Remembering My Mom

  Bottle digging was an activity my father and mother also participated in. Maybe a year or less after we started searching for places to explore my mom told me and my father she saw a likely spot behind a row of early houses.  That was a great spot.  We probably found 20 or 30 bottles that first day, many from the 1850's.  The next day, all excited, my mom went back with us.  Wouldn't you know it, she found the best bottle in that dump. It was a cobalt blue soda bottle, eight sided, embossed W.P. KNICKER BOCKER SODA WATER 164. 18th St N.Y. 1848, in absolutely pristine condition!  That bottle has the distinction of being the first bottle I ever sold for $100.00, a lot of money to a 13 year old in 1971.
  Over the years I've sold so many bottles and artifacts that I could not even venture a guess as to how many.  The funny part is I have no idea where most of them are now.  I always knew where this bottle was.  The guy who bought it loved it and kept it all those years.  When he dispersed his collection a few years ago he offered it back to me for $700.00 . . . I bought it.
  My mom passed away in 2000 and I miss her but I will always keep this beautiful piece that she recovered from the ground.

Where are bottles found?

  The single most common question I get when people find out what I do is "Where do you find the bottles?".  To be honest with you the answer could easily be everywhere.  I have discovered them walking through the woods near some old houses buried a few inches under some leaves. I have spent countless days digging 5, 10, even 15 feet underground into some 100 year old town dumps.  I have dug hundreds of outhouse holes long filled in that often have bottles residing in the bottom.  I have even been driving down the road and spotted construction projects with glass shimmering all over the place.  One time I saw a massive tree that fell over and in the root ball about 10 feet off the ground there where 3 very rare local 1890's soda bottles that I needed a ladder to retrieve.  Sometimes great bottles are found in the walls, crawlspaces and attics of old structures. Wherever I go I keep my eyes open and when I least expect it  . . . . . .  Like the time I was walking on the boardwalk in Spring Lake after a storm.  The sand had eroded the dunes and 100 year old bottles where sticking out all over the place!  I took off my shirt, tied off the sleeves and filled my new bag with 20 -25 new acquisitions.