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 definition of the word radical is going to the root or origin. Apparently that’s what the manufactures of two products in my collection meant by

the word: Da Costa’s / Radical / Cure // Morris & Heritage // Philadelphia, aqua, rectangular, 8 3/8 inches tall, Da Coasta’s / Radical / Cure // Dr.

Morris // Syrup of Tar, aqua, rectangular, 5 3/8 inches tall and Sanford’s // // Radical Cure, cobalt, rectangular, 7 3/4 inches tall. Some Sanfords have Weeks & Potter / Boston USA on the base and some Potter Drug & Chemical Corporation / Boston Mass. USA. Mine has only an indented circle with 1 in the center.

Raphael B. Da Costa is first listed in the 1855 Philadelphia directory as the manufacturer of West Indian Tooth Wash which came in a blowpipe pontiled aqua rectangular bottle 3 3/4 inches tall, embossed R.B. Da Costa (in an arch) Philada / West Indian // // Tooth Wash. The address was 459 Vine St. He moved in 1859 to 805 S. 5th St., and again in 1861 to 1722 S. 5th St. The address in 1869 changed to 1724 5th. In 1870 he changed his name from Raphael to Robert, and moved to 423 Canal in 1874. Da Costa placed other medicinal brands on the market including his Radical Cure. It is believed that if he eventually gave sole agency of his brands to Johnson, Holloway & Co. of Philadelphia, a large wholesale drug firm that came to control Hoofland’s German Bitters and a number of other top name brand medicines. I’m not sure where Dr. Morris and Morris and Heritage fit into the picture.
Bill Agee didn’t list Da Costa’s Radical Cure until his second book, and the larger size is among the bottles pictured on the front cover.
Samuel T.W. Sanford, a New York City physician, began selling the Invigorator in the mid-1840’s, and first advertised it as Sanford’s Liver Remedy. I have a blowpipe pontiled aqua rectangular bottle 6 1/8 inches tall, embossed Dr. Sanford’s / Invigorator // Sanford & Co. // // Proprietors, N.Y. Jim Holst also lists bpp. pontiled variants embossed Dr. Sanford’s / Invigorator / Or / Liver Remedy // New York, aqua and rarely green,

rectangular, 7 5/8 inches tall and Dr. Sanford’s // Liver / Invigorator // New York, aqua, rectangular, 7 1/2 inches tall. In the 1850’s Weeks and Potter of Boston, Mass., was given the sole proprietorship and agency for the brand. About 1860 Sanford’s sons joined his business and they and future family members retained control of their brands through the turn of the century. The Radical Cure was first introduced about 1871. The Potter Drug and Chemical Co. of Boston and London, was formed about 1877. Samuel Sanford retired in the early 1880’s.

Sanford’s Radical Cure was for "catarrh, ringing noises in the head, deafness, bleeding of the lungs etc."
The cobalt color of this cure bottle makes it special. Other cobalt cures known to me are: Bennet’s Magic Cure, Hamilton’s, pontiled from the Baltimore area, Dr. J.B. Henion’s Sure Cure For Malaria, Hillemann’s American Chicken Cholera Cure, Dr. J.A. Sherman’s Rupture Curative Compound, Dr. H.A. Strubles Kidney Cure and Wynkoop & Co’s Tonic Mixture Warranted To Cure Fever & Ague.....

References:
1. Agee, B.:Collecting The Cures, 1969;
Collecting All Cures, 1973.
2. American College Dictionary, 1963.
3. Holst, J.:Pontiled Medicine Price Guide, 1998.
4. Odell, J.:Indian Bottles And Brands, 1977.
5. Wilson, B. and B.:Nineteenth Century Medicine
In Glass, 1971.
6. Wolf, J.:My Pick Of The Cures, Antique Bottle And
Glass Collector, Feb., 1987.

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