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Unusual Treasure Find from the Vultures


Uncle Ron

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Yo All...I've been following some old camps in the Vuture Mountains sort of west and a tad north of Wickenburg and have been enjoying discoveries that you only make if you take your time and check out the nooks and crannies where the old timers ecked out beans with hard work...Course, they apparently occasionaly hit a pocket and got to celebrate...My today's find shows that at least they got a little break...I'm sure there's guys on the forums that can i.d. this bottle, but I found it up above a well worked wash where somebody flung it...Any info about it would be appreciated...Looks like a pint whiskey bottle to me...The good stuff from the rounded bottle...Cheers, Yer Unc in the Dubyah

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Hi Guys...The bottle has no seams anywhere...Max (Gilaoro) over on one of the other forums ID'd it as a handblown ale bottle from around 1890....The bottom is deeply recessed...There are a few bubbles, mainly toward the bottom...One of the most interesting features is that the sides are "ribbed" horizontally as tho' it was blown in a series of many "puffs"...I did some googling and found similar bottles, tho not exactly the same, from around the 1860s...A few years ago I was beeping out near the Vulture mine and found a perfect whiskey bottle that an ocotillo had grown up around...It has a similar top, but it has seams as tho two halves were somehow "glued" or melted together...Interesting...Cheers, Unc

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Ron,

That is definitely a wine or ale, I dug hundreds of them out of the Leadville, Colorado late 1800's dump.

I have also dug them up in Newfoundland, Iowa, Michigan, Utah, Calif, and here in Arizona. The thinner glass bottles were usually produced here in the USA, most of the bottles produced overseas and shipped to the USA were somewhat thick glass, allot of the stout, ale, wine, etc were used as ballast on the ships.

Your bottle was probably blown in a metal or fired clay mold and turned to erase the mold marks, that is called a turn mold. The ribbing that you speak of is caused by bunching of the paste that is used in the mold, also the molds wore out quite frequently and other problems arose. Sometimes when large bubbles were present and close to the surface, the ribbing would break through and leave a very unique specimen. Most did not pass inspection, so therefore were not put to use.

A real neat find in this day and age, most surface bottles have been picked up long ago. Still a whole bunch of old privys left to be dug though.

Here is a link that will explain old bottle characteristics and mold seams, the description that covers your bottle is pretty well covered.

My favorite old bottles are the ones that still have the original mold marks, beautiful whittle marks in the glass, combined with 3 piece mold marks and applied blob top lips. Not to mention thick glass in some areas as well as very thin in others with a multitude of bubbles mixed in.

Great find, gold for the poke and something for the mantle. Thanks for showing it.

http://www.sha.org/bottle/body.htm

Jim

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Paleface, my hopeful would be a still sealed full bottle of fine- whatever :innocent0002: Saved for a good find, shared with all present and then pitched! If :innocent0002: the bottle held up, it goes up for auction on E-bay!

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Wow, Jim, that is some awesome info...Thank you very much....This one has what the website called "straw marks" that are interesting...If it had just had a vew ounces of the old AU it would be the perfect find....Nearby it there was some old handmade rivitied pipe section....Cheers, Unc

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Shep,

Dug a full sealed Leadville whisky and a full Hi-Hi bitters out of an outhouse hole in Leadville. That hole also yielded a few coins in bad shape. Figured that some mad as heck wife probably chucked her husbands bottles in there. I always screened the privy hole dirt, many valuables fell thru the cracks in the floor.

I would have saved you both those bottles full....Hadda I known it would be on your wish list. :brows:

I sold them as was, didn`t take a nip....... :sick0021:

Ron,

Your quite welcome on the information, I miss the ole bottle digging days (all private land of course), made a good side income at it as well as insulators and RR date nails.

Jim

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