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

One thinks of Hood's Sarsaparilla as the prototype for the arched indented panel bottle. However, Charles I. Hood didn't get started until 1876, and at least 15 earlier pontiled bottles had his feature including Perry Davis and Hood's competitor James Cook Ayer. Halsey's / Forest / Wine // C.W. Halsey // New York, blowpipe pontil, aqua, rectangular, 8 1/4 inches tall without the C.W. Halsey and New York. Perhaps Hood liked the looks of these bottles and copied them.

Pontiled Ayer's Cherry Pectoral &

Sarsaparilla & Davis Vegetable Pain Killer.

Halsey'a Forest Wine

(Former Sam Greer Collection)

Hood's Sarsaparilla & Tussano Cough Cure.

Most of the other pontiled examples have a single indented panel arched upward. The word in the arch is underlined: Ayer's // Concentrated // Compound / Extract Of / Sarsaparilla // Lowell, Mass., aqua, rectangular, 7 3/4 inches tall; Ayer's // Cherry // Lowell, Mass. // Pectoral, aqua, rectangular, 7 inches tall; Ayer's // Cure // Lowell, Mass. // Ague, aqua, rectangular, 7 inches tall; Davis' // Vegetable // Pain Killer, aqua, rectangular, 8 7/8, 7, 6 3/8, 4 7/8, and 4 1/4 inches tall; Geyer's // Cough // Gloucester, Mass. // Balsam, aqua, rectangular, 6 inches tall; Dr. Hartshorn's, aqua, oval, 7 7/16 inches tall; Myers' // Rock Rose // New Haven, aqua, rectangular, 9 1/2 inches tall; Paine's // Vegetable // Pain Curer. Aqua, oval 5 5/8 inches tall; Porter's // Bundysburg, O. // Cure Of Pain, aqua rectangular, 6 5/8 inches tall; Wallaces // Rheumatic // Discovery // Suspension Bridge, N.Y., aqua, rectangular, 8 7/16 inches tall; Yoder's // German // Liniment, aqua, rectangular, 5 1/4 inches tall.

One pontil has two panels arched upwards: Professor Mott's // Magic Hair / Invigorator // Price 25 Cents // A.J. Green / Highgate, Vt., aqua, rectangular, 6 3/8 inches tall.; and one, a single upward arch and two lower straight panels, Sanderson's / Blood Renovator / Milton, Vt., aqua, oval, 8 inches tall.


Da Costa's Radical Cures.	Dr. Ward's Sarsaparilla.	Simmons' Liver Regulator & Brown's Sarsaparilla.

From bottles in my collection I want to present features and variations of arched indented panel medicines. The Ayer, Davis, and Porter bottles are examples of the single panel arched upwards. Later Porter's Cure Of Pain bottles are embossed Cleveland, O.

Arched upper and lower panels between a straight panel include the following, all aqua, rectangular with smooth bases: Brown's / Sarsa / Parilla // // For The Kidneys / Liver And Blood, 9 1/4 inches tall; DaCosta'a / Radical / Cure // Morris & Heritage // Philadelphia, 8 3/8 inches tall and the same on front // Dr. Morris' // Syrup Of Tar, 5 3/ 8 inches tall; Hood's / Sarsa / Parilla // C.I. Hood & Co. // Apothecaries // Lowell, Mass., 9 and 7 inches tall (others with Apothecaries omitted or Compound Extract added); Simmons' / Liver / Regulator // Philadelphia // J.H. Zeilin & Co. // Macon, Ga. 9 1/4 and 8 1/4 inches tall; TusSano / Cures / Coughs / And / Colds // C.I. Hood & Co. // Apothecaries // Lowell, Mass., 6 7/8 inches tall; Dr. Ward's / Sarsa / Parilla // Landon & Burchard // Plainview, Minn., 8 3/4 inches tall.

DaCosta's Radical Cure may not have been a successful product. At least, the Free Library of Philadelphia, College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science Library could come up with nothing. Raphael B. DaCosta was first listed in the 1855 Philadelphia directory as the manufacturer of DaCosta's West Indian Tooth Wash. In 1870, he changed his name to Robert, and continued to be listed until 1874. Jacob M. DaCosta, 1833-1900, was an “able” teacher of medicine at the Philadelphia College of Physicians, and published several medical articles from 1864-1871. Nothing could be found to tie either to DaCosta's Radical Cure. J.H. Morris graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1852 and Henry B. Morris in 1864. The only additional information was their deaths in 1921 and 1910.


Kilmer's Swamp Root, Ocean Weed, Heart Remedy & Cough Cure Consumption Oil.	Gold Medal Sarsaparilla, aqua and amber.	Universal Medicine Co.

Dr. Ward's Sarsaparilla bottles are extremely rare according to John DeGrafft. The story begins in Harrison, Ohio, in the early 1850s when Richard Ward concocted an all purpose liniment which he sold to J.H. Sands in 1856. Sands moved to Winona, Minnesota Territory, and sales were good. Ward in 1867 also sold the “rights” to J.R. Watkins of Plainveiw, Minn. Later, Watkins sold the liniment in bulk form to Landon and Burchard, a Plainview firm of druggists from 1870 through 1900. Among the products put out with Landon & Burchard, Plainview, Minn. Embossed on the bottle were Dr. Ward's Liniment, Dr. Ward's Barb Wire Cure, and Dr. Ward's Sarsaparilla. Long and contentious lawsuits are also a part of the story.

Dr. Kilmer and Company, Binghampton, N.Y., varied the design of their bottles so that the middle straight panel was replaced by a kidney for Swamp Root Kidney, Liver, and Bladder Cure, a heart for Ocean Weed Heart Remedy, and Lungs for Cough Cure Consumption Oil. These are an attractive group, and the embossed lung bottles are scarce.

Gold Medal // Sarsa / Parilla // J.V. Babcock bottles have the middle straight and lower arched panels, but the upper space is flat for the label. The ambers are scarce; mine is 9 inches tall; the aquas are rare; mine is 9 1/4 inches tall. J.V. Babcock was in Montpelier, Vermont. Phyllis Simko was not able to obtain additional information from Vermont libraries and historical societies.

Universal / Medicine / Co. is in a larger panel which occupies approximately the upper two-thirds of the bottle front. Louisville, Ky. is embossed in a lower indented arched panel. Gene Blasi says that this amber, rectangular, 8 7/8-inch tall bottle is extremely rare. I purchased it from him....

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