I got the idea of this thread by looking at the "Post a picture of yourself!" Thread, to get to know each other a bit better.
I'll start out.
Other than amatuer astronomy, I collect old bottles. I often go out on the weekend to house sites or old dumping grounds (as long as permission is granted) that date pre-1900 and use a probe to find old rubbish holes. I then proceed to dig up to 15 foot deep by hand to extract old bottles. Some worth a good amount of money and others that are lemons. Back in the day, most towns (even ones with populations of less than 200) had their own cordial factories, chemists etc which all had there own embossed bottles. I collect bottles that come from around me (warragul, korumburra, drouin, morwell, traralgon and bunyip) from Warragul alone, which was a town of around 100 back in 1880, there are around 30 different bottles.
I also go out metal detecting, looking for pre decimal coins and Jewellery. My oldest find dates to the year 1797, which is a Cartwheel Penny. For this activity, I use a Minelab CtX3030, which will set you back around $2,500. It is however, the most technologically advanced unit you can buy. You can pick up a good starter unit for around $350.
I have attached an image of a bottle from Korumburra that I recently dug. It is my favourite bottle at the moment. It is a Codd patent or marble bottle and dates to the 1890s. The embossing says "J. Lawrence Korumburra" and has a picture of a Lyrebird on it.
What are your hobbies?
Jeremy
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...y246/image.jpg