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

SPARKS' PERFECT HEALTH;

Thanks Andy and Bill!

Perfect Health (for a kidney and liver medicine) was patented January 31, 1888, by the Sparks Medicine Co. of Camden, N.J. It had been produced since 1885.

Theresa M. Gorman, Reference Librarian of the Camden Free Public Library wrote me the following: "As per your request, I searched through our city directories for the Sparks Kidney and Liver Cure Company. Unfortunately, there was very little information."

"I began the search with the 1870 directory. There was no listing until 1886 which listed a Sparks Medicine Co., 212 Federal St. William H. Sparks was president and James F. Davis was secretary and treasurer. William Sparks lived at 549 Washington St. and James Davis lived at 513 Cherry St."

Sparks Kidney & Liver Cure Perfect Health.	Sparks Perfect Health For Kidney & Liver Diseases.

"In 1888, the Company moved to 120-124 Cooper Street and Charles Coulter was the new secretary/treasurer. In 1890, they moved to 105 Market Street. This was the last listing for the Sparks Medicine Co. In none of the directories was there any advertising nor listing in the business directories."

"William Sparks was listed in the next five directories as employed at the Collings Carriage Co. Actually, I should note that a William Sparks was listed. No address was given so I do no know if this is the same as the one above."

We know that Sparks Perfect Health was advertised in 1891 in W.H. Schieffelin & Co.'s publication, and in 1910 in the American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record. Perhaps some other company had taken over the brand by 1910.

Mr. Sparks may not have stayed in business very long, but he has given us two great old medicine bottles, a smaller cure in both amber and aqua, and a shot glass. All of these are rare except for the smaller cure bottles, and they are not common in my experience:

Sparks / Kidney & Liver / Cure / Trade Mark / bust of a whiskered man / Perfect Health / Camden, N.J., 9 1/2 inches tall, amber, oval, a Warner's type bottle, abbreviated below L.K. & L. Cure.

Trade Mark / Sparks / Perfect Health / bust of whiskered man / For / Kidney & Liver / Diseases / Camden, N.J., 9 1/2 inches tall, amber, rectangular with widely beveled edges, abbreviated below F.K. & L. Dis.

Sparks / Kidney & Liver Cure / Camden, N.J., 4 1/2 inches tall, amber and aqua, oval, almost small enough to be a sample bottle.

Sparks Perfect Health / For / Kidney / And Liver / Diseases // -Table / -Dessert / -Tea, 2 inches tall, amber shot glass.

Sparks Kidney & Liver Cure.	Sparks Perfect Health Shot Glass.

Which of these large Sparks bottles came first? Bill Agee in Collecting The Cures, 1969, states that F.K. & L. Dis. is older than medicine was patented Perfect Health and not Kidney and Liver Cure. Maybe Sparks decided to make his product look more like. Warner's Safe Kidney and Liver Cure to boost lagging sales. However F.K. & L. Cure with the Pure Food and Drugs Act looming up ahead. Somehow, F.K. & L. Ids. reminds me of Warner's Log Cabin bottles a little, and we know they followed Warner's oval bottles by seven years. This question may be difficult to answer.

The L.K. & L. Cure bottle belongs to me. Andy Lange of Massachusetts owns the F.K. & L. Ids. bottle and the small amber Sparks K. & L. Cure bottle. Bill Age of Texas acquired the shot glass several years ago. Tom Fellowman of Illinois recently had the F.K. & L. Dis. bottle for sale, and Andy "beat me to the draw". I wrote Andy, hoping to get a photo or sketch of the bottle for this article, and much to my surprise and pleasure, he volunteered to ship both of the Sparks bottles here to Texas for me to photograph. Bill Agee did the same with his shot glass a few years ago.

Isn't our hobby blessed with great people?

References:

1. Mc Guire, E., Bottle Products and the U.S. Patent Office, 1991.

2. Fike, R., The Bottle Book, 1987.

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

Why not subscribe today!

it's easy just click here. SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

Return me to: HOME PAGE - Go back to: MEDICINE CHEST