Old Bottle Dump Find
Old Bottle Dump Find
I found a nice old Bottle Dump the other day on a farm just out of town in a very secluded and hidden spot. The good thing about this bottle dump is that know one has ever been through this dump and it is full of heaps of old bottles dating back to around 100 years.
I have been there a couple of times already and pulled out some really nice bottles to add to my collection, and obviously the old bottles are on the bottom of the dump.
The bottle dump is right next to an old tin clad house, so that also doubles as a great metal detecting spot for me to go to once the summer weather cools down a bit.
Old Iron Clad Home
In Rust And Ruins
Rusty Patterns
Old Water Well Update
Just a quick note to say that I went out to the Old Ghost Town Well with the water pump a couple days ago.
Since I am new using my friends water pump, I did not use it properly, as I was supposed to add water to the top of the pump to help with the suction. I did not do this and it did not work…. I’m such a dumbass!
I thought maybe it may have been a gravity issue, but my friend told me about adding the water to the inlet to help with the suction. So now I know how to work the water pump properly, I’ll be heading back out to the well hopefully at the end of the week.
You learn something everyday!
Cleaning Old Bottles and Jars
Recent Bottle Dump Finds
I have not been doing any metal detecting for a few days, as I have had the bottle dump fever! I have been out bush looking for old bottles and jars, and I have found some beautiful bottles and jars to add to my growing collection.
I have not found anything too valuable in recent days, a few milk bottles worth $70 – $100 each would be the most valuable I have found in the last couple of days. My favourite bottles to find are old beer bottles which are embossed, such as Pickaxe, Perth Glass Works, Swan Brewery, B.E.CO LTD, Fremantle Bottle Exchange, and much more.
I have a really nice collection of beer bottles, and I am always on the hunt to buy bottles that tickle my fancy, so if you have any beer bottles, crown seals, and even soft drink bottles, please send me an email with photos of what you want to sell.
I have over a thousand bottles and jars in my collection, I don’t have anything too valuable in my collection, maybe the most valuable one is only worth a couple hundred dollars, but its not about value, its about what they look like, with the beautiful embossings, the air bubbles, and the way they were made.
I found out a great tip today browsing a bottle collectors website, and that is when searching bottle dumps, use a bottle probe.
See how to use and make a Bottle Probe
So I will be going back to the local old rubbish dump in the next few days to do some probing … it sure beats digging holes and hoping for the best!
Anyhow over the last two days I have been pre cleaning my bottles and jars, using bottle brushes to clean out all the dirt from the inside of them bottles and jars.
I am not even a quarter of the way through cleaning them, so it is going to be a very long process. But it is a nice relaxing way to spend a couple of days in the sunny warm weather.
My Bottles and Jars awaiting a cleanIt is a very time consuming process cleaning bottles, I even bought myself a Bottle Tumbler from Jar Doctor in the USA, and if you live in Australia and want one of his excellent machines, be prepared to pay quite a bit of money, it is worth it…. but unfortunately it costs a fortune just to get the machine into Australia via customs. You have to pay customs fees, custom brokers, shipping fees and other fees.
Just to buy the bottle cleaning machine cost me $2800 USD, and then another $1500 AUD for all the fees for customs, shipping ect.
But while the Australian Dollar is strong against the US Currency, get one now!
The bottle tumbler is a great machine, but I have found that it really boosts the electricity bill, because just to clean one bottle on average, will need to be tumbled continuously for 3 days. And when you have one thousand bottles to clean, well thats a few years of cleaning bottles!
But I only clean the bottles which I want to put on display.
Jar Doctor Bottle Cleaning Machine (Jar Doctor "Wayne" Pictured)
A good tip to make a old bottle look in Mint Condition is to get some baby oil, put a tea spoon or so in the bottle, and rotate the bottle in a horizontal motion, and that will bring the bottle up like brand new… but it is a temporary thing. But will make your bottle look brand new.
Attention Australian Bottle Hunters and Coin Shooters!
