Sample Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills, and Comstock's Dead Shot Worm Pellets - This is very neat sample "envelope" of the famous patent medicine product which was first produced in the 1830s.  This items appears to date from the late 19th century or early 20th and is sealed with the original "pills" and "pellets" still included within!  This item is like a small first class mail envelope except that it is only 3.2" by 2" in size.  Still fully sealed - never opened - and in great condition as it still has a crisp and solid feeling with only some mild soiling and a tiny (2 mm) tear on the top (above the "P" in SAMPLE).  Dr. Morse's Pills was bottled in a small pill bottle; the company history and bottle is outlined in one of Dr. Cannon's great articles from AB&GC Magazine (on the Glass Works Auctions site) at this link: http://www.glswrk-auction.com/073.htm  Great go-with for the medicine bottle collector...or just bottle collectors in general.  $15

DR. MORSE'S INDIAN ROOT PILLS advertising Confederate Currency - Here is another medicine go-with and again for Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills.  This is a "FAC-SIMILE" (sez so on the front!) of a Confederate $20 bill that was given out as an advertising flier for the famous patent medicine in the late 1800s or very early 1900s.  (Not sure why the company felt compelled to say "Fac-simile" since CSA currency was of no value for many decades already?)  The advertising part on the reverse notes it was a "...specific cure for most of the Blood, Stomach and Liver Diseases."  The pills were also for "...Giddiness, Headache and are most useful for female disorders."  No comment on the latter claims; click on the images above to see much larger, better quality scans of this fake Confederate bank note that measures 7" by 3".  This IS the real thing and not a modern reproduction (which I've never seen anyway).  I picked this up - actually two examples - in a lot of weird bank or bank-like notes at a numismatic auction decades ago when I had a bout of coin and paper money collecting.  This item is essentially pristine with no stains, rips, or other issues...just a couple very faint creases which can't even be seen in the scans.  A fantastic and certainly rare go-with quack medicine item that is in fantastic shape.  $20

JOYS - SARSAPARILLA - THE / EDWIN W. JOY CO. / SAN FRANCISCO - I sold one of these some time back, but found another in a box I didn't know I had.  The embossing is scattered on three sides of this rectangular medicine bottle from California; the remaining (back) side is a typical plain, indented label panel.  Actually, all of the sides are indented and the embossing is bold and distinct - sometimes these are not that boldly embossed in my experience.   This is also a very nice example in a "Western" bluish aqua, tooled single collar ("patent" finish), smooth slightly indented base, almost 9" tall, ca. 1880s to 1890s.  A scarce sarsaparilla from the West which didn't produce very many embossed sarsaparilla bottles it seems...and most of those are quite rare. 

Condition is near mint with no chips, cracks, overt staining or other post-production damage besides a tiny "flea bite" on the middle of the outside edge of the back, unembossed panel and a little bit of very faint haze inside primarily in the lower back and one side panel; the outside is virtually spotless.  This example also has some body crudeness and bubbles in the glass adding to its visual appeal.  It is what I would call "about mint" and is also a very nice example - at least as good as the sold one.  $50

NOTE: I also have another example that is identical - a nice blue aqua (just a tiny bit less blue than the example to the right) - but is full of hundreds of seed bottles and has nice rude, wavy glass, stretch marks in the glass, and is a very nice example.  It is also in essentially mint condition but does have a couple small almost invisible "flashes" at the edge of the base; pictures on request if desired.  A beautiful example and priced accordingly given the small flashes.   $30

NASH'S / RHEUMATIC AND / KIDNEY REMEDY - This is a cute little (3 3/8") amber medicine bottle which is from the S. Nash & Co., Detroit, MI. according to Matt Knapp's massive 2012 book "Antique American Medicine Bottles." One of the easiest ways to get your own embossed "proprietary" bottle was to order a plate (aka "slug plate") from a glass company engraved with what you wanted embossed on the bottle.  It was then inserted into an existing mold and viola!  You've got your own custom made bottle.  (Ordering custom, non-plate molds was many times the price of just having a plate made up.)

An example of the above is this bottle which is embossed on the base (W. T. CO. / S / U. S. A.) with the makers marking for the Whitall, Tatum & Co. This NJ company had to be the top producer of various druggist/apothecary bottles in the U.S. from the late 1870s until the early the 1920s.  According to their 1880 catalog, the plates cost "One dollar and fifty cents to six dollars each for engraving" along with a list of all the druggist style bottles they had plate "moulds" for including the "Philadelphia Oval" which is what the offered bottle style is.  According to our article on the company (on my other educational website at the following link: https://secure-sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/WhitallTatum1.pdf ) the noted base marking was used from about 1890 to 1901 dating this bottle pretty tightly.

