Tooled Cobalt Poison Bottle!

[UnderMiner]

Got out late today just before sunset. Only managed to dig one bottle from the clay, but it was well worth it!

Here is the bottle in situ and immediately after extraction:

The clay preserved it very well for over 100 years. That's the trade off for digging in clay, the bottles are usually well preserved but the digging is slow and arduous. There was alot of wood in the hole as well as well as the lower jaw bone of some sort of large animal, likely a cow or horse.

Here is the bottom of the bottle, it shows the initials "H. A." in a diamond. If anyone knows what this abbreviation means please feel free to share.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Thank you for your input, but I'm fairly certain the abbreviation is "H. A." it has me baffled as well. Here is a clearer image of it.

Thanks. That's much clearer. Definitely H.A. (with stops).

 

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[glass half fool]

A great find . Almost any bottle hunter would consider that bottle to be a trophy.

 

[Gare]

Thank you for your input, but I'm fairly certain the abbreviation is "H. A." it has me baffled as well. Here is a clearer image of it.
View attachment 2072626

 

[Gare]

I blew your image up . I think it is V R ALSO I would NEVER VOTE AGAINST Red Coat LOL

 

[UnderMiner]

Nice pretty find I would not even venture a guess how many bottles i have passe3d up in all my years of detecting. Why do you think that bottle was left there ? Was the site a dumping place ? Or did it possibly wash down from some place else ? Still nice find
Thanks for sharing

Well much of NYC's coastal areas are built on landfill. So I went through municipal records until I found the oldest documented landfill I could find. In this case one that was capped in 1910 to build a local street.

Because this street has never been extended since 1910 all the ground under it still dates to the time of that landfill. What's better is that the street is flanked by the ocean so the edges of the landfill have been exposed by erosion. Now the secret is simply digging in this general area. The finds here all date to 1910 at latest, the oldest find I pulled positively dated to 1876, which corresponds to the municipal records precisely.

 

[river roamer]

Very nice bottle to find

 

[UnderMiner]

Thanks. That's much clearer. Definitely H.A. (with stops).

My fault for only posting the wet image. I checked several online glass abbreviation sources and none seem to have this one on record, online at least. Maybe there's a book out there with better references.

 

[Gare]

Well much of NYC's coastal areas are built on landfill. So I went through municipal records until I found the oldest documented landfill I could find. In this case one that was capped in 1910 to build a local street.

Because this street has never been extended since 1910 all the ground under it still dates to the time of that landfill. What's better is that the street is flanked by the ocean so the edges of the landfill have been exposed by erosion. Now the secret is simply digging in this general area. The finds here all date to 1910 at latest, the oldest find I pulled positively dated to 1876, which corresponds to the municipal records precisely.

Thanks Underminer Keep up your good work

 

[The Rebel]

Very nice. How do you know it's a poison bottle?

 

[Digger RJ]

Got out late today just before sunset. Only managed to dig one bottle from the clay, but it was well worth it!
View attachment 2072576

Here is the bottle in situ and immediately after extraction:
View attachment 2072574

View attachment 2072577

View attachment 2072578

View attachment 2072573

The clay preserved it very well for over 100 years. That's the trade off for digging in clay, the bottles are usually well preserved but the digging is slow and arduous. There was alot of wood in the hole as well as well as the lower jaw bone of some sort of large animal, likely a cow or horse.

Here is the bottom of the bottle, it shows the initials "H. A." in a diamond. If anyone knows what this abbreviation means please feel free to share.
View attachment 2072575

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[oldmxrat]

That bottle is a stunner, congrats!
Perhaps the HA is for Hagerty bros. as it looks like there's only one stop, after the A, and they were a known maker for this type of bottle. Just a thought.

 

[Silvermonkey]

I don't know the first thing about bottle digging, but your cobalt bottle is beautiful! Did you have to do much to clean it up? What a stunning piece.

