Here's One That I Didn't Expect!

.....while hunting a stage coach station in western Kansas, along the Smoky Hill Trail, with my good friend John Harmon a few years back, I got a good.....weak, and deep signal on my detector.

From the sound of it, I assumed it was 7" to 9" deep. As I started to dig the hole, and got down about 3", what appeared to me at the time to be the butt of a revolver was uncovered. I managed to calm my excitement so as not to damage my find, and slowly began removing more dirt from the hole.

In a very short time I realized that it wan't a revolver at all, rather, what ever it was, was definitely made of glass! Now I slowed to a snails pace, hoping and praying it wasn't broken.

This particular stage station was burned in the late 1860's by a war party of Cheyenne indians, and the station hands were killed. Most of the items in the station that weren't burned, were stolen or broken, so I didn't think my chances were good that the glass find would be whole.

John came over to where I was digging, and we cleared the dirt out slowly, ounce by ounce. Around and around what was now obviously a bottle of some sort, we scraped the dirt out, until finally.....this absolutely gorgeous, whisky flask, etched with web like designs by Mother Nature, and with the cork still in tact was exposed to the light of day after 130+ years in the ground.

Was I happy over that one....you BET!

Oh, I almost forgot, below the bottle at about 8", was an intact, 44 cal Henry round, dropped and never fired! I have to wonder if the flasks' owner opted for a final drink of whiskey before he was sent on, rather than firing that rifle?

[bikegoon]

Nice find!

[swizzle]

I'm having a little bit of trouble believeing that mother nature did that. That is caused by water leaching the lime out of the glass. Normally the bottle will have straight lines at roughly the same angle throughout the entire bottle. That to me indicates that at some point in its burial it was turned. The lines are almost like age rings on a tree. See if you can count how many of times that the water leached out the lime in that bottle. I've seen nailsea flask with a similar pattern but that is always intentially blown in the glass. If that is indeed true sickness on the outside of that bottle then mother nature is definately a true artist. That's a beauty of a flask. Any plans on selling it? Oh yeah and this particular design is commonly refered to as pumkin seed or picnic flask. Hope that helps. Swizzle

.....thank you for the information about leaching of the glass. The ground where the flask was found was still "virgin praire", meaning it has not been turned by a plow or other man made device.

You may be right, it could have been blown that way intentionally by the maker. The cork was still in it as I indicated, and I never tried to remove it for fear of it crumbling.

I only know that I was thrilled to recover it intact, after 130 years in the ground. Oh, the history it could tell!

[swizzle]

The frost itself may have turned the bottle in the ground. That cork is probably what saved it from busting. Most bottles get busted by filling with water and then the water freezes and BOOM no more bottle. The cork doesn't make it any more valuable. I see a lot of people fret over saving the cork. The true value lies in the beautiful workmanship of the piece itself. Value wise those pumpkin seeds general sell for $8 to $10. With that cool looking design it may fetch more. Pull the cork and see if you can see if that etching is on the inside of the bottle as well. If its in the glass itself then the value might be higher yet. If it's just on the outside then you might be able to get as much as $20 for it. Be careful with it and put it up some place safe for a few weeks and then place it in a window for a couple of months. When it starts getting into the 80's outside take it out of the window. A lot of good bottles get cracked and even bust from the heat of sitting in the sun during the summer months. A couple of months and maybe even a year or 2 in the window should turn that a nice deep amythest. That would look really cool with the white stripes through a purple pumpkin seed. If I was you I would keep it but if you are interested in selling it let me know. Swizzle

[swizzle]

How tall is that by the way. I thought it was a bigger pumpkin seed. After looking at the pic again I'm not so sure. It kinda looks to be around 4 inches tall. If that's the case then the value would be pretty much cut in half. The smaller ones are more common. I've dug well over a thousand bottles and I've never dug a pumpkinseed flask. I did buy a small one for my 3 year old sons collection for $3, I would've paid $5 for it. I think they are a really sweet little flask. Swizzle

.....is 5 1/2" tall and 4 1/2" wide. It is framed with other finds made in the area. I would be leary of taking out the cork, as I don't want it to crumble.

I would never sell the flask at any price, as to me it is a part of the history of the area, and there in lies its' value.

I enjoy looking at the finds, flask included, and imagining who last held it and how it got where it was?

I apreciate all of the information you have offered, as I always enjoy learning something new.

Thanks buddy!

[swizzle]

I'm glad that you have decided to keep it. It might not be super rare but it is a beauty indeed. If and when it turns purple can you post another pic of the bottle. I know us bottlenuts would love to see it again. You may very well be on top of an old dump. Turn your discriminator to pick up iron and tin and if it starts going off all over the place then you might be able to dig up a few more of them. Swizzle