Been a few family members look for the old town dump on the property to dig bottles.spring erosions have finally shown the edges of it and has some good glass so far.gonna putter an hour or 2 with a hook and see what comes up.stay tuned for what i find and lets see some of your glass treasures.

Always shoes for some reason that last so long in dumps same for ship wrecks!

this dump was closed in 1920 and covered up.should be interesting.came back for buckets for the broken glass before i got cut bad.just wanna check out if its worth it or not and may share with a fellow digger for fun.

The place we live on now was a old farm site at the turn of the century still a few old foundations around. I often find clutch plates, bolts, nails, bottles and shoe soles popping up in a few places. Wife found a arrow head once not sure if it was just there or was in a shed location when it was lost.

We used to dig old dumps in Bedford County back in the 70's and 80's and we found some cool old stuff.

The date of 1920 would be a little late for most collectible bottles but the lower depths or older portions of the dump are likely older. Most of the bottles you will want to keep will predate 1910 and even better will be those that predate 1900. Look for hand made(mouth blown) bottles that will have a side mold seam that does NOT extend to the lip or will be spun in the mold and have no seam at all. Most will be cork top or some type of closure that did NOT rely on a smooth uniform lip. The later machine made bottles(mostly teens and later) will have side seams that extend through the lip and with those uniform lips, screw tops became increasingly common with newer ages.

I enjoy collecting old glass, have a small collection going which will be used some day when I build my retirement cabin...
Cohunt is right if your looking for valuable bottles the dates would be 1860-1900....most of mine are just unique pieces, no value in them just good show pieces....

I have a book on old bottles and their value if you come a crossed something you may think it’s valuable......

Most of my glass I buy in the upper peninsula of michigan not sure why but I can’t help myself when I’m up there and find someone selling bottles.....most are really cheap, $1-3.....

And keep an eye out for marbles too, plenty of lost marbles in this big old goofy world.

When my brother and I were kids in the late-sixties/early-seventies we did lots of digging in old farm dumps. At one point we each had a floor-to-ceiling set of shelves along one bedroom wall completely filled with old crocks and jugs, some blue willow and especially cork-top-bottles, the ones with the necks made separate, we didn't keep the newer style with the seam going all the way up.

We sold most of it at flea markets for extra income and to make room for more stuff. Still have a few of the best pieces left.

PCR2 You lucky dog . I have been digging for most of my life It is addicting just like trapping . I have found that each spot has it's own set of items .If you dig 10 miles in a different area you will find a whole other set of bottles . Excellent advice for cohunt as far as the deeper stuff will be the better items as far as value .But we have been doing a fair amount of trapping over the past few season without much money in return .I just enjoy wondering what I find and keep on digging hope for something new. When you start getting some nice stuff put up some pictures . And be careful .Also sometimes poison ivy is growing all over some dumps. I don't normally get it but I have had a serious case from digging and getting into the roots .

I found the milk bottle under the sign last spring and the rusted out revolver this year. I have lots of bottles but not as many things like the sign and revol


ver Sorry about the lousy pictures .

Your pictures look fine; very interesting stuff.

Where I live, with my metal detector I've found there was once an old homestead dating back to the 1850s according to my deed. I've found square nails, horseshoes, a brass bell, some perforated metal I found out later was zinc, two monkey wrenches, ice tongs, a couple things I have no idea what they are, and some arrowheads. One of the arrowheads is pounded copper, a couple are metal, and some are quartz.

i enjoy diggin old dumps alot. been a while since ive found any crocks, but like old soda bottles and cobalt blue glass stuff.

when the wife gets home at 5 i'll put up pics of todays finds and of some of my collection.i didn't beat around too much as i get side tracked easily but did get a Bradford Brewing Co. bottle that's a 50 dollar bill with a phone call.believe if i got everything together between grampa and i we have well over a 1000 different ones.

Found at an old house place a metal Marine Recruitment sign around 3X4 feet that had the wars on it the Marines fought in and stop at the Korean war. Has a little rust on it other then that look great. Got in hung up.

Found a old bottle under my tree stand buried it was a decretive green bottle full of cod liver still had a tight cork and the fat had separated from the oil over time. Might of been a old deer camp or homestead place maybe.

There is a website I check on regularly dealing with all types of bottle collecting ,metal detecting ,marbles , Native American artifacts ,Civil war items farm relics and also fur trades items plus many more .If it is OK I will post it but I don't know if that is acceptable or not

i've always threatened to get them all out for a pic someday maybe but these are a few.7or8 on the fireplace is the new dump.wife says there is 21 good sized boxes in the basement.i also metal detect but thats for another day.

Should one wash the bottles or leave the patina (dirt) in them?