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

MOFFAT'S AND PIERCE'S BITTERS

John Moffat and George Pierce each contributed nicely to the supply of pontiled bitters bottles that we collect, Moffat by choosing colors from olive green to golden amber for many of his bottle, and Pierce by having the word Indian embossed in the glass of the containers for his nostrum.

Phoenix Bitters,

olive green (#7) and aqua (#8).

 Smooth base and pontiled Pierce's

Indian Restorative Bitters.

Moffat, a merchant in New York, New York, became the proprietor for Phoenix Bitters about 1834. He advertised extensively and it soon became a success. His son William B. Moffat assumed the business in 1838, and had the product patented in 1862. However, John's name continued to be embossed on the bottles, except the only smooth based variant known to me, which reads John Moffat and Cos. By 1846, there was a Moffat's Almanac and at least on other remedy, Moffats's Life Pills. William died or retired in the 1860's and I do no know what became of the bitters then.

Labeled Dr. Pierce's Indian Restorative Bitters, blowpipe pontil (formerly of the Greer collection).

 

Ten Phoenix Bitters variants are know to me, nine of which have blowpipe pontils. All are rectangular.

  1. John (in an arch) / Moffat // New York // Phoenix / Bitters // Price $2.00, olive green, short tapered collar or ring lip, 7 inches tall, rare.
  2. John Moffat // New York // Phoenix Bitters // Price 2 Dollars, amber, ring lip, 7 inches tall, rare.
  3. Jno. Moffat // Price $1 // Phoenix / Bitters // New York, olive green, short tapered collar, 5 1/2 inches tall.
  4. Jno. Moffat // Price 1$ // Phoenix Bitters // New York, amber, short tapered collar or ring lip, 5 1/2 inches tall, rare.
  5. John Moffat // Price 1 Dollar // Phoenix Bitters // New York, amber, ring lip, 5 5/8 inches tall, rare.
  6. Same in olive green.
  7. John (in an arch) / Moffat // Price $1.00 // Phoenix / Bitters // New York, olive green, short tapered collar, 5 5/8 inches tall (in my collection).
  8. Same in aqua with a ring lip (in my collection).
  9. John Moffat // New York // Phoenix Bitters // Price 1 Dollar, clear, ring lip, 5 5/8 inches tall, rare and unlisted.
  10. John Moffat & Cos. / Phoenix Bitters // New York // Price $1.00, aqua, smooth base, narrow square collar, 6 1/2 inches tall, shoulders more rounded than other Phoenix bottles and later in appearance.

George Pierce was a physician in Lowell, Mass., in 1831 and a proprietor of Dr. LaMott's Vegetable Pills in 1832. He probably introduced his Indian Restorative Bitters in the early 1850's. During the time the company operated in Lowell, Pierce and Charles Osgood (Osgood's India Cholagogue) ran a drug business. Between 1855 and 1859, the company was relocated in Boston, where Pierce had a number of persons involved in the manufacture of his bitters. His first partners were G.T. Adams and John Couch; later in the 1880's H.M. Hamblin; and after 1885, M.W. Joslyn and George F. Kellogg. Dr. Bullock's Nephreticum was add in the 1860's and Dr. Cummings Vegetine in 1885. Dr. Pierce may never have been personally involved in the Boston operations. It appears that he remained in Lowell where he died in 1864. The bitters were still being manufactured in Boston at 30 Hanover St. in 1893, and are listed in the Era Blue Book for Druggist in 1899.

Only two variants of these bitters are known to me; both are aqua and rectangular. Dr. Geo. Pierce's // Indian / Restorative / Bitters // Lowell, Mass., long tapered collar, 7 5/8 inches tall, blowpipe and bare iron pontils, and Dr. Geo. Pierce's // Indian / Restorative / Bitters // Lowell, Mass., double collar, 8 7/8 inches tall, smooth base. In the Greer collection there was a b.p.p. example with 85% of the label (it had formally been in the Gardner and Osgood collections). This bottle is pictured along with b.p.p and smooth base examples from my collection.

One condition listed on the label that Dr. Pierce's Indian Restorative Bitters was supposed to remedy was costiveness. What is that? You'll never guess. I had to look it up. It's another word for constipation.

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