Saved from the grave: Fully intact vintage 1924 Crush Bottle

TriadHunter · Dec 27, 2017

I'm still a bit perplexed as to how we found this amazing bottle 14" in the ground today. My AT-MAX gave me a choppy high tone that I decided to dig because we knew we were in the "trash dump" of the early 1900's home that once stood in this area/permission. As you can see from the photos, this bottle was very deep. In the hole near the top of the bottle was wadded up foil (usually rings in the 40's on the MAX, so I still do not know what gave the high tone). I must have hit this bottle no less than 3 times with my shovel and hard at that and yet it stayed intact. They don't make 'em like they used to! Once I could see that it was glass and the pattern was "old" I knew we had a gem down there. So I spent 30 minutes carefully extracting this bottle with my handheld edge digger, hoping it was not broken. My 10 year-old and I were so excited. We fist-bumped two times on this one. This find made our day. :cool:

The bottom/side reads: "MIN CONTENTS 6FL OZ PAT. JUL 15 1924"
The very bottom reads: "CRUSH BTC CO GREENSBORO NC"

GeneralQuarters · Dec 27, 2017

That's a very nice find! I've never seen a soda bottle like that. Congrats!

sandgroper · Dec 27, 2017

Nice bottle, I like it! Did you find out what the high tone was?

TriadHunter · Dec 27, 2017

X-Terra70 said:
Nice bottle, I like it! Did you find out what the high tone was?

I'm ashamed to say this, but in the midst of our excitement and about 8lbs of soil all around us, I did not re-check the hole. I know, I know, Detecting 101 stuff right there. I should know better! :no:

The good news is this spot is a standing permission and we have free reign to hunt it. So, I can go back and have another look any time. We have been finding lots of those Ball Mason Jar lids in the same area as this bottle, so my hunch is that's what it was. On my MAX the Mason Jar lids give off a huge high 70's tone/VDI, even when the dang lid is 10" down, so I am pretty sure that's what happened here. The MAX never goes wrong with foil - it always hits in the 40's no matter the size, so I am positive the foil at the top of the bottle was not the culprit.

pplinker · Dec 28, 2017

Good looking bottle, Triadhunter. Glad your 10 yr old got in on the excitement!

Maybe go back there with a heavy duty shovel and just dig down and see what else you find. Don't even bother with the metal detector in the trash heap. There has to be more bottles and interesting glass in there.

Keep us posted of all your finds there.

Mud-puppy · Dec 28, 2017

Thats a cool find! Should look good sitting on a windowsill! Interesting place you got there!

Iggyks · Dec 28, 2017

Very cool! I found one in the recesses of the old college football stadium here but yours is neater!

Stiffwrists · Dec 28, 2017

Thanks for posting. I've yet to find a complete old bottle. I especially love those "still in the dirt" pics. Awesome.

TriadHunter · Dec 28, 2017

Mud-puppy said:
Thats a cool find! Should look good sitting on a windowsill! Interesting place you got there!

Thanks Mud! And yes, even the wife wants to keep this find (which is saying a lot as she doesn't really get "my" hobby).

TriadHunter · Dec 28, 2017

Stiffwrists said:
Thanks for posting. I've yet to find a complete old bottle. I especially love those "still in the dirt" pics. Awesome.

Thanks! We're happy with it. Hard to believe it's 93 years old!

TriadHunter · Dec 28, 2017

Iggyks said:
Very cool! I found one in the recesses of the old college football stadium here but yours is neater!

I really like that bottle you found too. It has great markings on it.

Waveoff · Dec 28, 2017

That's a really cool looking bottle! Nice save!

dsorgnzd · Dec 28, 2017

Great find! Sometimes the best ones are the ones that are a complete surprise.

IDXMonster · Dec 28, 2017

Hell of a lucky thing for it to be complete...a classy bottle is a GREAT find!

zeemang · Dec 28, 2017

Very cool looking bottle, awesome condition too!

GLASSHOPPER1955 · Dec 28, 2017

That was deep for a randomly buried bottle. Generally, dumps can be 1-4 feet, sometimes deeper. Good thing for the foil or you may never have found it, proving that metal detectors are another tool for bottle hunters to use, besides probes.

That is known as a "deco-soda" which was popular from the '20s-'30s until Applied Color Labels (ACL) became the norm. They have quite a following among soda bottle collectors. I have seen this same design with different markings on the bottom so it may have been a generic design bottle.

Enjoy that bottle - you certainly invested some time exhuming it.

TriadHunter · Dec 28, 2017

GLASSHOPPER1955 said:
That was deep for a randomly buried bottle. Generally, dumps can be 1-4 feet, sometimes deeper. Good thing for the foil or you may never have found it, proving that metal detectors are another tool for bottle hunters to use, besides probes.

That is known as a "deco-soda" which was popular from the '20s-'30s until Applied Color Labels (ACL) became the norm. They have quite a following among soda bottle collectors. I have seen this same design with different markings on the bottom so it may have been a generic design bottle.

Enjoy that bottle - you certainly invested some time exhuming it.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate the info! :cool:

Captain Silver · Dec 28, 2017

Nice vintage Orange Crush bottle...definitely a keeper!

Saved from the grave: Fully intact vintage 1924 Crush Bottle

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