Treasures from the Deep

Since our early eight inches of snow is keeping me from picking up trash, here are some pictures of "treasures" I've found in various old garbage dumps. 

This first one is an old toy car.  Note the axles for its missing wheels.

Next are three unusual antique bottles.  The medicine bottle on the right I wrote about in my last blog.  It says: Dr. T.W. Graydon / Cincinnati, O / Diseases of the Lungs.  The one in the middle is a beautiful old perfume bottle.  It's light purple, which probably means it used to be clear glass and was made before 1911.  Its upper surface is out of round, and the sides still have uncut extra glass along the seams.  I don't know if that makes it more or less valuable, and it would make a good History Detectives episode to figure out how it ended up near an old house site in the woods of Appalachia!  I also found a woman's lace-up boot near it.  The green bottle I don't know anything about.  I just like the shape and size of it.

Next is a a beautiful aqua Ball mason jar for canning, that says Ball / Perfect Mason and has a 7 on the bottom.  It makes a good vase or, if I could clean it well, a grain storage jar.  Beside it is an old RC Cola bottle with a painted-on label.  In the pale yellow you can barely make out: Royal Crown above the RC.  It was made prior to twist-off caps.



And last is a picture of a very interesting mechanical pencil, a shot container for a gun, and an apparent sunglasses lens.

These were all found in the same vicinity as the old medicine bottle.  The mechanical pencil has writing at the top end that says: Wahl Eversharp / Gold-filled  Pat.  Made in USA.  My daughter, who noticed the writing, and I researched it.  The Eversharp pencil was invented by Charles Keeran in 1913, and he applied for a patent in October, 1913 and was granted it in March, 1915.  It was first produced in New York by Heath, a company known for their fine etching on jewelry, etc.  Then in October, 1915, Keeran signed a contract with Wahl Adding Machine Company in Chicago to manufacture them.  They took it over and booted Keeran out!  I suspect this is one of the first mechanical pencils in existence, since he got it patented.  It has a very fine design all along it.  There are also threads inside the top.  There's a blob of rust at the point end, which would have to be chemically removed.

The copper shot box has a label, which when wet, has some legible words:  ---ILLINED / EL 10 / Center Fire  / Winchester  /  1916.

The lens I don't know anything about.