What Is Bottle Digging & Collecting All About?...
If you are new to the hobby or just maybe stumbled across this website by chance you must be wondering what bottle collecting & digging is? well bottle digging is a pastime carried out by a lot of collectors in the hobby, this requires a lot of research and time to locate old Victorian & Edwardian rubbish dumps long since covered over by grass or development, digging for old bottles more or less started in the early 1970's in the UK & in the early days of the hobby there were loads of sites to choose from but due to the amount of development in the last 30 years these sites are a lot harder to find or have been well dug out long since, above is a photo of some Dorset bottle diggers on the Redlands site in 1985, if you are lucky enough to find a good untouched site the goodies are there to be found, the main things to remember when bottle digging are permission & safety, the land belongs to someone so if you just dig without their permission you could receive a visit from the local police & even end up in court on a charge of trespass & criminal damage, if you do manage to get permission always follow the rule of "Keep The Site Safe & Tidy" & fill your holes in behind you and leave no exposed broken glass, this will keep you in favour with the land owner & keep the good name of the hobby, this will also be handy if you need to gain permission for another site in the future & need a reference.
Above: Bottle Diggers In Dorset In 1985
Another thing you must also remember is you own safety, after all you are digging in what was once rubbish thrown out in the days before health laws where poisons were often kept in the home, it is quite unlikely that you will find any still active within the soil after 80-100 years but its better to be safe than sorry, there is also the risks of cutting yourself from shards of broken glass, china & rusted pieces of tin so be sure to wear a good thick pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands & wrists as well as a good strong pair of boots to protect your feet and ankles, I always find its also not wise to wear shorts due to the risks of cutting your legs on glass that may be hidden just under the dirt in the sides of your hole so jeans are ideal.
Another point to think of is how deep are you going to have to dig? remember to make sure that if you go below waist height to have a way of getting out of the hole & if you need to go deeper be aware that there is always the possibility of a cave in that could be fatal to you, this may sound dramatic but there was a case of a digger working alone on a site in 2006 who was killed in a hole only 3 feet deep after crawling head first into a small tunnel he had dug into the side of his hole to retrieve a find and it collapsing onto his head trapping him, he was found dead in the morning by the construction workers on the site, so if you intend to dig a deep hole always have at least one other person there with you, never ever take chances & risk you safety.
The kit you should take with you is pretty basic really, a good set of digging tools such as a spade, fork & maybe a small trowel, a good strong ruck sack along with some old newspapers or bubble wrap to protect those finds, also a basic first aid kit containing some plasters, TCP, a couple of bandages & maybe a pair of tweezers to remove any splinters of glass/wood, also a large bottle of water as its thirsty work especially in the hot summer months, I also find in the summer a hat, sun block & insect repellent can help, it is also a good idea to take a well charged mobile phone just in case you do need help, remember PAYT customers do not need credit to call 999, another item that you may find useful is a small digital camera to record those finds when they are fresh from the ground.
Above: Another Find Sees The Light Of Day
Well that's digging explained but what do you do with all your finds & how do you add more without digging? well the finds you have dug will have to be cleaned before displaying them, most items can just be cleaned using soapy water, a scourer sponge & a few bottle brushes available from most hardware stores to reach interior dirt & stains, if you bottles have stubborn stains such as rust or maybe white lime scale to the interior a stronger cleaning solution maybe needed such as cillit bang or lime scale remover, for scratches or cloudy glass problems professional cleaning services are available such as "Tumbling" or "Acid Dipping" & these can be found online using Google. So now you have started your collection you must decide if there is a certain are of bottle collecting you are going to specialize in, area's such as mineral water bottles, ginger beers, medicine & poison bottles, quack cures, pot lids, ointment pots, preserve pots, inks etc or maybe a combination of a couple of types, unless you have a vast amount of display area its best to try to specialize, in my case the main object of my collection is local Codd & mineral bottles but I also have a couple of side collections including Globe bottles from Manchester & Warner's quack cures.
Once you have decided you will need to think about displaying your collection, this can be done using simple shelving available from most DIY stores and using steel uprights & slotted arms to support the wood (remember to use a strong wall & screws to support the weight) or you could buy a glass cabinet available from most furniture stores for around £50 - £100 for a basic one, myself I make my own wall mounted cabinets thanks to a design from Peter Douglas a good friend of mine, these are shown in the picture above, they are simply planed timber & pine picture frames & look very effective when spot lit, just remember that you collection will grow so allow for future items to be added.
Above: A Display Of Bottles In Homemade Cabinets
So how do you add new items to your collection if you cant dig or just want to add new items? there are many ways you can do this now with the ability to add items from across the world, the main ones are internet auction sites such as Bottleauction.co.uk or good old eBay, there are always loads of items from every corner of the hobby available to buy on these auction sites & in my experience still a bargain to be had, other means are the bottle fairs held all across the country throughout the year such as our clubs own show in the New Forest, there are also large national shows held in the summer & the winter, to find out the dates & locations of UK shows check out the UK's 2 main bottle collecting magazines BBR & ABC, another good option would be to join your local bottle collectors club because as well as gaining more knowledge about the hobby from the more experienced members a lot of members have "spares" available for sale or swap.
Well I think I have covered most of the basics of the hobby & if you are not already a digger or collector I hope after reading this you are considering joining the many 1000's of others already in the hobby, it is a very rewarding hobby with loads of helpful people out there so maybe we will see you at a club meeting or show soon.
