Digging for Bottles

Last month my mom went to the creek to pick wild onions and I went with her to do some metal detecting. Mom found a small bottle near an old stump that had fallen over. I decided to dig around the stump to see if I could find more. I found another bottle and a marble. After that I went metal detecting. Most of what I dug up was trash but I did find a fishing lure. I don't fish but I kept it anyway. I also found a large old wine jug that was off in the weeds. I cleaned the jug up and took it to a flea market where I sometimes have a booth. I sold it it for five dollars.

 I'd been thinking about going back to the stump to dig around and see if I could find anymore bottles. Last week I finally went back. I used a garden hoe to dig under and around the stump. I found some small brown medicine bottles, a couple of Heinz ketchup bottles, a milk glass cosmetic jar, and a clear bottle with wavy lines that says "Helene Curtis" on the bottom. I like old and vintage things so it was fun and exciting being able to dig them up and just take them. It reminds me of these dreams I sometimes have in which I'm walking along and finding and gathering lots of interesting little trinkets. I'm keeping the milk glass jar, but I'm going to try to sell the others. Water and dish soap got them clean on the outside and most of the inside. To get the inside of the bottles thoroughly clean I had to put detergent and sea salt  inside and swish them around.

 Here are the bottles my mom and I found along with the milk glass jar. I put the marble and fishing lure in my bottle and added the cork.

 This week I went to dig for bottles again. My mom suggested I dig around at the stream near the creek because it used to be an old dump. The stream was mostly dry so I walked around in it till I came to a spot where some bottles and pieces of glass were sticking out of the ground. I found more old medicine bottles, an Anderson Sparkling Water, Town Club, and a 7 Up bottle. I put them all in a plastic bag and took them over to the water to rinse them off a bit. The Anderson bottle had perfect lettering when I put it in the bag, but when I took it out, most of it was gone! The 7 up bottle had also lost most of its lettering. I went online to try to find out how this could have happened and that's when I found out there is a whole hobby of people who go bottle digging. I joined one of the forums to ask about what happened to the lettering on my bottles. I learned that the type of labels they had were called applied color labeling or ACL. It turns out that the lettering doesn't stand up very well to being buried. You have to make sure nothing touches the lettering and let the bottle sit for at least a week before trying to clean it. The bottle also can't be soaked, it has to be cleaned with a soft bristle brush and a damp cloth.
 I'm having fun digging for bottles so I'm going to keep up with it. It gets me outside and doing something other than watching t.v or going on the internet.

I'm also keeping this bottle. Its warped from being in a burn pile.