dottle digging Interestinly enough, my introduction to NYC

ANOTHER "GREAT BOTTLE DIGGING STORY" FROM THE PAGES OF

ANTIQUE BOTTLE AND GLASS COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTING HOBBY

Interestingly enough, my introduction to NYC bottle privy digging began on a very cold (wind chill -5o) January day in Brooklyn. After many years of upstate bottle digging (privy and dumps) I was prepared to learn about this place which interested me very much. Although I still continue to dig upstate and certainly love the many bottles I have dug there, a big part of me always felt that I was not getting at the guts of this wonderful hobby. A part of me needed to go deeper. (no pun intended)

So, on this cold, wintry, gray day, Scott my new found digging friend and I -- having secured permission to dig behind an 1850s house in the infamous Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, set out on what was supposed to be my first Brooklyn privy. Upon entering this veritable backyard forest with weeds and stalks reaching a mere 15 feet in height, I not only had the strange feeling I was still upstate but also had a great rush of excitement that was growing by the minute. Imagining all sorts of great bottles and artifacts from this period, I was starting to become delirious. This rare and wonderful feeling known to all bottle diggers was soon to fade rapidly. The cause? You guessed it...an already dug privy! Imagine that in Brooklyn (probably the most dug place in the US).

Now, I must admit that when it comes to this area, I was certainly aware of this possibility. None the less, I was now in a complete state of withdrawal and frozen to the bone. I thought the bottle gods had failed me. But, as with all great initiations, pain is inevitable for some dumb reason. Anyway, before that day was finally to end we were able to secure permission for the house next door!

We started digging around three in the afternoon according to the giant clock on Atlantic Avenue. We finished up around 11 o’clock that night. It wasn’t a great well (at least it wasn’t already dug), but it did produce a few pontils; one umbrella ink; one Dr. Jaynes Expectorant; a few puffs, laundry bluings, etc for my first ever dig in Brooklyn.

In the next few months we continued to dig in Brooklyn (also Yonkers, Queens and Poughkeepsie) two to three days a week. One memorable dig in Brooklyn was a giant ash-filled cistern we had acquired permission to dig from our new found, supportive friend and building super “Boris” - a lively Ukrainian man, who loved what we were doing and gave us full reign behind the three buildings under his jurisdiction. The one privy for all three buildings was completely dipped but the cistern had bottles right from the top on down. It contained a few good finds: one aqua pontiled scroll flask; five Burnetts Cocaine; one pontiled mini pickle (lattice panels); one 1860 period beautifully oxidized fancy sauce bottle; two different pontiled Phalons perfumes; one great pontiled Lyons Powder - oversized version, light copper color; two stoneware canning jars; several pontiled puffs and laundry bluing, a couple of string lipped pontiled wines, a few clay pipes etc. Also, all the pieces to three 1850 period crocks which were beautifully restored by Scott.

Scott Jordan is a bottle digger and artist in the NYC area with 28 years digging experience. He is the only archeological artist that I am aware of presently. All his art work consists of artifacts excavated in NYC. The materials he uses for his collages date as far back as the 1600s. The great work he has done in this field deserves an article all of its own. Scott is presently working on one for AB&GC.

After three months of Brooklyn digging, we set out to investigate Manhattan privies. Scott had known potential sites but was unable to secure permission to dig them. In fact, he and his friend Andy had dug a couple in Manhattan the year before but were unable to get much further in this over-developed borough. We pressed Andy to get permission on one site in particular which we all had a good feeling about, (Andy knew the owners).

Having finally been given permission to dig after what seemed like an eternity, (in actually...only two months), we dug not only this privy, but also the one next door. Both privies were about ten feet deep and five to six feet wide, (all the privies I have dug in Brooklyn and Manhattan [about 40] have been round, ranging from 8-16 feet deep and five to eight feet across - much bigger than upstate where they are generally square or rectangular three to seven feet deep and three to six feet across). The two houses were built circa 1846 and the wells were very exciting to dig. The well produced pontils right from the start.

