I was in the backyard again, pulling more weeds, when I heard a rustling in the bushes nearby. I assumed it was the neighbor's cat, but I saw a tiny little masked face peering out at me instead. It was a young raccoon, and he was even more startled by me than I was at seeing him. It was the middle of the afternoon, for pete's sake! I quietly made my way down the little hill so that he could complete his journey over into the bushes next door.
Mr. Raccoon wasn't my only surprise. While clearing an area of particularly nasty weeds, I saw the bottom edge of this bottle poking out of the ground. I never in a million years expected it to be whole, but I dug it out and it was flawless! It even has some of the product left coating the inside of the bottle. It's "Esquire Lanol White" shoe polish, and it was marketed in the early 1950's. I have a fascination with old bottles, that I probably inherited from my father. I get so excited when I find them, and I have to research them and find out all about them. I start to wonder about the person who owned the bottle, and how it might have wound up where I found it. Considering my proximity to the Navy shipyard and the population of this area in the 50's, I'm guessing this bottle belonged to a Navy officer who needed to keep his uniform shoes spic n' span. What do you think? I think I'm going to go clean it up and put it on display.
1 comment:
I recently purchased a metal detector and began searching our old family farm for old coins. I so far have found a 1916 standing liberty quarter, an 1834 large U.S. penny, and today I found this exact same bottle in perfect condition, also still with a small amount of product still inside. Just came across your post and wanted to share my story as well. Thank you for sharing yours. :-)
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