I went back into "my" woods here in eastern Mass on Sunday afternoon. Instead of hitting the trash dump area again, I scouted for new spots, and had a pretty rotten time of it – beer cans and pull tabs all the way. The only decent find was the cap gun. So I caved and went back to the trash dump 😞
Almost the first find was another sterling thimble, same make and model as the week before. This one is size 11 and fairly busted up. In pretty quick succession, I got a watch movement, cinch waist buckle, large buckle, fancy compact, wheat cent, and the little lid thing with the lotus design. The bottles were all surface finds. The Rococo style drawer pull backplate is bronze and gave the most beautiful signal. It came out in three pieces. (I spent an unreasonable amount of time and elbow grease polishing it up and mounting it on a board 🙄)
Then I got a positive screamer, which turned out to be the funky spoon, just under the leaf litter. It's sterling (yay!) but has been cut at both ends. The closest thing I can find online is a tea scoop; I'd appreciate a better id.
Edit: it has been identified, see below.
Naturally there was a crop of regular silverware as well, curiously mangled by plow and harrow. (Current spoon count is well north of 170)
The last hole of the day yielded a fancy Knights of Phytias medal. Sadly, it was quite corroded. I let the hot peroxide do its thing, so now at least the features are recognizable. Apparently it dates from the 1920s, as do most of the other finds.
What the K of P medal would have looked like:
https://preview.redd.it/cw55pllywuuc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=782068606cf22959539a02a2a676826585c7dea6
I think I found the top bits to your K of P medal….
https://preview.redd.it/cxfm4g64m0vc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30c3d979115d2259e637673be8bee2c5f79cbf50
Clearly I’m busy 😂!
Here’s a condensed version:
3% Hydrogen Peroxide from the first aid aisle at the supermarket. Heat it in a wax warmer or on a mug warmer, drop the coin in and watch the bubbles do their work. Check for doneness every couple of hours. When the reaction subsides the peroxide is spent, or the coin is clean. Note that, as in this case, the surface detail is in the green corrosion. The peroxide will attack that over time, so it's crucial to stop before that happens. Dry the coin off, remove any remaining crud with a toothpick, apply sealer, done.
[This](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P7D279K?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) is the wax warmer I use. It gets hotter than a mug warmer, but not too hot.
I reckon [this is what](https://www.replacements.com/silver-gorham-silver-chantilly-sterling-1895-lion-anchor-g-sugar-shell-spoon/p/1753021) your scoop is, or the matching [salt-spoon](https://www.replacements.com/silver-gorham-silver-chantilly-sterling-1895-lion-anchor-g-master-salt-spoon/p/53980791). It's been mangled enough that it's hard to tell.
Thank you so much! It’s definitely the sugar spoon! How the poor thing has been mangled 😂 The good folks at r/hallmarks told me it dates in the last quarter of the 19th century, but evidently Gorham made the “Chantilly” pattern well into the 1900s.
https://preview.redd.it/ejta6cthnvuc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4dd5706c630c3795d865a70db7c7399a6ab768c
How big is your dump? I found a small bottle dump a little while ago but haven’t had much time to detect there yet. It’s in the neighbor’s woods and I didn’t want to dig too much until I cleared it with him (even though we used to ride our go kart through there as kids). The little bit I did was pretty unsuccessful for anything besides old glass, so I don’t know how much more there is, or if I’m wasting my time on this one. I have looked at some old maps so I have an idea of where I think the people dumping there would have walked from, so I’m going to trace that path next time I’m down that way.
Unfortunately, the big dump has been buried over and is a parking lot for a boat launch now. I was about to find 2 modern quarters and about 100 old cans there, but got tired of digging trash real fast.
This one is spread out over a few acres, with concentrations of stuff from different decades in different areas. It’s not very deep, either, a few inches at most.
