🥇 BANNER AMAZING .... Intact 1680s bottle pulled from early trash pit!!

[Bill D. (VA)]

On Saturday my buddies Stan and KMac invited me to make a return trip to our favorite early colonial pit without our friend Dan who unfortunately had scheduling issues. We picked up where we were digging last time which was an area absolutely loaded with debris down to almost the 4 foot level. Huge oyster shells were packed in tight along with plenty of brick, bone and early glass making for very difficult digging. We were all dying to get our hands on a few more wine bottle seals, but they were quite elusive in spite of the heavy concentration of black glass. One interesting observation was the very early bottle shapes that were being recovered, many of which represented late 1600s shaft-and-globe-to-onion transitional varieties. Near the end of the dig KMac decided to take a short break and invited me to jump in and dig in the little hotspot he’d been working. It wasn’t more than 5 min later while removing material from the very bottom of the hole when I stumbled across an amazing find, and one that I unfortunately damaged with the shovel. It turned out to be a complete example of a small, but heavy wine bottle that was similar in form to many of the other large fragments we had been digging. In one of my reference books I found a nearly identical example dating to the 1680s which is spot-on for this shape. I told KMac this was his bottle, but he very graciously insisted that it belonged to me. What a wonderful gesture and friend!! I really felt bad taking it, but he sincerely wanted me to have it. I’ll never forget that moment – thank you again KMac! The bottle had some lip damage and we meticulously sifted the dirt in search of the small missing pieces, but came up just a little short of finding them all. I had a blast and can’t wait to go back with my good friends and see what other amazing treasures await.

 

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[Aureus]

That's a phenomenal find! Congratulations!

 

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[LUE-Hawn]

Nice Juggs ;o)

LUE-Hawn

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

"Over three centuries later, Bill D. of Virginia would recover one of their empties."

Some many shards of black glass, so very few complete bottles ever found - a big congrats to you! So can we all expect to see this great find in the 2nd edition of your book?

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

View attachment 1558459

"Over three centuries later, Bill D. of Virginia would recover one of their empties."

Some many shards of black glass, so very few complete bottles ever found - a big congrats to you! So can we all expect to see this great find in the 2nd edition of your book?

Thanks Jim. No matter how many great finds I recover from here on, they will not appear in any new book since I don't think I could stand the stress of doing another . It was fun, but never again ....

 

[johnnyblaze]

Wow Bill it does not get much older than that for an intact bottle..Congrats on the dig and the banner..It will look good in your next book!

~Blaze~

 

[RelicDude]

Absolutely amazing!! It's nice to see some glass on the banner.

 

[sutphin]

BILL YOU NEED YOUR OWN SHOW AND THE BOOK IS A SELLER AND A EXCELLENT SOURCE FOR INFO. NICE FINDS.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

No denying I'm jealous of all that, who wouldn't be?! Go dig that shaft and globe Bill

Hopefully that's coming up next Joey. I've already recovered at least a couple complete bases to shaft and globes, and since we're digging in an early part of the pit now anything's possible.

 

[SC Keith]

Congrats on the banner find and the success of your book Bill. The book is awesome!

 

[gwdigger]

Remarkable find no doubt. I have got to get to the pit digging.

 

[Ahab8]

Remarkable find no doubt. I have got to get to the pit digging.

You sure do! I’ve seen the incredible early stuff you find. Those pits are loaded with crazy good finds man....and by the handful

 

[whydahdiver]

Congrats on the intact bottle Bill. Personally, I'm surprised more of those heavy thick walled bottles didn't survive. Maybe they re-used them until they broke?

Bill: great find for sure, very unusual on a land dig! When I was a grad student I was lucky to do my U/W field school at Port Royal Jamaica which was hit by an earthquake in 1692. almost 1/3 of the town slid under the water and was buried very quickly. We spent the whole summer excavating what turned out to be that store room of a tavern, and as a bottle lover I was in heaven: we found 72 intact onion bottles some with the wire still around the string rim. Also, because the tidal wave after the earthquake deposited coral and silt over the site there was great organic preservation, we found an entire table that had been buried under a brick wall.

Good hunting,


Whydah

 

[Ahab8]

Bill: great find for sure, very unusual on a land dig! When I was a grad student I was lucky to do my U/W field school at Port Royal Jamaica which was hit by an earthquake in 1692. almost 1/3 of the town slid under the water and was buried very quickly. We spent the whole summer excavating what turned out to be that store room of a tavern, and as a bottle lover I was in heaven: we found 72 intact onion bottles some with the wire still around the string rim. Also, because the tidal wave after the earthquake deposited coral and silt over the site there was great organic preservation, we found an entire table that had been buried under a brick wall.

Good hunting,


Whydah

Wow that’s incredible! I recently went to the Whydah exhibit in Portland, Me. I have another friend on here that worked on the recovery of the Whydah. Many if the greatest intact treasures remain on the ocean floor. What an experience to bring them to the light of day.

 

[whydahdiver]

Thanks Ahab. There are incredible things under the water all around the world but many governments now are trying to stop private citizens from recovering them even in a professional manner. This leaves only UNESCO and their like minded minions to take over and push out the little guy who is responsible for the vast majority of great discoveries.

Whydah

 

[dfallis1]

Great work rescuing that beauty. Huge Congrats. Is there anyway we can get a pic of the bottle all cleaned up and perty.


P.S. I have your book and its a great resource Thanks

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Great work rescuing that beauty. Huge Congrats. Is there anyway we can get a pic of the bottle all cleaned up and perty.


P.S. I have your book and its a great resource Thanks

Here you go .....

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Congrats on achieving BANNER #6 Bill, what a great find to make it with too!

Dave

 

[A2coins]

Amazing its intact well done

 

[Noah_D]

good finds! Your trash pit is a mere 250 years older than mine...

 

[Whatdayagot]

Beauty!! Great job