DocBeav
Bronze Member
***Update on bottle fragment at bottom........
Spoke to Max this AM and decided to meet up around "the cave" area for some hunting. Max had some errands to run first so I headed out to scout 4 different beaches a few hours before low tide to see how things were shaping up. (been hit or miss lately). Decided to start here and make my way to where Max would start at a bit later. Here was the beach about 3 hours before low tide.
Some low spots (still covered by water) were showing up with lots of good rocks exposed.
Hit a bunch of rocky low spots, did some hunting up and down the slope but most all targets were in the water or just at the low tide line. A good indicator for me along this part of the bay has been the amt, age and quality of the sea glass that comes up here. When I'm walking along I usually keep an eye out for some of the more interesting pieces (if you have seen any of my other posts from the beach hunts I almost always have some in each main picture) along the beach but the really cool ones come up out of the water in my scoop. Usually there is a few of the ladies out collecting the stuff off the beach so it's not easy to find the really good ones there! Here are the finds for today:
A bunch of clad, a cell phone (memory card had 1 picture of a dude flashing a gang sign....moron..
), a once gold plated tie clip from "Anson", grey matter, some mystery metal and a bunch of other crapola! I also found the back of a gold plated pocket watch which may go to a TRASHED pocket watch I found in this same area a few months ago! Can't find what I did with it (the watch) though, may have trashed it....
The coolest find for me was the bottom of a blue bottle I found marked:
OLD DOMINION BOT (Broken Here) (Most likely BOTTLE CO)
76 & 78 CHURCH S (Broken Here) (Most likely Street)
NORFOLK VA
Waiting to hear back from someone who should know more than I about it but would always appreciate any input from the experts here as well! As you can see I have already found a use for it!
Did link up with Max briefly but had to make my way back to car for a batt change (forgot to charge it last night...oops!) and stayed down where I started. Max, of course, knew exactly what he was doing, and was in the right spot, he pulled a SWEET 1937 Newport News High School class ring! Here is a link to his video:
No gold (ok, non-plated) for me but hopefully tomorrow! Thanks for looking, hope all the pictures didn't make your computer freeze up!
Update: I received this email back from a gentleman who has a website about old bottles...
This is a tough one. I have a bottle listed from the Old Dominion Bottling Co, but at 39 & 41 Fenchurch street in Norfolk, but it is very similar in appearance to the embossing on your fragment. I did some quick searching and Old Dominion always appeared at the Fenchurch address. The Norfolk Bottling Company was at the address of 76 and 78 Church Street. On a detailed search of the Norfolk business directories, I did find something odd that can date your fragment exactly to one or two years.
The Old Dominion Bottling Co, owned by Joseph Solomansky, was located at 39 & 41 Fenchurch in 1892 and the Norfolk Bottling Company, owned by J. V. Trechy, was located at 76 and 78 Church. By 1894, Solomansky must have purchased the Norfolk Bottling Company and moved his Old Dominion Bottling Company to 76 and 78 Church. His old location, at 39 & 41 Fenchurch became the location of the Virginia Bottling Co. The following year, in 1895, The Virginia Bottling Company must have purchased the Old Dominion Bottling Company and moved it back to its original address at 31 & 41 Fenchurch.
So this means that your fragment must date to the one or two years that Old Dominion was on Church Street and dates it to 1893 or 1894. I did not have access to the 1893 Norfolk Directory so I cannot be more exact than that.
I believe the the embossing would have been "RETURN THIS BOTTLE TO / OLD DOMINION BOTTLING CO. / 76 & 78 CHURCH ST. / NORFOLK, VA." I did not have it listed and have added it to my database. It will be on my website with the next update.
Hope this helps.
Tod von Mechow
Spoke to Max this AM and decided to meet up around "the cave" area for some hunting. Max had some errands to run first so I headed out to scout 4 different beaches a few hours before low tide to see how things were shaping up. (been hit or miss lately). Decided to start here and make my way to where Max would start at a bit later. Here was the beach about 3 hours before low tide.
Some low spots (still covered by water) were showing up with lots of good rocks exposed.
Hit a bunch of rocky low spots, did some hunting up and down the slope but most all targets were in the water or just at the low tide line. A good indicator for me along this part of the bay has been the amt, age and quality of the sea glass that comes up here. When I'm walking along I usually keep an eye out for some of the more interesting pieces (if you have seen any of my other posts from the beach hunts I almost always have some in each main picture) along the beach but the really cool ones come up out of the water in my scoop. Usually there is a few of the ladies out collecting the stuff off the beach so it's not easy to find the really good ones there! Here are the finds for today:
A bunch of clad, a cell phone (memory card had 1 picture of a dude flashing a gang sign....moron..
), a once gold plated tie clip from "Anson", grey matter, some mystery metal and a bunch of other crapola! I also found the back of a gold plated pocket watch which may go to a TRASHED pocket watch I found in this same area a few months ago! Can't find what I did with it (the watch) though, may have trashed it....The coolest find for me was the bottom of a blue bottle I found marked:
OLD DOMINION BOT (Broken Here) (Most likely BOTTLE CO)
76 & 78 CHURCH S (Broken Here) (Most likely Street)
NORFOLK VA
Waiting to hear back from someone who should know more than I about it but would always appreciate any input from the experts here as well! As you can see I have already found a use for it!
Did link up with Max briefly but had to make my way back to car for a batt change (forgot to charge it last night...oops!) and stayed down where I started. Max, of course, knew exactly what he was doing, and was in the right spot, he pulled a SWEET 1937 Newport News High School class ring! Here is a link to his video:
No gold (ok, non-plated) for me but hopefully tomorrow! Thanks for looking, hope all the pictures didn't make your computer freeze up!
Update: I received this email back from a gentleman who has a website about old bottles...
This is a tough one. I have a bottle listed from the Old Dominion Bottling Co, but at 39 & 41 Fenchurch street in Norfolk, but it is very similar in appearance to the embossing on your fragment. I did some quick searching and Old Dominion always appeared at the Fenchurch address. The Norfolk Bottling Company was at the address of 76 and 78 Church Street. On a detailed search of the Norfolk business directories, I did find something odd that can date your fragment exactly to one or two years.
The Old Dominion Bottling Co, owned by Joseph Solomansky, was located at 39 & 41 Fenchurch in 1892 and the Norfolk Bottling Company, owned by J. V. Trechy, was located at 76 and 78 Church. By 1894, Solomansky must have purchased the Norfolk Bottling Company and moved his Old Dominion Bottling Company to 76 and 78 Church. His old location, at 39 & 41 Fenchurch became the location of the Virginia Bottling Co. The following year, in 1895, The Virginia Bottling Company must have purchased the Old Dominion Bottling Company and moved it back to its original address at 31 & 41 Fenchurch.
So this means that your fragment must date to the one or two years that Old Dominion was on Church Street and dates it to 1893 or 1894. I did not have access to the 1893 Norfolk Directory so I cannot be more exact than that.
I believe the the embossing would have been "RETURN THIS BOTTLE TO / OLD DOMINION BOTTLING CO. / 76 & 78 CHURCH ST. / NORFOLK, VA." I did not have it listed and have added it to my database. It will be on my website with the next update.
Hope this helps.
Tod von Mechow
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