StevenB
Full Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2017
- Messages
- 143
I've recently met up with some guys who've been digging bottles for decades. Super nice guys and they know how to expertly locate and dig privies and cisterns. This past Sunday we all went out to a vacant lot in town that originally had a house built about 1900, and dug out the cistern. It was an all-day affair because the cistern was quite deep and we had to go through about four feet of clay to get to the good soil. The bottle guys were rewarded with dozens of good bottles including amber Cokes, local dairy bottles, embossed medicine bottles, etc. (plus dozens of antique bottles they deemed "common" and ended up throwing back in the hole!) While the digging was going on a fellow detectorist and myself were scanning the dirt piles for goodies. Best find for me were three identical uniform buttons from the Kentucky Central Ry, from late 19th-early 20th century. One even had a bit of the uniform fabric still attached! The only old coin I found was an extremely toasted wheat penny. The soil conditions inside these old cisterns isn't very conducive to preserving metal items unfortunately, but it was still fun to dig.
Once we had the cistern filled back up and parted ways, I still had the itch to find some silver, so went and checked out the front yard of a new permission, a circa 1920 house in a nice part of town. In about an hour I dug a 1944 Merc, 1934 cent, a metal football charm, and a large advertising token from Hyvis Motor Oil, probably 1930s. When I flipped over the plug for the token at first I thought I had found a half dollar coin, it was about the right size, but I'm happy with the token anyway and it cleaned up nicely. A great end to a fun day.
Once we had the cistern filled back up and parted ways, I still had the itch to find some silver, so went and checked out the front yard of a new permission, a circa 1920 house in a nice part of town. In about an hour I dug a 1944 Merc, 1934 cent, a metal football charm, and a large advertising token from Hyvis Motor Oil, probably 1930s. When I flipped over the plug for the token at first I thought I had found a half dollar coin, it was about the right size, but I'm happy with the token anyway and it cleaned up nicely. A great end to a fun day.