Bottle Digging

Degsy

arnhem44 wrote: »

Thanks for the info Degsy,that would tie in with the old brewery here in town,unfortunatley there were two more of the Clonakilty bottles in the ditch but sadly these broke as the ditch was been knocked and these were brown in colour but the writing was at an angle,having seen one other one like the one I have I have never seen the other varity which makes it even sader,the posion bottles do turn up quite frequently but I think what makes them that little bit interesting is the various shapes and colours they come in,I also found some pottery type jars in the ditch,one with glasgow printed into the clay,I must try and find these and keep them all together.

Poisons come in a multitude of shapes and colours,they are one of the most widely collecetd of bottle types and the rare ones can be staggeringly expensive.
This one sold for 8000 sterling!!

lighterfox

HA HA there you go, that showed you

BrianD3

What an interesting thread. I remember when I was a kid I used to hang around building sites/excavations and hoard up stuff that had been unearthed. My main interest was clay pipes, collected plenty of them. Found lots of old broken glass and crockery but no intact bottles.

Also came across a few bottle dumps near my house, think they may have come from an old pub located nearby. Unfortunately the bottles got blasted to smithereens with stones from my Black Widow

Degsy

BrianD3 wrote: »

What an interesting thread. I remember when I was a kid I used to hang around building sites/excavations and hoard up stuff that had been unearthed. My main interest was clay pipes, collected plenty of them. Found lots of old broken glass and crockery but no intact bottles.

Also came across a few bottle dumps near my house, think they may have come from an old pub located nearby. Unfortunately the bottles got blasted to smithereens with stones from my Black Widow

I colelct clay pipes as well,they used to turn up in the hundreds in the fields at the back of my place,mostly broken but oftne the makers name on the bowl was readable.As for shooting bottles with black widows,my granny was telling me the kids used to smash Codd bottles years ago to get the marbles out.Many kids today have 150 year old marbles in thier collections that came from these bottles.

arnhem44

Was digging on the same building site today and came up with another couple of bottles,nothing special but another more modern one with another Clonakilty branding on it,never heard of this company so must look into it,everytime I put the bucket of the digger down a bit of pottery or glass would appear from the foundation of the remaining ditch and of course they were broke or should I say that I probarly broke them myself:eek:,I've also came across the missing bits of pottery and bottles in the shed and will post them all up tomorrow if I can

arnhem44

Ok here are the remaining bottles and bits of pottery,the first pic is the one of the bottles found the other day,the clonakilty one is branded ws&b co.clonakilty,the others are all poorly made,there leaning over quite a bit and sadly one has the top broken off,the secound pic are some of the bits that came out of the Sam Maguire house except the first pottery piece on the left which was made in Glasgow,there just odds and ends really and not that old,one interesting bit was the old brush for shaving

boneless

There was a famous brewery in Clonakilty which produced a stout called Wrasslers. It is reputed to be the last drink Collins had the noght before Beal na Blath. Maybe the Clonakilty bottles are from that brew house?

arnhem44

The older Clonakilty bottle is indeed from the brewery that made wrastler,the brewery was owned by a family named Deasy who founded it in 1807,they also had another brewery in another part of town but this seems to of been quite small,according to local history they produced different types of stout there,they made Clonakilty XX,ClonakiltyXXX and a light ale called Amber Ale for women,Deasy went bust after the famine and was taken over by a company named Wright and Canty who won a bronze medal for stout in 1893 at the Chicago world fair,brewing ceased during the forties and then the company was finally taken over by Guinness,as for Michael Collins drinking it on his last night,I really don't know.I've actually worked in the old brewery building and have attached a couple of photos that I took at the time,from the outside there is large red brick chimeys and the photos are from the room underneath,now theres my research done.

