Detecting frustration turns to numbness...

Hi all,

It has been a while since I have posted on the MDing area of the site, I can't seem to find anything worth posting about, and my new found passion for digging bottles has taken up a good chunk of my free time typically spent detecting. I just sold two pre-prohibition beer bottles to a local collector for more than my total clad haul for the year.

My wife and I had an opportunity to return to Cape May, NJ for another week at the beginning of October. We rented a house with my parents (minus the kids ), and I took the Ace along to see if I could turn my luck around. I spent about an hour out on a coin-sterile beach, but I hit a major clad pocket spill next to the deck of an outdoor cafe. I was retrieving coins left and right when my father came over and said "I think you better come over here, I think Leesa (my wife) just paid for most of your vacation".

While hunting for shells on the tide line, she saw a shiny gold jingle shell wrapped up in a tangle of washed up vegetation. The shell turned out to be a 14k gold and diamond wedding band. We checked for inscriptions and found none, it looked like it had been in the water for a long time. A trip to the local estate jeweler proved the diamonds are real, and she said she would get $250 easy for it.

Oh, and I found $1.30 in clad and a finger rosary.

I'm goin back to bottles............

HH all,
HJ

[hellbille]

hey h.j.!

what kind of beer bottles did you find?did you photograph them?
that bottle hunting sure has me thinking!
good job on your finds!

good luck to you!

[leelo]

good for you history, as they say theres more than one way to skin a cat. also love them bottles. good luck, leelo

[rip]

Hey Hj ! I've been on a bottle kick myself lately,found an old foundation that i was sure i would find some nice old coins.But so far the only coins are some very badly coroded indians and weats,but i have found some nice old bottles.Whent out today coin hunting and found nothing but 35 cents in clad now i"m kickin myself for not going bottle hunting instead !

Hey Rip,

Dig up some of those bottles and post some pics! We can get hellbillie addicted and take over the Bottle Forum section, all for ourselves...(insert sinister laugh here).

Seriously, once the bottle bug bites you, it can take over your free time without you realizing it. I was out this afternoon (Ely's Cream Balm for catarah). I've really gotten into quack medicines.

Hellbillie, I have some pics posted at

http://www.putfile.com/historyjunkie/images/12586

HH all,
HJ

[rip]

Hey HJ ! definatly been biten by the bottle bug ! Last couple of weeks have realy got me interested again.I remember as a kid bottle digin WAS treasure hunting as i had never heard of such a thing as a metal detector ! When most kids were selling lemonaid by the side of the road i was selling bottles ! (true story !) I remember a dump near corning NY were historical flasks were found quite often,none by myself but i did find a USA hospital bottle and several pine tree bitters.Here's what i've found in the last 2-3 weekends.

[hellbille]

hey junkie!

just checked out your site..really nice job.bet it's alot of work,but truely worth every second.i haven't hunted for bottles[actually beer cans] for twenty years +. lord only knows what i passed up or smashed back then!

we were really into it-conetops,punchtops,ect...dont know why that bug fizzled out.anyways..how is the market for old bottles ect..? i see your in pa.-maybe go trapse off some old dump together sometime?

happydumpdigging!

That's a great group of bottles Rip! If I dug a torpedo or crockery bottle on my side of the Alleghenies I would probably drop over dead.

I caught the bug bad this past spring. I was geocaching and my path led me through the mother of all depression era bottle dumps. I went back and brought home the typical Milk of Magnesias, clorox bottles and anything that had an odd shape to it. Filled my shed with them. Then I found another dump and started finding older and better quality stuff. I keep them on a shelf in the living room (note to self, clean out the shed.....)

Keep the pics coming,
HJ

Originally Posted by hellbille

hey junkie!

just checked out your site..really nice job.bet it's alot of work,but truely worth every second.i haven't hunted for bottles[actually beer cans] for twenty years +. lord only knows what i passed up or smashed back then!

we were really into it-conetops,punchtops,ect...dont know why that bug fizzled out.anyways..how is the market for old bottles ect..? i see your in pa.-maybe go trapse off some old dump together sometime?

happydumpdigging!

Hey Hellbillie,

Glad that you enjoyed the pics. I come across a beer can now and again (tossed aside a Kohler flat top can earlier today). My daughter goes to Pitt, and I'm in and out of the Burgh often. We will have to hook up some time.

HJ

[montyburns]

I think I and most MDers think of bottle hunting as a legitimate form of treasure hunting. I never really thouight of it as just for metal detectorists. Enjoy your bottle hunting and take your metal detector along just in case. MB