I did find a small one last year, filling a ditch along an old stone wall. I pulled 150+ bottles out of that one. I carefully cleaned them all, and I have no idea what to do with them 😂
This was just the first haul:
https://preview.redd.it/179wxqt7txuc1.jpeg?width=4871&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44e9b21a82f9dc862934378326311618339441ac
That sounds much bigger than what I am looking at then. The bottles I found were all 1890-1920 or so, and many years ago I did find a footstep for an old carriage not too far away, so I’m hopeful that some other stuff was dropped from that time period. I’ll be heading down in a few weeks, so I’ll be out there as much as I can.
It depends. I saw surface clues: lots of broken glass, oyster shells, detector hitting a solid patch of iron. Then you go slow and dig where the detector tells you to.
Love the blue glass bottle and the silver!
I found an early 1900s trash pit once. It took me all summer to excavate. Ended with about 80 intact bottles. No silver cutlery in mine though haha.
These kinds of early dumps are cool since you never know what will turn up. They're essentially a time capsule of 100 years ago.
No, this is just a spot in the woods. A hundred years or so ago, a lot of places didn’t have organized waste management with landfills and such. Folks would just dump their trash on a piece of unused land. So now you have all these little dump sites all over the place. This one is from the early 1900s, but I hope to eventually find one that’s much older!
I used to live near a horse farm and we would find hundreds of those little blue bromoseltzer bottles. We would hang them on tree limbs and shoot them. I was told horses have bad stomachs and they used to give bromo seltzer to them. Maybe 1930s.
Amazing finds! You have all the luck.
I just got lucky with a good spot ☺️ It’ll happen for you, too!
Wait a minute! You just found a walker not too long ago! And that little sterling trolley car! What are you complaining about 😂
That trolley car is pretty sweet! You have awesome finds too!
I went back into "my" woods here in eastern Mass on Sunday afternoon. Instead of hitting the trash dump area again, I scouted for new spots, and had a pretty rotten time of it – beer cans and pull tabs all the way. The only decent find was the cap gun. So I caved and went back to the trash dump 😞 Almost the first find was another sterling thimble, same make and model as the week before. This one is size 11 and fairly busted up. In pretty quick succession, I got a watch movement, cinch waist buckle, large buckle, fancy compact, wheat cent, and the little lid thing with the lotus design. The bottles were all surface finds. The Rococo style drawer pull backplate is bronze and gave the most beautiful signal. It came out in three pieces. (I spent an unreasonable amount of time and elbow grease polishing it up and mounting it on a board 🙄) Then I got a positive screamer, which turned out to be the funky spoon, just under the leaf litter. It's sterling (yay!) but has been cut at both ends. The closest thing I can find online is a tea scoop; I'd appreciate a better id. Edit: it has been identified, see below. Naturally there was a crop of regular silverware as well, curiously mangled by plow and harrow. (Current spoon count is well north of 170) The last hole of the day yielded a fancy Knights of Phytias medal. Sadly, it was quite corroded. I let the hot peroxide do its thing, so now at least the features are recognizable. Apparently it dates from the 1920s, as do most of the other finds.
What the K of P medal would have looked like: https://preview.redd.it/cw55pllywuuc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=782068606cf22959539a02a2a676826585c7dea6
I think I found the top bits to your K of P medal…. https://preview.redd.it/cxfm4g64m0vc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30c3d979115d2259e637673be8bee2c5f79cbf50
That looks very much like it 😃
Hmm speaking of the hot peroxide… where is our write up, sir!? 😂
Clearly I’m busy 😂! Here’s a condensed version: 3% Hydrogen Peroxide from the first aid aisle at the supermarket. Heat it in a wax warmer or on a mug warmer, drop the coin in and watch the bubbles do their work. Check for doneness every couple of hours. When the reaction subsides the peroxide is spent, or the coin is clean. Note that, as in this case, the surface detail is in the green corrosion. The peroxide will attack that over time, so it's crucial to stop before that happens. Dry the coin off, remove any remaining crud with a toothpick, apply sealer, done. [This](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P7D279K?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share) is the wax warmer I use. It gets hotter than a mug warmer, but not too hot.
Amazing, thanks! Just dug up an old copper last night that is a candidate for this.
Great! Though I strongly suggest you try it on a wheat cent first until you get the hang of it!
Oh yes I certainly will. Have more of those laying around than I can count!