Degsy

arnhem44 wrote: »

Ok here are the remaining bottles and bits of pottery,the first pic is the one of the bottles found the other day,the clonakilty one is branded ws&b co.clonakilty,the others are all poorly made,there leaning over quite a bit and sadly one has the top broken off,the secound pic are some of the bits that came out of the Sam Maguire house except the first pottery piece on the left which was made in Glasgow,there just odds and ends really and not that old,one interesting bit was the old brush for shaving

What you've got in those pics is a mixture of different bottles with different dates.The Pottery piece ion the left is a stoneware Blacking Bottle.The either contained blacking for boots or ink,often the same sort of bottle was used for different products.The date would be from roughly the 1890's to 1920's something like that.You have a two nice "penny inks"..one stoneware and one in glass,again the date would be victorian or thereabouts.The heavily scrathed bottle on the left in the first pic is an early form of crown closure mineral water bottle.This was the forerunner of modern bottletops and the date would be after 1892 when they were first invented,its plainly not modern due to the colour of the glass.You have a brown stout bottle there from the 1950's and a medecine bottle of some sort(maybe syrup of figs) from around 1940's-1950's.The blue bottle with the prominent lip i'm not sure about but it could've held medicine and the date would be 1900 or so.

boneless

arnhem44 wrote: »

The older Clonakilty bottle is indeed from the brewery that made wrastler,the brewery was owned by a family named Deasy who founded it in 1807,they also had another brewery in another part of town but this seems to of been quite small,according to local history they produced different types of stout there,they made Clonakilty XX,ClonakiltyXXX and a light ale called Amber Ale for women,Deasy went bust after the famine and was taken over by a company named Wright and Canty who won a bronze medal for stout in 1893 at the Chicago world fair,brewing ceased during the forties and then the company was finally taken over by Guinness,as for Michael Collins drinking it on his last night,I really don't know.I've actually worked in the old brewery building and have attached a couple of photos that I took at the time,from the outside there is large red brick chimeys and the photos are from the room underneath,now theres my research done.

Sorry lads... I just realised the brewery was mentioned in other posts.

Arnhem44, they are great photos... any more? I didn't realise the buildings were still standing.

arnhem44

Degsy wrote: »

What you've got in those pics is a mixture of different bottles with different dates.The Pottery piece ion the left is a stoneware Blacking Bottle.The either contained blacking for boots or ink,often the same sort of bottle was used for different products.The date would be from roughly the 1890's to 1920's something like that.You have a two nice "penny inks"..one stoneware and one in glass,again the date would be victorian or thereabouts.The heavily scrathed bottle on the left in the first pic is an early form of crown closure mineral water bottle.This was the forerunner of modern bottletops and the date would be after 1892 when they were first invented,its plainly not modern due to the colour of the glass.You have a brown stout bottle there from the 1950's and a medecine bottle of some sort(maybe syrup of figs) from around 1940's-1950's.The blue bottle with the prominent lip i'm not sure about but it could've held medicine and the date would be 1900 or so.

Thank you kindly for the info Degsy,they would of sat on the shelf for years to come not knowing what they were if it were not for you.

arnhem44

boneless wrote: »

Sorry lads... I just realised the brewery was mentioned in other posts.

Arnhem44, they are great photos... any more? I didn't realise the buildings were still standing.

Hi Boneless,ya the brewery still stands,I don't have any other photos of it from the outside but I will get one and post it up,its quite a long building and has still got its four brick chimneys standing,its built on the edge of the river that runs through town,opposite the old national school which Michael Collins went two,there was also two others that went to the school that were involved in the uprising in Dublin,the building has changed hands a few times in the last few years and has had a new roof and windows put into it which no doubt will keep the building standing for another few years to come,having done some further research I found out that the bottles were made on Soveriegn Street in another factory in a different part of town,that street no longer exists now,the brewery had there own coopers in house who made the casks for the stout from imported English oak,everything under one roof I guess

arnhem44

boneless wrote: »

Sorry lads... I just realised the brewery was mentioned in other posts.

Arnhem44, they are great photos... any more? I didn't realise the buildings were still standing.

These are of the outside of clonakilty brewery,they really don't do it justice,was at a wedding the other day and snaped these quickly,sadly there is so much more to the building which i hadn't time to get

arnhem44

these were the latest finds,one small bottle with a glass lid,a Jeyes bottle,another not to be taken poison bottle and another really small ink well I guess??

Degsy

arnhem44 wrote: »

these were the latest finds,one small bottle with a glass lid,a Jeyes bottle,another not to be taken poison bottle and another really small ink well I guess??

