Globe Collector Bottle News...
Digging In Manchester 2008...
Well
June was the month that I finally made my way the 258 miles from
Dorset to dig on the famous path site in sunny Manchester, I was
invited up by Andy & Chris a couple of fantastic bottle digging friends I
had met via the internet on the
BDUK forums,
after the long drive the wife & I booked into our hotel around
5pm & settled down for a good nights rest before heading off to
the path for a dig on the Saturday morning, the next morning we
up bright & early all set to go & grabbed a packed lunch then
jumped into the car for the short 2 mile trip to the digging
site to meet Andy & Chris at 9am.
On arriving we found another couple of enthusiastic diggers waiting in the car park to have a crack at the tip, as soon as the guys had arrived we all set off on the 15 minute walk across the fields from the car to the digging site, as soon as we had reached the area we all divided off into groups along the edge of the path with the other lads visiting opting for a hole each & me, Andy & Chris digging a trench together, no sooner were we through the hard capping when I pulled out the 1st bottle of the day, a rare blue lipped M Davis of Manchester ginger beer bottle, my first dug GB in 20 years, soon we were cracking on although it was a muggy day & the mozzies were biting, the early impressed ginger beers were popping out one after another, then a cry moment happened, while expanding the hole a necked amber Groves & Whitnall 10oz Codd rolled into the hole, well it certainly showed they were there waiting to be found, by the end of the day & a huge hole no other Groves item had appeared, but what a dig we had had, the finally tally came out as 24 ginger beer's including 2 rare blue lip Davis's, 2 John Dyson pictorial Codd's, 7 assorted cylinders, 4 J Pratt pictorial beers & an early Townsend Of Salford glass GB.
Day 2 & me & Andy went to another site just outside of Manchester for a short dig, this is a later tip but showed some promise, the site was on a 45 degree slope so digging was going to be fun, we soon as we got stuck in & finds were quite sparse with a lot of sauce bottles popping up, within an hour I dug one of the main things I had come north for, a small aqua arrow in hand trade mark Groves & Whitnall mineral for the shelf, apart from that due to it only being a short dig the finds were few, Andy taking home a ginger beer from Hyde, my tally from this dig ended up as the Groves aqua mineral, a couple of Fenning's fever cures, 3 aqua poisons & 8 assorted beer bottles.
All in all it was an amazing weekend and I would recommend travelling for a good dig to anyone, I cant went to get back to Manchester & do it all again.
Early Blue Codd Myth Solved...
The
myth of an early blue early codd patent 4 from the Isle Of Man
has finally been solved, the bottle has finally found its way
into a private collection after 30 years of being simply a myth
or legend, although being damaged with the top missing this is
possibly one of the most significant finds in blue codd history
& possibly the earliest variation of a blue codd ever recorded,
embossed to the front is "Mona Aerated Water Works Douglas" with
"Codd's Patent 4 London SE" to the rear, even the base is
embossed "B Rylands Bottle Works, Ardsley Nr Barnsley" I think
you will agree that this a great find & here is the story
in the lucky finders own words.
After
being inactive for six weeks we didn't fancy a full scale dig in
the hot weather today, so we decided to take it easy and check
out a site in the Llanberis area. But first we had a detour to
make. A few weeks ago a very interesting piece of info was
passed on to us about a legendary 10oz. Codd bottle. So off we
went to investigate, which is how we found ourselves in the Post
Office at Brynrefail. above the counter was a shelf with a few
bottles on it, and, yes, our target was indeed sitting there
waiting for us.
The owners of the P.O. were a very nice couple, and they did not
mind me picking up the codd to inspect it. It had been there for
years, the story about it being found in the lake was confirmed,
and it was covered in dust. I took the chance and asked them if
they would consider selling it, not expecting them to agree.
Surprisingly they did, and a deal was made for the ten quid note
I had in my pocket (the 79p. bottle of Lucozade was thrown in
for free). After a chat off we went, with me clutching my latest
prize. Oh, and the tip we were checking turned out to be a
washout, and had been dug some time in the past.