If you are an avid Australian Bottle Hunter and Coin Shooter like I am, I would like to recommend a couple of great websites that may be of use to you as they are for me.
Bottle Guide Australia
This is a brilliant website for collectors and searchers of Old Bottles, there is nothing better than coming home from a Bottle Hunt and then to bring your old bottles inside, put them on the floor next to your computer and then to do some research on the bottles you have found.
You do a keyword search of the bottle you have found e.g. “Fremantle” and Bottle Guide will present you with a list of all bottles which have Fremantle stamped on them, then you can browse through the photos of bottles listed and find the bottle you have found on the day, if it is on their database, the database will give you information on how much the bottle is worth, the rarity of the bottle, past auction results and prices paid for that bottle. And so much more.
See attached image for an example.
Bottle Information Page on BottleGuide.com.au
BottleGuide.com.au is not free though to search for bottle prices and bottles on their database, it costs $33 AUD for a one year membership, but it is well worth paying that outlay, you can pay via paypal, cheque, credit card or postal order.
I like to also use bottle guide when looking at bottles for sale on Ebay, you can get some great bargains from sellers or are unaware of the bottles value that they are selling.
They currently have over 10,000 bottles on their database.
So if you love bottle hunting, make sure you join bottle guide!
BlueSheet.com.au
The same goes with what I said about Bottle Hunting, I also love coming home with the old coins I have found to see if they have some value to them. So once I sort them, then I go to BlueSheet.com.au and browse through that dates I have found.
This site is great also, before I found BlueSheet.com.au I used to go to a couple of websites which did show current valuations, but their information was out of date, and BlueSheet.com.au coin values are always up to date and accurate.
Highly recommended for coin collectors, coin hunters, or people with a big jar of old Australian Coins laying under their bed!
BlueSheet.com.au cost me $26.95 AUD for a 12 Month Subscription, but they have many more membership options.
BlueSheet.com.au Half-Penny Prices
BlueSheet.com.au specialises in the following Australian Coin Valuations
EARLY AUSTRALIAN COINAGE
NEW SOUTH WALES (1813)
HOLEY DOLLAR (1813)
DUMP (1813)
AUSTRALIAN GOLDADELAIDE ASSAY OFFICE (1852)
ONE POUND (1852)
FIVE POUND (1852)
HALF SOVEREIGN (1853 – 1920)
SYDNEY MINT (1853 – 1869)
YOUNG HEAD (1871 – 1887)
JUBILEE HEAD (1887 – 1893)
OLD HEAD (1893 – 1901)
EDWARD VII (1902 – 1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1920)FULL SOVEREIGN (1853 – 1931)
SYDNEY MINT (1853 – 1870)
YOUNG HEAD (1871 – 1887)
JUBILEE HEAD (1887 – 1893)
OLD HEAD (1893 – 1901)
EDWARD VII (1902 – 1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1931)TWO POUNDS (1887 – 1902)
JUBILEE HEAD (1887)
EDWARD VII (1902)FIVE POUNDS (1887 – 1902)
JUBILEE HEAD (1887)
EDWARD VII (1902)
AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH COINAGE
HALF PENNY (1911 – 1964)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1964)
PENNY (1911 – 1964)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1964)THREEPENCE (1910 – 1964)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1964)
SIXPENCE (1910 – 1963)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1963)
SHILLING (1910 – 1963)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1963)
PATTERN (1927)FLORIN (1910 – 1963)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1963)COMMEMORATIVES (1927 – 1954)
CROWN (1937 – 1938)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1938)
KOOKABURRA PATTERNS (1919 – 1921)
HALF PENNY (1920 – 1921)
PENNY (1919 – 1921)
Hidden Treasures Under a House
Under House Metal Detecting Finds
Well not exactly hidden treasure, but I found some nice stuff yesterday at an old house which has no floorboards (eaten away by termites)
I spent around 6 hours detecting yesterday, I went for a long drive as I usually do and love to do, looking for places to go metal detecting and I went to a few old homesteads around the district.