That bottle with the lid is pretty unusual(ie to be complete with lid).It'd be difficult to say what was in it but my guess was either perfume or it contained some sort of pharmaceutical or chemical.This sort of bottle were popular in phramacies and laboratories.Have you had a (carefull!!) sniff?

arnhem44

Hi Degsy,Its interesting to see those ones pictured with there labels,I haven't got around to opening it yet but no doubt curiosity will get the better of me,whatever is in there is still moist so will let you know over the next few days if its anything familiar

Degsy wrote: »

That bottle with the lid is pretty unusual(ie to be complete with lid).It'd be difficult to say what was in it but my guess was either perfume or it contained some sort of pharmaceutical or chemical.This sort of bottle were popular in phramacies and laboratories.Have you had a (carefull!!) sniff?

arnhem44

Hi Degsy,had a smell from that bottle,definately isn't perfume,more of a medicine smell to it which is familiar but I quite can't put my finger on it

Degsy

arnhem44 wrote: »

Hi Degsy,had a smell from that bottle,definately isn't perfume,more of a medicine smell to it which is familiar but I quite can't put my finger on it

Cocaine?;)

Scawgeen

arnhem44 wrote: »

Hi Degsy,had a smell from that bottle,definately isn't perfume,more of a medicine smell to it which is familiar but I quite can't put my finger on it

I can't see the small bottle very well but it could be a Hair Oil bottle ??? just guessing by the shape. Has it a tiny opening on the top ?

arnhem44

Hi Scawgeen,it does have a small opening,the lid fits in perfectly to it,I'll try and get another photo posted up but I'm converting the attic with the past few days so things are in a bit of a mess up there,as for the cocaine idea Degsy,:eek:what are you trying to say!:p_______________

Sysbase

Doesn't this kind of collecting take a lot of work for little success? Maybe I'm missing something.

Judgement Day

Sysbase wrote: »

Doesn't this kind of collecting take a lot of work for little success? Maybe I'm missing something.

Gosh, does collecting really take a lot of work? Maybe we should all switch to collecting those really valuable, massed produced, 'limited edition' collectors items like Ty Beanies?

arnhem44

Judgement Day wrote: »

Gosh, does collecting really take a lot of work? Maybe we should all switch to collecting those really valuable, massed produced, 'limited edition' collectors items like Ty Beanies?

Well said Judgement Day,bottle digging isn't going about digging holes all over the place,its by chance you find them unless someone knows where a bottle dump is,if you find something when possibley at work for example and have an interest in such items then its a bonus to find something

arnhem44

Scawgeen wrote: »

I can't see the small bottle very well but it could be a Hair Oil bottle ??? just guessing by the shape. Has it a tiny opening on the top ?

Finally managed to get a close up of this small bottle,had a smell of it again,smells something in the lines of caster oil

Scawgeen

It's not a Hair oil bottle. I think you may have been right it's some kind of medicine bottle. I wouldn't be too keen to go sniffing any unidentified liquid, God only knows what it is. ......or where it's been !

chem

So what about old blue, red and amber bottles used by chemists? Used for poisons etc? Are they the same type of thing?

Degsy

chem wrote: »

So what about old blue, red and amber bottles used by chemists? Used for poisons etc? Are they the same type of thing?

As a general rule if they have ridges and "not to be taken" they contained some kind of poison.
The idea of the ridges is so they could be easily identified by touch in badly-lit rooms before electricity.

dicey reilly

I remember as a child digging up a load of old bottles, myself and my friends brought them up to the local pub and they were very interested in them and wanted to keep them. We brought them home where my Dad promptly dumped them. To this day we still give out to him about throwing out our "treasure"! We all remember seeing an old coca-cola bottle with a "picture" of holy island made out of the glass on it. It is so long ago we may have invented this picture at this stage but has anyone ever seen one like this. The pub was there since 1840. Thanks!

Degsy

dicey reilly wrote: »

I remember as a child digging up a load of old bottles, myself and my friends brought them up to the local pub and they were very interested in them and wanted to keep them. We brought them home where my Dad promptly dumped them. To this day we still give out to him about throwing out our "treasure"! We all remember seeing an old coca-cola bottle with a "picture" of holy island made out of the glass on it. It is so long ago we may have invented this picture at this stage but has anyone ever seen one like this. The pub was there since 1840. Thanks!

Coca Cola was only bottled in 1905 and the famous Coca Cola bottle shape was mass-marketed from the 1930's,peaking in popularity in the 1960's.
I've never heard of a picture of Holy Island on a Coke bottle,and i dont know where holy island is either!:D

Fra73

My bottle has Sullivan on one said and Kilkenny on other said on bottom numbers 3202 then 5.0 and round top like cork ues to seal it