 

[cajundetector]

Got out late today just before sunset. Only managed to dig one bottle from the clay, but it was well worth it!
View attachment 2072576

Here is the bottle in situ and immediately after extraction:
View attachment 2072574

View attachment 2072577

View attachment 2072578

View attachment 2072573

The clay preserved it very well for over 100 years. That's the trade off for digging in clay, the bottles are usually well preserved but the digging is slow and arduous. There was alot of wood in the hole as well as well as the lower jaw bone of some sort of large animal, likely a cow or horse.

Here is the bottom of the bottle, it shows the initials "H. A." in a diamond. If anyone knows what this abbreviation means please feel free to share.
View attachment 2072575

Incredible find! Congrats

 

[UnderMiner]

I don't know the first thing about bottle digging, but your cobalt bottle is beautiful! Did you have to do much to clean it up? What a stunning piece.

Thanks. This bottle cleaned up with just a quick dunk into a nearby puddle. Bottles from this particular clay deposit come out just as clear and clean as they went in 110+ years ago. This is not common however, bottles I dig in most other locations are often very dirty and need to be cleaned with a copper scrubber to get them this clean (copper doesn't leave scratches). Bottles dug from clay generally don't have surface abrasions compared to bottles dug from sand or pulled from the ocean, so I prefer digging in the clay, but digging in clay is alot more laborious.

 

[ironhorse]

I just love poison bottles!
Yours is a winner!
I'd be very proud of that one too...you would know it in the dark for sure..very nice

 

[UnderMiner]

Very nice. How do you know it's a poison bottle?

We can tell it's a poison by the lattice and diamond pattern embosed over the surface. This raised pattern was not a decoration but a way to convey the contents was harmful to people reaching blindly in the dark for it.

People didn't have electricity back then, for the most part, and candles didn't provide much light for them to distinguish poison bottles from similar sized medicine bottles at night or in a dark place. So the pattern was a quick way to both see and feel that the bottle was different from the others. This is also partly why the bottle is blue in color, simply to make it more distinctive compared to other bottles.

 

[JohnnyMac]

Got out late today just before sunset. Only managed to dig one bottle from the clay, but it was well worth it!
View attachment 2072576

Here is the bottle in situ and immediately after extraction:
View attachment 2072574

View attachment 2072577

View attachment 2072578

View attachment 2072573

The clay preserved it very well for over 100 years. That's the trade off for digging in clay, the bottles are usually well preserved but the digging is slow and arduous. There was alot of wood in the hole as well as well as the lower jaw bone of some sort of large animal, likely a cow or horse.

Here is the bottom of the bottle, it shows the initials "H. A." in a diamond. If anyone knows what this abbreviation means please feel free to share.
View attachment 2072575

Wow thats a nice find!

 

[Rhapsody]

Well much of NYC's coastal areas are built on landfill. So I went through municipal records until I found the oldest documented landfill I could find. In this case one that was capped in 1910 to build a local street.

Because this street has never been extended since 1910 all the ground under it still dates to the time of that landfill. What's better is that the street is flanked by the ocean so the edges of the landfill have been exposed by erosion. Now the secret is simply digging in this general area. The finds here all date to 1910 at latest, the oldest find I pulled positively dated to 1876, which corresponds to the municipal records precisely.

good research underminer! I am re-learning the art of probing, looking for 'cap clay' layers and looking for the toss pile if the privy was 'dipped'...you got a whole landfill busting the cap awesome man getting into the BIM stuff is always exciting...good luck hopefully a historic flask or rare bitters in there for ya!

 

[The Rebel]

We can tell it's a poison by the lattice and diamond pattern embosed over the surface. This raised pattern was not a decoration but a way to convey the contents was harmful to people reaching blindly in the dark for it.

People didn't have electricity back then, for the most part, and candles didn't provide much light for them to distinguish poison bottles from similar sized medicine bottles at night or in a dark place. So the pattern was a quick way to both see and feel that the bottle was different from the others. This is also partly why the bottle is blue in color, simply to make it more distinctive compared to other bottles.

Thanks for the education!