One of the richest spots as far as desirable bottles was "Yankee Chagres" That was the name of a town at the mouth of the Chagres River. Fort San Lorenzo was on one side of the river and Yankee Chagres was on the other side. The old map depicted Yankee Chagres as a few buildings, the only one I remember now was called "Customs House". That is typical isn't it, the government then is just like the government today, always looking to get their hand in the pockets of the common man, or woman as the case may be.

The site was right on the bank of the Chagres River. The jungle had reclaimed all. There was nothing on top of the ground that even suggested that people hand lived there 150 years before. The jungle had grown over and the bottles had sunk into the mud and were about 3 to 6 feet below the surface. The ground was red with a little clay so the mud was sticky. The level of the river was just a couple feet below so much of the time we were digging under the water.

The site of Yankee Chagres yielded bottles dating from 1848 to about the Civil War. The bottles were in fantastic condition, being protected by the mud they were in for 150 years. The spot yielded hundreds of the most prized bottles ever dug. blob top sodas, mineral waters, bitters, poisons, inks, medicines. All the bottle from the time of the 49'ers and most of them pontiled with open pontil and graphite pontils, all applied lips, and the most beautiful cobalt blues, emerald greens, and black glass all in perfect mint condition.

Maybe I shouldn't tell this part of the story. That is how I came to dig at this prized spot. I wish I could say that I discovered it. I had visited the spot before because it is shown on one of the maps that I bought. The settlement of Yankee Chagres is plainly shown on the map at the mouth of the Chagres River. I visited the place and didn't find the treasure. The bottle collectors on the Caribbean side of the Canal Zone formed a club called Antique Bottle Collectors de Panama. At one of the meetings a fellow brought some fantastic bottles to show. As soon as I saw those bottles I suspected they were from Yankee Chagres. The gentleman with the bottles said that he would eventually divulge the spot to the club membership but wanted to dig there a few more times alone.

They were all American made bottles, sodas, mineral waters. There was only one way to get to the Yankee Chagres location and that was to cross the canal and cross the river. A fellow bottle collector and myself got up early on Saturday and waited at the crossing. We didn't know for sure that he would dig that day and we didn't know for sure that the spot was on the other side of the river. We speculated and waited. He did dig that day, and he did cross the river. We followed him to a place close to the spot. We waited a few minutes and then showed up to dig as if nothing was up. I know he was not happy and I can't blame him. The spot then became known to all. For a while there would be a dozen diggers there at a time. Some got sick from sitting in the rotten water digging. I didn't get sick, I just got some of the most beautiful bottles in my collection from the old site of Yankee Chagres.

Yankee Chagres One of the Richest Spots is a post from: Collecting Antique Bottles

The Panama Canal Zone was a perfect location for bottle hunting. In the days before Jimmy Carter gave the Canal away the Canal Zone was rich in treasure and easily accessible. The bottle history of the Panama Canal is rich and dates back to the time the Spanish held the territory. The Canal Zone, because of its location and physical characteristics, has always been a collecting point for people and people bring their bottles with them.

Before the Canal was dug, the Isthmus of Panama was a crossing place to get from the East to the West and back again. In the early days before the canal, travelers would sail by ship to the Isthmus and then travel by the Chagres River and by trail from one side to the other. The Isthmus is maybe 50 miles wide so the time it took to cross was just a few days. This is a lot when you think about the alternatives being travel by land 3000 miles across the continental United States or travel by sea around Cape Horn, a long and at times treacherous journey.

When I was in the Canal Zone it was possible to buy map reproductions at the library for 5 cents a square foot. I am talking copies of original maps some dating back to Spanish times. The maps were crude and beautiful art works that roughly showed the location of old towns, buildings, and trails. Those maps were indispensible when hunting for bottles.

I used Army topographical maps and a compass to navigate through the jungle. When used with the old map reproductions it was possible to get in the proximity of an old settlement, trail, or building. There were locations on the map that indicated a tavern or stopping place. The maps could only get you in the approximate location. The climate in Panama is such that the jungle grows fast, the rains come hard every year, and trash dumps become buried over time. Some of the bottles found can be many feet below the surface after 100 years or more. My best bottles are 150 to 200 years old and were dug out of the ground.

