Antique Medicine Bottles Dr Cannon's Medicine Chest

ANOTHER "PATENT MEDICINE ARTICLE" FROM THE PAGES OF

ANTIQUE BOTTLE AND GLASS COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTING HOBBY

antique bottles THE MEDICINE CHEST --- BY DR. RICHARD CANNON

antique SAMPLE MEDICINES bottles

We think of a sample as small portion of something to show the character of quality of the whole. A common marketing technique used through the ages has been that of the salesman offering a free sample of his product to the prospective buyer. Many paten or proprietary medicine vendors used this method, and left us bottles embossed “sample” or “free sample”. Most are small, common, and not particularly attractive. However, I am aware of two from well known companies that were quite rare: Free Sample / Warner's Safe Remedy / Rochester, N.Y., bimal, amber, round, 4 1/2 inches tall, and Dr. Kilmer's / Ocean-weed Heart Remedy / Binghamton, N.Y., bimal, aqua, round, 4 1/2 inches tall. If you come across one of these and can afford it, grab it up! All are not small. John Wolf of Ohio, owns one that is 9 5/8 inches tall, oval, clear, bimal, and embossed Drs. Matchette / Epilepsy-Cure-Collage / Bourbon, Ind. / A Sample Months (no apostrophe) Treatment Free. This bottle may be one of a kind John says.

I find eight bottles embossed “sample” scattered through my collection. They are: Free Sample / Cramer's / Kidney Cure / Albany, N.Y. (all the Ns are reversed), bimal, aqua, round, 4 1/4 inches tall; Dr. Thatcher's / Liver & Blood Syrup // Sample // Chattanooga, Tenn., bimal, amber, rectangular, 3 1/2 inches tall; Free Sample / Warner's Safe Cure Co. / Rochester, N.Y., bimal, amber, round, 4 1/2 inches tall; Free Sample // Atwood's // Jaundice Bitters //, ABM, aqua, 12 sided, 4 inches tall; Sample Bottle / Dr. Kilmer's / Swamp-Root Kidney Cure / Binghamton, N.Y., bimal, aqua, round, 4 1/2 and 3 1/8 inches tall (Swamp-Root / Kidney Cure on smaller bottle); Sample Bottle / Dr. Kilmer's / Swamp-Root Kidney Remedy / Binghamton, N.Y.., bimal, aqua, round, 4 1/2 inches tall; and Sample Bottle / Dr. Kilmer's / Swamp-Root / Kidney Cure / London, E.G., bimal, aqua, round, 3 1/8 inches tall.

There are a number of other embossed sample medicines. Renne's / Pain Killing // Magic Oil // Sample Size-Try It, bimal, aqua, rectangular and 2 3/8 inches tall is a neat one. Then Sample / Lash's Bitters, ABM, amber, square, 4 1/4 inches tall is interesting because it ties in two other Lash's Bitters bottles as probable samples, though not specifically embossed as such: Lash's Bitters // // Natural / Tonic Laxative, bimal, amber, square, 4 3/4 inches tall and Lash's Liver Bitters // // Nature's / Tonic Laxative, bimal, amber, square, and 4 7/8 inches tall. This would indicate that the smaller bottles put out by Dr. A.S. Hopkins Union Stomach Bitter, Old Hickory Celebrated Stomach Bitters, Dr. Harter's Wild Cherry Bitters, and others were probably samples. Once, under the loading dock of an old ware house in Galveston, Texas, I recovered broken necks and other pieces of 46 large and 4 small Dr. Harter's Wild Cherry Bitters, Dayton, Ohio. I reasoned that some cases had fallen from the loading dock and were broken, then pushed under the dock. Perhaps they came 23 large and 2 small bottles per case.

This would make one wonder if bottles such as the small Sand's and Bristol's Sarsaparillas were for samples. I own two that I've been able to find very little about, both bimal: Davis / Home Relief / For Pain, lime green, rectangular, 1 1/2 inches tall and Chesbro's Liquid / Corn Plaster / Chesbro Bros. / Willimantic, Ct., cobalt, round and two inches tall. They must have been samples because they're so small.

The Free Sample Creamer's Kidney Cure, Albany, N.Y., also comes in a clear 4 1/4 inch tall bottle. The Ns are reversed on it also. In fact, I do not know of a specimen where the Ns are not backwards; neither does Bill Agee of Texas, John Wolf, or Gene Bradberry of Tenn. There are b

imal, aqua, rectangular bottles embossed Cramer's / Kidney & Liver Cure, 8 7/8 and 7 inches tall, and Cramer's / Cough Cure, 6 1/4 inches tall. Albany is not embossed, but John Wolf has both with labels and they are from the Albany, N.Y. Company. Twice I've written the public library of Albany for

additional information, but have received nothing.

Dr. Thatcher's Liver and Blood Syrup from Chattanooga, Tenn., dates from the 1890s. In addition to the sample size, there are 7 1/2 and 8 1/4 inch tall bimal, amber rectangular bottles. The large size seems to be scarce. Other Thatcher products included a Cholera Mixture, Diarrhea Remedy, Worm Syrup, Vegetable Syrup, and Liver Pills.

Mahlon Thomas of Maine owns a rare Free Sample Warner's Safe Remedy bottle. He showed it to me when I visited there several years ago. H.H Warner must have been the leading patent medicine advertiser. I wrote about the rare large prize map in Medicine Chest, August, 1988. Last year, I purchased an 11 by 6 inch Warner's Safe Dictionary, 32 pages, copyrighted in 1889, which also seems to be rare.

Though Moses Atwood's Bitters was on the market from about 1835 through 1948, their only two free sample bottles, 4 and 3 3/8 inches tall, are ABM, and are considered to be scarce by Carlyn Ring.

I've pictured Richard Selleh's, also of Richmond, Texas, rare sample bottle embossed Dr. Kilmer's Ocean-Weed Heart Remedy, Binghamton, N.Y. There are several other rare Kilmer bottles, and Richard has most of them; see Medicine Chest, July, 1986. I finally was able to purchase an “embossed lungs” bottle, but had to go on the disabled list until my arm and leg regenerated.

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antique bottles THE MEDICINE CHEST --- BY DR. RICHARD CANNON

antique SAMPLE MEDICINES bottles