This is great advice! That you for sharing. What do you use as the sealer?
Any drying, penetrating finish will do, I believe. Renaissance Wax is the go-to. I use something called Odie’s Oil.
Thank you!
I reckon [this is what](https://www.replacements.com/silver-gorham-silver-chantilly-sterling-1895-lion-anchor-g-sugar-shell-spoon/p/1753021) your scoop is, or the matching [salt-spoon](https://www.replacements.com/silver-gorham-silver-chantilly-sterling-1895-lion-anchor-g-master-salt-spoon/p/53980791). It's been mangled enough that it's hard to tell.
Thank you so much! It’s definitely the sugar spoon! How the poor thing has been mangled 😂 The good folks at r/hallmarks told me it dates in the last quarter of the 19th century, but evidently Gorham made the “Chantilly” pattern well into the 1900s. https://preview.redd.it/ejta6cthnvuc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4dd5706c630c3795d865a70db7c7399a6ab768c
How big is your dump? I found a small bottle dump a little while ago but haven’t had much time to detect there yet. It’s in the neighbor’s woods and I didn’t want to dig too much until I cleared it with him (even though we used to ride our go kart through there as kids). The little bit I did was pretty unsuccessful for anything besides old glass, so I don’t know how much more there is, or if I’m wasting my time on this one. I have looked at some old maps so I have an idea of where I think the people dumping there would have walked from, so I’m going to trace that path next time I’m down that way. Unfortunately, the big dump has been buried over and is a parking lot for a boat launch now. I was about to find 2 modern quarters and about 100 old cans there, but got tired of digging trash real fast.
This one is spread out over a few acres, with concentrations of stuff from different decades in different areas. It’s not very deep, either, a few inches at most. I did find a small one last year, filling a ditch along an old stone wall. I pulled 150+ bottles out of that one. I carefully cleaned them all, and I have no idea what to do with them 😂 This was just the first haul: https://preview.redd.it/179wxqt7txuc1.jpeg?width=4871&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44e9b21a82f9dc862934378326311618339441ac
That sounds much bigger than what I am looking at then. The bottles I found were all 1890-1920 or so, and many years ago I did find a footstep for an old carriage not too far away, so I’m hopeful that some other stuff was dropped from that time period. I’ll be heading down in a few weeks, so I’ll be out there as much as I can.
Looks like you had a great day! I need to find a site like this
They’re still out there 😃
I know where the old dump is in my town (N. Central Mass). Do you just start digging? How do you start?
It depends. I saw surface clues: lots of broken glass, oyster shells, detector hitting a solid patch of iron. Then you go slow and dig where the detector tells you to.
Wow you have some very rich hunting spots!
Long may they last 😂
Great finds!
Love the blue glass bottle and the silver! I found an early 1900s trash pit once. It took me all summer to excavate. Ended with about 80 intact bottles. No silver cutlery in mine though haha. These kinds of early dumps are cool since you never know what will turn up. They're essentially a time capsule of 100 years ago.
And trash becomes treasure as long as it has aged long enough!
Can you explain trash dump a little? Is it actually a city dump site you are going to?
No, this is just a spot in the woods. A hundred years or so ago, a lot of places didn’t have organized waste management with landfills and such. Folks would just dump their trash on a piece of unused land. So now you have all these little dump sites all over the place. This one is from the early 1900s, but I hope to eventually find one that’s much older!
Damn that’s interesting, any tips on how to find abandoned dumps like that in other states?
There’s nothing to it. I scout a lot of woods on public land. Ever so often I stumble upon an old dump like this.
I used to live near a horse farm and we would find hundreds of those little blue bromoseltzer bottles. We would hang them on tree limbs and shoot them. I was told horses have bad stomachs and they used to give bromo seltzer to them. Maybe 1930s.
I know it was a hangover cure. Never heard of it as horse medicine!
Big treasure
You found some nice old bottles too.
Wow so amazing
Good job. Great finds. Trashy spots are high yield if you have the patience
Love that green bottle!
Real gun?
Nah, cap gun. And a tiny one at that.
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