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 old bottles

I own three bottles that have had the mold re-cut or peened, giving me sort of “two bottles in one”: Red Jacket / Bitters // // Bennett Pieters & Co and on the base inside a circle A & Co /

No 4, amber, square, 9 1/4 inches tall, rare, which was Red Jacket / Celebrated Stomach // Bitters //

// Bennett Pieters & Co., no examples known [fellow collector Don Self and I are pretty sure about all but the Celebrated Stomach part; the product was called this and the letters fit the peened spaces]; Dr. Flint's // // Quaker Bitters, aqua rectangular, 91/2 inches tall, scarce, which was Dr. Flint's // Quaker Bitters // Providence, R.I., examples are common; and Dr. Morley's // Sarsaparilla / And / Iod. Potass. // St. Louis, aqua, rectangular, 9 1/2 inches tall, extremely rare, which was Dr. Jarman's // Sarsaparilla / And / Iod. Potass. // New York, examples are rare, but I have one.

Red Jacket was a Seneca Indian who lived in the New York area from 1756-1830. He got his name from the bright red jacket he wore, which was a present from the British. The first owner and the probable originator of Red Jacket Bitters was the Bennett Pieters and Company of Chicago, Ill. They were listed in the 1860-61 city directory as Bennett Pieters, John F. Stafford and John D. Smedley at 149 Water St. Their bitters was patented in 1864. They apparently soon moved to 21 River Street because a Benntt Pieters and Co. ad while at that address refers to their product as Red Jacket Celebrated Stomach Bitters. The company moved to 31 and 33 Michigan Ave. in 1866, and was listed as distillers and wholesale liquor dealers. In a Stranger's and Tourists' Guide to the City of Chicago, 1866 this given: “This firm had long and successfully pursued the manufacturer of the Red Jacket Bitters, and their business expanding beyond the limits of their former building, has erected and now occupies a store of palatial proportions---solid stone and brick, five stories high---“.

Back on Water Street in 1866, Edward McQuaid, Charles H. Schwab and John B. Smith were operating a wine and wholesale liquor business of their own. They added partners Leon Monheimer and P. Cavanagh in 1868, and merged with Bennett Pieters and Co. in 1869. The company was called the Schwab, Pieters and Co., and operated out of the five story building described above. Other changes occurred over the next ten years. Ring and Ham in Bitters Bottles, 1998, list five amber square Red Jacket Bitters variants: Bennett Pieters & Co [both circa 1870] and Monheimer & Co cut over Schwab, McQuaid & Co [1874]. All are rare to very rare.

There is also another Red Jacket Bitters, a round, amber, scarce bottle 10 7/8 inches tall, embossed Lewis Red Jacket Bitters, New Haven, Conn. and an Indian Head motif.

Dr. Harvey S. Flint and Company was first listed in the Providence R.I. Directory in 1864 at 195-7 Broad St. Quaker Bitters, used since 1869, was patented June 4, 1872. Dr. H.S. Flint & Co. was last given in 1885. It appeared as Flint & Co. in the 1892 Goodwin's Drug Catalog. The Quaker Bitters label read: “Try this and thou shalt be benefitted.”

Phyllis Shimko gives a Jarman's Sarsaparilla ad with the name Dr. Wm. Jarman. She also has this from a Morley label: “Morley's formerly M. Jarman's Sarsaparilla with the Iodides of Potash and Iron---“. Maybe he was William M.

The Morley Drug Co. was established in 1874 by W.J. Morley at 207 Pecan St. in St. Louis. In two years he was joined by his brother, S.K. Morley. A few years later, the firm was moved to 209 6^th St. and into an elegant 3 story Victorian style brick building with a façade bearing the company's name and date established. In addition to the sarsaparilla, they had Universal Blackberry Balsam, Liver and Kidney Cordial, Honey Pectoral, Wonderful Eight, Prickley Pear Salve and others. W.H. Morley succeeded his father who retired in 1921. The business was sold in 1933, and Grove Drug Store was still doing business at the same location in 1974.

Why were the molds altered on the bottles? My guess is that the glass companies charged by the letter, so the changes on the Red Jacket and Quaker bottles were to save money. The Jarman mold changed to Morley was also related to expense. A little peening should be cheaper than an entire new mold...

Did you enjoy this article? Every month Antique Bottle and Glass Collector magazine gives you neat articles like this one.