Gerard Barbot Thought provoking assemblage created from lost and found objects of Brooklyn and beyond (also Barbot, Gerard) bobart2@muchomail.com BANA 5, BANA 6 VIKTOR ECAPH DRAW MEM NYTE MADHATTER O.T. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Robert Biro Collection A colorful assemblage of antique bottles, including pontiled sodas, pontiled beers, and mineral waters. It's not every day that a bottle digger or collector of antique bottles gets to see a "Blagrove's / Superior Aerated / Mineral / Water / Brooklyn". In fact, the six sided, ten pin style Blagrove's bottle is a rare find indeed by any standard. Thanks to longtime digger and collector Robert Biro, a cobalt example can be seen below tucked between a truly staggering array of pontiled sodas and pontiled beers, mineral waters, etc. Rob discovered the Blagrove's in an old dump...on Long Island, in the early eighties. robertbiro@mac.com ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Greg Dean To learn more visit the Antique Pot Lid Gallery There's even a section featuring antique bottle diggers! (click on image to enlarge) (click on left image to enlarge) (click on image to enlarge) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Historic Georgetown, Washington DC Situated in Washington DC near Rock Creek, the red house below was built by slaves in 1854. A once thriving black community in Georgetown's Herring Hill section it was also a Native American fishing village. By the late 1700s one third of Georgetown's population was black. At the time of the Civil War many former slaves residing there had established themselves in both private homes and businesses. Some of these businesses continued well into the mid-20th century and the address where our salvage efforts were conducted even belonged to a barber shop. In fact, the sturdy rough hewn stone wall forming the inside rear wall of the basement floor was not only the original sleeping/living quarters of the home builders but the location of their descendants' shop as well. The larger and deeper privy (assuming it existed) of the main house upstairs, may have been eliminated during a building extension which took place around 1920. After probing most of the yard we eventually encountered what we believe to be the only remaining privy spot. Tucked away at the very back corner of the property, inside an open air shed of sorts, lies a vertically challenged (only 2 feet deep measuring from the original yard level) repository of some kind. While carefully excavating and sifting through the contents of the main section it presented many clear signs of being dug through, this occurring most likely during utility pole and fence installations or related work. Additionally, just enough shards from the decades spanning 1854 to 1920 were recovered in the churned dirt to indicate it had been used all along but dipped (cleaned out) repeatedly. The latter perhaps due to being exceedingly shallow by most standards. More than likely not much was ever thrown into the hole to begin with. Despite the disappointing paucity of artifacts and essentially a complete absence of bottles, a fairly good-condition hand-painted china marble was discovered at the end of the dig (see photo below). ______________________________________________________________________ The Legendary Bottle Beach At Bottle Beach you never know what you'll see when the tide is low. A rambling mixture of briny, wind-blown, fine-white-sand and acres of household trash. For decades this magnetic spot has drawn old school beachcombers, earthy creative types and other adventurers and seekers to its outlandish shoreline. A living canvas of common refuse dating mostly from the 1940s and 1950s, the destination attracts students, teachers, artists, garbologists, and other out-of-the-way urban explorers. A great place to observe the staggering variety of items utilized and routinely discarded during that time. For a complete history of the area go to Jamaica Bay: A History, particularly the sections on Barren Island.

Home