic, but that all looks like machine made glass. That wouldn't stop me from diggin though! Start on the outer edge and work inward carefully. The glass can break very easily when you start moving stuff around so working sideways instead of downward can be the easiest method.

Be aware that one dump can have many layers, so just because you hit dirt under a layer trash doesn't mean you are at the bottom.
 
Thanks for the reply. The two white marbles might be clay. My father in law isn't a marble collector, but he has a pretty good assortment he has run acrossed over the years. He says they definitely aren't glass. I have heard of fired clay marbles and best I can tell he is right.

I am gonna take your suggestion.

Also, although the 1850 log cabin/now a home is not on my property, I am looking forward to the day that the state buys it. The lady who owns it has lived there 66 years. I mentioned that I love to MD, but I didn't mention MDing her property. I thought she might offer to let me, but she just went on with her story about the DR who built the cabin and owned all the land around it. I am thinking MEDICINE BOTTLES!!!

Anyway, I am looking so much forward to havng full access to that property....a big shovel....and no need to worry about brown grass spots as I TEAR it UP! :D Please note above that it will have a highway built over it :D

Any idea how old this glass is?
 
yah..looks to be "modern" glass. I'd keep digging. If the area had ppl there prior to the era of the glass you found, there's sure to be better stuff deeper down.

For marbles i'd hit up the antique bottles forum. Entire section on marbles and the ppl there are genius when it comes to that stuff.

right one looks like clay. left one looks like a mineral sphere: http://www.denisbrand.com/mineral-spheres.html

the center marble looks like Master Marble Co. made, or a similar company: http://www.loosinmymarbles.com/master-marble-co.php
 
I use a thin pole (it’s actually some kind of walking stick made out of fiberglass) to poke in the dirt to get a feel of where the bottles are. I found many old bottles and old oil cans using this method. Just be careful and once you hit a few bottles -dig carefully!
 
I'm not a big bottle guy but for the most part a dump is a dump, even for 100+ years until regular trash hauling was commonplace in rural areas. It might turn out to be a monumental undertaking.

I would definitely dig it. For all you know some guy who lived their was a huge whisky drinker in the 1800's and left behind a bunch of bottles.

Just out of curiosity, are you saying that you agreed to let them build a road through your property?
 
Everything in the pics gives reason to think there may be better stuff hidden in there. The broken glass may be somewhat modern but that dont mean its not old. 2 of the marbles are the old clay variety which "usually" means they are very old. They are more common than you may think but the fact that they are there says there are probably more and possibly some rare collectible ones if you are lucky. Those old bottle dumps can be really big and really spread out by now. Keep an eye out for coins because some really nice ones have been found in bottle dumps. If you find any with liquid still inside be very careful with it , could be anything from 100 year old orange juice to mercury or acid , you just never know.
 
I stumbled onto an old dump that someone else had dug. They had left behind the ketchup bottles that had a coarse screw thread. I guess they didn't think they were old and only took the corkers. After being exposed to the sun for several years they had turned purple. Didn't know what they had left behind.
 
I'd dig it! Most of the stuff you got there looks anywhere between the 20s-40s. The old stuff is deeper most of the time. When I find a spot I dig out an area with a hand trowel. So I have better control of the digging. Once I get a good pile of dirt, I move it with a bigger shovel. I tend to stop at hard pan, but I know some people that dig past that. I have rarely found anything past the hard pan. I've found some cool medicine and pop bottles from sites that sound a lot like yours.
 
Soda ACL collectors collect the soda bottles. Some food collectors collect jars.

Most of the ketchup bottles, unless it has a full ooooold label, are worthless.

My daughter and I picking a dump: Daddy, it's another ketchup bottle, can I just smash it?.....she loves her some ketchup bottles.
 
I don't know if they have any value, but since they have turned purple they look pretty old. From the broken bottles in the dump, I would say it was from right around the turn of the century. The ketchup bottles were fairly crude and the glass was full of bubbles.
 
I'd do a little more digging around there. I see what appears to be a shear top ink top in there. Also some other indications that this may be an older dump site. @ 1900's I think.
 
I'd do a little more digging around there. I see what appears to be a shear top ink top in there. Also some other indications that this may be an older dump site. @ 1900's I think.

This thread is 5 years old and the OP doesn't seem to be active but I guess he either dug it or he didn't. Some good advice there tho. From what I see it looks like mostly WW1 era to the 50s - 60s (on the Beer bottle). But yeah, I would hit it for embossed sodas/Cokes/poisons/milks etc.
 
This thread is 5 years old and the OP doesn't seem to be active but I guess he either dug it or he didn't. Some good advice there tho. From what I see it looks like mostly WW1 era to the 50s - 60s (on the Beer bottle). But yeah, I would hit it for embossed sodas/Cokes/poisons/milks etc.

Yeah, noticed that after I posted. Oh-well. been a while since I been here. Ha!
 
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