8/21/22 Report - Variety: The Spice of Life. Extract Bottle. A Few Observations On Treasure Coast Bottle and Fossil Hunting.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Sauer's Extract Bottle.

My metal detecting has been slowed this summer by a variety of factors, but like I always say, there is always some place to hunt and something to find.  The detectorist is always looking for clues, and clues can come in many forms.  

I've picked up some bottles this year. Conditions were right.  I've been able to find older bottles without spending much time, and by doing that I learn more about the area and where older coins and other good targets might be found.

Above is a Sauer's Extract bottle I found, probably from the 1920s or thereabouts.  I haven't narrowed the date range down yet but should be able to do that before long.

Embossing on Sauer's Extract Bottle.

It isn't a rare bottle, and unfortunately there is no glass maker's mark on the bottom.  The maker's mark often helps narrow down the date of a bottle.  It does help show what life on the Treasure coast was like in the early 20th century.  It definitely provides some evidence that there should be other items of similar age, including coins, in the area.

Below is a part of an ad that shows the same type of bottle with the paper label in place.

Sauer's Extract Bottle.
Source: See gjenwick.com link below.

Here is the link for a variety of Sauer's extract ads.

Sauer's Extract | Vintage Ads (gjenvick.com)

And here is a link for a timeline on the company.

Sauer Brands History: Founding, Timeline, and Milestones (zippia.com)

By the way, the Sauer's company is another Richmond, Virginia company.  As I've mentioned, a lot of the early 20th century bottles I've found around the Treasure Coast come from the East Coast of the U.S.  Not surprising.

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If I hadn't hurt my foot, I'd be doing more metal detecting, but I'm hoping to get it healed up as quickly as possible and it won't help to walk long distances on a beach.

Old bottles can give you a flavor (pun) of the Treasure Coast during earlier times.  You can tell from the bottles, for example, they did more baking and food preparation at home.  That isn't surprising, but just something you can see from the bottles.

Bottles also provide information about what other types of things might be found in the area.  When you have signs of human actibity, there will likely be some coins in the area, although in this location, I'd expect no highly valuable dazzlers, yet there is always the possibility.  I'd expect some older coins, but not many, and not much of great value in this area.

It is also informative how bottles and glass move with sand, which can adds to my understanding of how objects of various shapes and densities will move on a beach.  The density of glass is not too different from that of sand, but that isn't all there is to it.  Bottles can be partly filled with water or air.  While they move pretty much with the sand, it is more complicated than that.

I found one of my first and nicest shark teeth while bottle hunting.  If you understand how items move. one type of object can give you clues to the location of other types of targets.  They will have a somewhat predictable relationship, in the same way you can expect pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters to have a rather predictable relationship when you find a coin line or coin hole.  The natural forces, or physics, remain the same.  Just some of the variables change.

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I've almost never gone out to hunt fossils, but while looking for other things have seen them along the Treasure Coast.  

When I did go hunting fossils, I went with people that offer fossil hunting expeditions for a fee.  It is worth the price because they''ll take you right to some good spots, and they have fossil permits so you can keep what you find.  Most of those go to the Peace River, but not all.

Fossils do occasionally wash up on the Treasure Coast beaches, so if you are out there a lot you will probably see some.  There is a decent chance of finding shark teeth.  You do not need a Florida permit for collect shark teeth.  

Shark teeth on the ocean beaches aren't real common, but when the conditions are right, you might see a few, especially at some spots, such as the bend just north of  the Seagrape Trail beach access.  You have the best chance there when a lot of seashells are washing up.  

Some of the greatest concentrations of fossils on the Treasure Coast are on private property where they were dumped with sand that was moved during construction.  

Fossils are very rare in general in the Indian River, but can be found on some spoil islands, and also in some areas where it appears they were dumped during road construction along the river.  The ones on the banks are almost all on private property.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

We're getting into the time of year when storms are more common.  It looks like they ae beginning to come off of Africa, which is usually what we see when it is that time of year..

Not tides and surf are both small.

Good hunting,

TerasureGuide@comcast.net