🥇 BANNER The One We Have Waited For, Privy Heaven!!!!

[jgas]

Hello all treasure freaks this is the one we have waited for. The one I gave a little teaser trailer on with the previous digs that I posted. This one took a bit to get it all together and all cleaned up after the fantastic dig that we had just unearthed. I suppose it all started a few years ago with the first pit that we had dug and discovered what a great hobby it was to actually dig up history. Several hundred pits later and we finally hit a privy that I think will go down as one of the best experiences I have had treasure hunting.
It started out with some luck, then we added just a little bit more luck and topped it off with a whole lot of luck! The timing was crazy too. Started off by just driving around to see where the excavators were digging up a bit of a parking lot. Found one pretty close to the city center so we thought we had a good chance to check it out. So we waited for the workers to stop for the day, then Gary had to probe it for the pits. It was late and he actually found a good one. But it was too late to dig with no lights. Kinda dangerous. So the next day came around and the excavators were back at it. So we waited for our time to pounce on it after he stopped pushing dirt around. He was so close to the privy that I just had to say something to the dozer driver. Usually I hate to interrupt their work but this one we had to take a chance. As luck would have it he said that he was almost done for the day and that he would leave the pit area alone, but just for one day. So all or nothing for tonight. One chance to dig this pit that we knew would be great. Gary had found a pontil Canker Balsam bottle right on top. Figuring everything below would be just as old or older. So at a feverish pitch we began to excavate what would be an unbelievable evening.

So it was Don, myself and Gary going at it. You have to be super careful because pontil bottles are fragile. Down about 5 feet we hit the top of the "Use Layer". Pontil Heaven!! We started to hit Scroll Flasks like it was the factory for them. One after another after another. Aqua, then the great site of an amber one. What a great day to be a digger. The amber one alone is huge. I'm sure it would bring a pretty penny all by itself. Then a kinda heart breaker one. A true Sapphire color scroll flask with the top knocked off. But still an incredible find. Then more aqua scrolls, pints and half pint. Then we hot a streak of medicines, cures and bitters bottles. All iron or open pontil bottles. All dating to around 1850. Crazy time had by all. The medicines saw the light of day for the first time in over 150 years. Radway RRR pontils, Dr. Bakers Pain Panacea, Dr. Wrights Indian Vegetable Syrup, Budd's Bone Wound Liniment, Ayers Cherry Pectoral all pontiled. Then a great looking C.T. Hughes & Co pepper sauce with an open pontil. Some miscellaneous unmarked tubular bottles and 4 Iron Pontil Udolpho Wolfe's Aromatic Schnapps that were iron pontil. Then 9 John Moffat Phoenix Bitters showed their faces after a century of slumber. Unbelievable. That's all we could say to each other.

Then to finish the pit Gary found a great Ravina Glass Company Travelers Companion flask in amber. And a nice ale tri mold bottle was picked out as well. Everything we pulled out was either Iron Pontil or open pontil. I could not believe the privy that we had all just experienced and captured forever on film. All tallied we pulled over 50 pontil bottles from the pit that just might surpass the $5,000 mark. But no matter what the price we eventually get for them it will never pass the amount of fun and great times we had spent just wondering how very lucky we were to get to dig this pit. Once in a few hundred privies we may get the chance, but we know reality, this may never ever happen again. A once in a lifetime chance really, but it sure paid off in good times and the fact that we can be treasure hunters in this great country and share this history with everyone! Thanks for looking everyone, be safe out there and we hope to do some more digging real soon. Until next time, jgas

 

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[surf]

...that was my first find back in 1968, went right home and washed and cleaned those old dirty lables off.

Hello saksall,

Welcome to TNet.

When you came to your senses, did you regret removing the labels? Are any of them still on your shelf?

Mosey down to the Bottle & Glass department, sometime, and tell us all about it, please.

 

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[wildcarrot]

First off, the bottles with the color and the lettering are just beautiful. Second, I'd like to know how deep those holes are you're working in?
This looks a like a really big excavation job going on here. I'm a landscape contr., been digging holes for a living my whole life. I have to say you guys are digging some pretty deep holes......
Very curious about how much time you spent on this hunt? Was it really just a one night deal and that's it? Were you working in the dark?

 

[Old River]

Wow...Great finds...

 

[jgas]

Hi wild carrot, the digs per hole usually take around 4 hours with two of us going at it. This particular site was a new parking lot going in so the area around the privy was turned up. The hole was about 6 feet deep and jammed with pontils. Very heavy use later. We started around 5 pm and ended up close to 9 pm after dark. Gotta be careful digging that deep and in the dark no less. But we never dig alone. Might never see a privy like that again but it was one to remember that's for sure. Thanks for the reply. Jgas.

 

[bottlehunterofcoscob]

Hey jgas, just saw you guys in W&E Treasures. Congrats!

 

[jgas]

Yep we made it in tha magazine. What a great feeling it is. Very humbling that's for sure. W&E Treasures is a great magazine and with people like Rosemary and Steve running it, it's a winning combo. Thanks for the kudos. Jgas

 

[saksall1935]

hi everyone, i love all kinds of treasure hunting weather its metal detecting bottle hunting, or hunting gold, but i must say some of the bottle finds i have found where realy treasures warner safe with the labels are the most spectactular that i have ever found, if you have never seen one well the lable covers the whole bottle including the neck,and are printed with every kind of cure known to man , when i found these bottles i knew nothing about the historical value,i just loved the look of an old bottle, and i guess thats is why i cleaned the lables off, that was45 years ago ben hanging my head ever since. thats a great picture , surf. saksall 1935 thanks for the welcome.

 

[Bass]

Saksall, sorry to say Surf passed away last May. We miss him still