Some of the locations we hunted were called hill 87, because on the map it was 87 meters high. The sewing machine spot, because an old treadle sewing machine was there. The Dog Bottle spot, because we found our first Dog Bottle there. The Man Bottle spot because we found more than a dozen case gins with embossed standing man there. A place called "Camp 5" never yielded much and wasn't so old. We were taken there by an old man who actually worked there during the building of the Panama Canal. His name escapes me now, I'll remember it, We called him Mr. ---, Oh I can't remember, He was Alfonso's father. Alfonso was  the old man's son. They lived in the jungle in a tin roofed hut. Mr. Mitee, that was his name. Mr. Mitee, pronounced "Might Tee", Mr. Mitee came from Jamaica man. And he had the accent to prove it. Just a nice man and a good man with a wooden leg. He took us to several spots in the jungle but as I said they dated to the time just after the American construction of the Canal and during the first World War. Bottles from this era aren't old enough for my bottle collection.

Bottle Hunting Spots is a post from: Collecting Antique Bottles

I was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone in the early 1970's. The Canal Zone at that time was still a U.S. possession and was, as best I can describe, as close to paradise as you could want. The climate was a little hot and humid at times, but being from Miami, Florida that didn't have a negative effect on me. The Canal Zone was quiet, not much if any violence, crime, or drugs. The Canal Zone Police didn't carry weapons, well they carried a very big night stick type baton. They reminded me of a state trooper with large flat brimmed hat and uniforms always looking nice. Some of the Canal Zone Police were very large men and as I remember most were black men or at least the Police that I remember were. There was no problem in the Canal Zone with crime and that is my recollection.

I was in the Navy stationed at Galeta Island and lived at the old Coco Solo Naval Air Station. It was an abandoned Sea Plane base situated right at the Caribbean side entrance to the Panama Canal. A large protected anchorage,  a couple miles across had an array of waiting ships and sailboats from all over the world. It was a great place for sailing and fishing. The scuba diving we did on the coral reef in the Caribbean outside the breakwater.

A fellow sailor and electronics technician Charlie Miller was a bottle collector and showed off his collection. I immediately fell in love with the crude, colorful treasures. He invited me to go with him and I accepted. We went to a place called Fort San Lorenzo situated at the mouth of the Chagres River. The old Fort dated back to Spanish times and was still in fair condition.

We dug into the side of a dry creek bank and worked for hours. Charlie found a few bottles and I found one. It was hand blown with applied lip, dark green glass, a beer bottle type and shape with no embossing. The bottle was probably made in the late 1800's. That was the bottle that "hooked" me into collecting antique bottles. From then on I attacked bottle hunting with a passion.

My Introduction to “Bottle Hunting” is a post from: Collecting Antique Bottles

Antique bottles are of course "old" bottles that aren't made any more. I can tell you what I like and collect. I prefer the hand blown bottles made before the Owens automatic bottle making machine. The Owens machine came on the seen the early part of the 1900's around WWI. Many people collect bottles made after 1900 but I don't. There are exceptions to every rule. Once in a while an unusual and different bottle comes along. Maybe it is the color, or the embossing, or a wonderful old paper label that catches my interest. I even have a few metal tins like the old baking powder tins. But for the most part I collect hand blown glass bottles and the older and cruder the better.

The bottles I collect were made from glass in a sweat shop environment. I can only imagine what the working conditions were like. A half step away from slave labor and there were children working as well. The working conditions were hot, dangerous because of the hot fire and molten glass and probably a hazard of broken glass here and there. A bottle maker was actually a team of workers maybe 4 or 6 individuals probably including a few children. A good bottle team produced 1,000's of bottles a day. There was no retirement plan, no medical insurance, no days off, no holiday pay. I admire my old bottles and these thoughts come to mind about the history of the bottle and of the persons associated with making it. That is a part of history that isn't taught. That is whey labor unions sprang up to protect workers. Eventually thought, the unions became too big and sometimes the companies and also the workers need protection from the unions. But that is a different story. This website is about antique bottles.

So to answer the original question "What are antique bottles?", they are bottles that are no longer manufactured. Probably bottles made into the 1950's can considered antique bottles.

What Are Antique Bottles is a post from: Collecting Antique Bottles