well? i guess it started about 40 years ago.even tho i was only about 6 yrs. old my dad had me to always carry the bait bucket for trapping , had meat and muskrat carcuses in it. walking around the fence rows of corn fields and also along creek and river banks in the water.muskrats and fox was the winter pay checks. everytime he saw bottles or anything that was old he told me to get it, nomatter how deep in water or in sticker bushes. man the water was cold to. over the years we had arrowheads, lots of hardstone axe heads and thousands of old bottles. the best bottles are be4 1900, the blobtop embossed 1s.
i still look for indian stuff when i go somewhere i think they might be,but now my hobby is finding the oldest bottles i can. the best place to look is in your local creeks and rivers. the older the bottle the deeper in the muck i have to probe with a potatoe fork.they are always on the hard bottom covered maybe with a foot or more of ever changing mud and muck. and always up against the upstream side of any rock or obstical that is in water. the other day i was walking looking for bottles in river ,the river is so low that i can see bottoms that i never could b4. never believe how low water level can make water run deep. the sun was 12 o clock perfect for seeing deep. i've been here lots of times to same place. this time it was deeper than when water was normal. i saw what i thot was an old pistol handle. like the black powder kind from way back. i knew mother nature dont make things that looked like this. so i reached down into water about shoulder depth and grabbed it by the head. its what looked like the handle.at the same time my olady was upstream feeding the carp in a deep hole some scittles she had. usually when she hollors i dont go away looking sofar. but i am so glad she never said a word. i looked at what i had i started yelling to her but she was tofar to understand
. she said she thot i found another amber coke bottle or somthing. thats what happened, now i dont know what to do with it.how to do with it. or where to do with it. but i deserve this for the many years of doing what i was taught by my father. its a hobbie that i do winter and summer, in the low water times. winter it better because the river is dead. no silt or stag. after the first flood of winter is over and the water gets low again all the leaves and moss and other junk get washed down to the OHIO. then thats when the best looking happens.
ok i'm done, lol right now look where the water has to run deep because of the drought. it will wash everything out that has settled there for centries except what is to heavy ,like my pipe. all the things me and my father found together or he found by himself that was relics was either gave to his friends or sold to his bar buddies, still the best man i will ever know, i miss him. died 2yrs go
thanx all for the replies, hope to chat soon, som1 invite me, 1 finger typer tho, beware
james L.
Rare find and glad you brought it here to share. Like Hoss and Panaggie, would like to see more of your collections, whether artifacts or bottles. 