The first one I went to was just basically a very old iron shack, I had no luck there, and did not hang around for long, because the ground was like concrete and impossible to get the shovel in, usually I carry a geologist pick ax, but I keep on forgetting to take with me, as I do with my metal detecting pouch, so at the end of the day my pockets are full of sand.
The Australian Iron Shack
After leaving the old iron shack, I headed East of town to a place where I have been previously hunting for old Australian bottles, feeling alot more confident and excited.
This old place had two old abandoned houses, the first place was very old for Australian standards, probably late 19th Century, it is a mud brick home, very weathered and very damaged by termites and the elements of weather.
The Australian Mud Brick House
Once again that old place had ground like concrete, so I did not really try much detecting, but around 200 metres away was the next old house…. this is the house which gave up some of its hidden treasures.
The house looked pretty good on the outside, but on the inside it was just ball walls, no floorboards due to termites, and as soon as I noticed it had no floorboards, thats when I started feeling a little excited, knowing that there was a good chance to find things that had either been buried under the floorboards, or to find things that may have fallen between the floorboards.
No Floorboards - Treasure Hunters Dream
Mystery Coin in the Sift
So I started detecting and it did not take long to get a strong signal, the soil was beautiful and soft so I had no trouble digging soil into my sift. What I found was a coin of some type which I had never found before, because it was bigger than all the previous Australian Pre-Decimal Coins I had found before, but there was no way I could identify it because it had a big shell of corrosion surrounding it.
I thought the coin would be well and truly damaged from the corrosion, that is only if it was a copper coin, but was it copper?
I leave that surprise to a post tomorrow, because I am still impatiently cleaning this unknown find… so please come back tomorrow and you’ll see my surprise find … (nothing special, but I have never seen one before)
The Mystery Coin Found Under Floorboards
The Mystery Coin above will be revealed on the site soon!
Anyhow, besides that item, this is what I found under the floorboards and around the house:
- 1912 Australian Half Penny
- 1922 Australian Half Penny
- 1925 Australian Half Penny
- 1939 Australian Six Pence
- 1942 Australian Three Pence
The Third House
I did find some other coins, six pence and three pence, but due to my carelessness, I had them in my top pocket and they must have fallen out when I was digging or bending over, but will find them on my return hopefully!
I found other stuff at the house as follows:
- Silver Tea Spoon
- 2 Silver Bangles / Bracelets
- Buttons
- Some Bottles and Jars
- Plenty of Junk!
Will be heading back to that place in the very near future!
Then finally on the way home, I past another old house, and thought, bugger it, I will test my luck there as well!
And I found some more coins.
- 1948 Australian Shilling
- 1950 Australian Shilling
- 1951 Australian Three Pence
- numerous 1 and 2 cent coins
The Last House for the Day!
One Lousy Cent Found Today!
Collanilling School - Wagin Shire
I had a horrible day today Metal Detecting … I went back to the Old Church again hoping to find some more silver coins or pennys, but had no luck at all. All I found was a 1 cent coin.
Then I decided to go on a long drive on some roads I had never been on before, but knew that the road would lead me back in the direction of my hometown. I was hoping to come across some old abandoned homes, I did see a few but were too far off the road and on private property.
Then I came across an old School and town hall, I thought I was bound to find something there, but the place was littered with pulltabs, corrogated sheets of iron under the ground, and lots of nails… I did use the combine feature on my e-trac to try and discrimminate the trash, but there was just way too much … maybe I was doing something wrong, no doubt I was.
And once again I had no luck there either.
I did come across a couple of old farm bottle dumps, so I scored a few more bottles for my collection.
Burning Tree
The farmers around the district are starting to burn off the stubble on the paddocks, and I came across this dead tree, just burning in the middle of the paddock, I took a few photos of it, then left …. then on the way home it was getting dark, and I took some more, turned out pretty good.
Burning Tree at Dusk