The first bottle was only three feet down, Mrs. S.A. Allen’s World’s Hair Balsam, aqua, pontiled. It is simply impossible to explain the intense rush I felt digging this bottle in my first Manhattan privy after nine years digging upstate! This great euphoria remained constant for all of us digging this well and the one next to it. Among the finds were: two more Worlds Hair Balsams; a few pontiled aqua umbrella inks; five Civil War period tan & whites; six 1860s sodas - three pontiled; five Barry’s For Hair & Skin - all pontiled and each one a little different; two Udolpho Wolfe’s Aromatic Schnapps - one green, one yellow; one teal J Slevin Brown Stout (Phil); one Swains Vermifuge for Dysentery, Cholera, Morbus, Dyspepsia - pontiled; one oxygenated bitters for dyspepsia, asthma and general debility - pontiled; two Phalon’s Chemical Invigorater For The Hair - both pontiled, one light green, one light aqua, both mint; a few nice pot lids - X Bazin/1851 Worlds Fair, and many other pontiled puffs, plain dip mold medicines (1840s) and several bags of beautiful shards for Scott’s artwork -plates, cups, bone tooth brushes, doll parts, oyster shells, clay pipes etc.

One week after this intoxicating experience, we moved over a few blocks and secured two more permissions. The houses were from the 1839 period and we dug both privies. The first one was giant! Eight feet across and filled with huge stones for about five to six feet down. It took two days to dig it out and fill it back in. It usually takes Scott, Andy and I one day to do this. It poured out our second day, (snow, hail, sleet) and was about 30 degrees. It was the last big storm of winter of ‘97 in New York. Nothing could stop us though so we pushed on deeper into this tremendous hole called a privy called a privy well. Exhausted and nearly beaten by the weather and sheer magnitude of this boulder filled abyss, we were finally at the bottom 12 inches. At 10 o’clock that night in the pouring rain, experiencing what felt like fatal exhaustion, the mood was soon to change when there, at the very bottom, Scott was to find one of his all-time favorite bottles - a mint cherry puce umbrella ink - pontiled!

A few days after this grueling dig, we dug the privy right next door. It went so smoothly that it took only seven hours for the three of us to dig it. On this very exciting did, I was to find one of my all-time great bottles - an L.P. Dodge Rheumatic Lineament dark amber - pontiled. When all was said and done with these two privies, we had excavated approximately 100 bottles from 1840-1865 of which around 75 were pontiled. Among these were: one cherry puce umbrella ink; one L.P. Dodge Rheumatic Lineament (both worth mentioning twice); one Mrs. Hayes Dysentery Syrup ; one Bartine’s Lotion; one A. Grandjeans Composition for the Hair (1840); two Dr. Townsends Sarsaparilla; nine wine tester type vials; two conical vials; one mini-pickle lattice panels; three sodas (one cobalt); three aqua umbrella inks, one Barry’s; and many other puff, bluing and a few 1830s period wine and cognac bottles, a couple of nice “glue backs” (slip decorated pie plates, blue transferware etc), one mint 1840 period plate (valued at two to three hundred dollars by our collector friend) and many pounds of pottery and plate pieces which will be incorporated into Scott’s art work.
All in all, I must say that bottle digging anywhere to me is fun and exciting, but to be digging in the largest city in the USA behind towering skyscrapers and all the other excitement that goes with them is probably the greatest rush I have ever had the privilege of experiencing.....

PS -Thanks for using my previous article (A Hike in the Woods). I will be sure to keep you informed (via articles) of my future achievements here in the NY area. Scott and I dig generally about two to three days a week and look forward to the bottle magazine every month. We sincerely hope that our experience will inspire and entertain other diggers and collectors around

the country as we have been repeatedly inspired and entertained by theirs. From all of us here in NY (Dan, Scott and Andy). Happy digging!

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