Pieces of Olde

While planting some daisies last weekend I dug up a few pieces of olde. Although it was a small hole I found 2 coins, three pieces of broken china and a joint from an old pipe. The coins were not far down, one was from 2000- right before we bought the house. The pipe was next-but still modern. About 8 inches down I found this - I began to research it and found that it dates from the turn of the century or even older. Anthony Shaw and Sons produced Opaque Stone China in England. I'm still researching. Our house has been through many owners and renters over the past 100 years, so we really didn't expect to find much left from the early days. Every time we find anything it is exciting!

The first thing we came across was this tiny bottle. When we moved in the house was pretty rough. We had a big basement flood the first month. While DH was digging some drainage under a kitchen window he dug it up. It is probably from the 1920's. It looks like this 1928 ad I found on ebay for Hind's Honey and Almond Cream.It became the inspiration for my bathroom with a seaside theme and a practical joke played on me! My Principal put old glass bottles around the front yard one night because I was so excited to find this one. It was a little spooky and I never suspected him until he confessed!

Another interesting find came in the closet of the guest room. It's an old good conduct medal from the Army. Funny that it was found in the room our "National Guard" son slept in until the redo! From what we have been told that room was usually rented out as part of an apartment. I wish I knew who left it behind.

The recent parlor project has yielded some finds in the fireplace. First, stuffed up the fireplace was a wad of dirty, fragile 1944 Atlanta and Montgomery papers. They were so sooty that I smoothed them out and covered them in clear contact paper so that I could read them. This is a patriotic Coke ad.The next paper was behind the mantle mirror. It was not as dirty and wrinkled but very fragile. The date was January 17, 1904. We had been told that our house was built in 1907, but maybe it was earlier. This is also an Atlanta paper.
Sealed inside the fireplace was a piece of the original tile. That was what we used to find some reproduction tile.
Some of the trim on the fireplace was so fragile and brittle that it could not be saved. We got as close as we could.

We found several things in the ceiling of our bedroom - which is below the attic floor. I packed up some of them in the parlor boxes - a child's wooden block and a script for a Thanksgiving play- so no pictures of them. Here is an old razor blade box.
And a Violet water bottle
Finally there were 2 letters of sympathy after deaths in the family. I think they were from the same woman -no signature but the handwriting seems the same. Both dated 1901. The paper is falling apart and is very hard to read. The museum curator told me the paper would continue to "eat" away - best thing to do is take a picture and copy over what I can.

We look forward to finding more treasures, maybe even that hidden gold and jewelry...........