The bottle itself is the previously noted height and nice bright medium golden amber color, has a typical tooled "prescription" style finish or lip, and the noted embossing on the indented oval base.  Condition is essentially mint with a light scratch on the back, just the faintest dullness on the body in a few places (essentially invisible) and an equally invisible small (1-2mm) roughness to the edge of the lip...not chipped but just a miniscule bit of roughness that can be felt.  Nice example of what is likely a scarce medicine bottle.  Knapp's book also notes that the likely preceding bottle (same height and color) was embossed with "CURE" instead of "REMEDY." Different plate for different times I guess.  $20

MOXIE / NERVE FOOD / LOWELL / MASS / PATENTED - This is a large (about a quart), thick glass, early version of the product that injected the word "moxie" into the American vernacular meaning "force of character, determination or nerve."  Perfectly fits with it's origin being touted as a "nerve tonic."  On the online Merriam-Webster dictionary - in the "Did You Know" section - one finds the following:

Hot roasted peanuts! Fresh popcorn! Ice-cold Moxie!" You might have heard such a snack vendor's cry at a baseball game—if you attended it in the early 1900s. In its heyday, some claim that the soft drink named Moxie outsold Coca-Cola. The beverage was a favorite of American writer E. B. White, who wrote, "Moxie contains gentian root, which is the path to the good life. This was known in the second century before Christ and is a boon to me today." In quick time, moxie had become a slang term for nerve and verve, perhaps because some people thought the drink was a tonic that could cure virtually any ill and bring vim back to even the most lethargic individual. (Verbiage courtesy of the following website:  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moxie )

As noted, this is one of the earliest examples of the bottle used for the product which began life as a carbonated patent medicine!  In later years (1910s and later) it morphed into purely a carbonated soda (without medicinal claims) that is reportedly still sold in New England, where it first began.  A history of the company was recently made available on my Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website thanks to an article written late last year by Bill Lockhart and Bob Brown (members of our Bottle Research Group).  It is directly available by clicking on the following link which is the title of the article - Moxie Nerve Food - Bottles and History.  This particular example is actually illustrated in the article (Fig. 13, right bottle) which is believed to be the second type bottle used by the company during the 1880s or early 1890s.  The product was first prepared and sold in 1884 in heavy glass champagne style bottles (label only) which could also withstand highly carbonated products.  Champagne bottles were also used for beer during that era.  See the article for the full and entertaining story of the product and its bottles.

This example is just under 10" tall, a bit over 3" in diameter, made of very heavy bluish aqua glass (the bottle weighs 1.5 lbs.), and has a sloppy applied bead or ring type lip/finish.  Click view of the shoulder, neck and finish to see such.  The base is indented somewhat with three embossed dots forming a triangle or sorts; meaning unknown.  Click base view to see such.  The bottle is whittled throughout the body with some stretch marks in the neck.  It has no chips, cracks, potstone bruises or other dings but does have some dullness (see images) and moderate scratching and scuffing to the outside here and there which is variably noticeable.  It seems like the bottle may have been reused for either more "Moxie" or other use?  It is not pristine having been dug in Portland, OR. about 50 years ago but it display pretty well.  I scarce early Moxie bottle with some great history.  $45

Embossed Owl on a druggist's mortar & pestle - THE OWL DRUG CO. - Bottle collectors all over the country are quite familiar with the plethora of different bottles used by this national drug store chain during it's many decades of operation. Richard Fike's great 1987 book on medicine bottles notes that the company was established at 1128 Market Street in San Francisco in 1892 (that original office was destroyed by the great 1906 earthquake) and eventually went national.  The company became affiliated with the Rexall Drug Co. in 1919 and ceased business under the old name in the early 1930s.  (I also have one of the emerald green "citrate of magnesia" bottles for sale on the Western bottles page).

This large example (just under 8" tall, 3.25" wide and 2" deep) of their standard rectangular bottle is interesting in that it has the classic one wing owl on the front which was primarily used on their mouth-blown bottles.  However, this example was produced by an early semi-automatic machine (more below) in the early to mid 1910s and likely during the transition from the one to the two winged owls.  Click close-up of the one wing owl to see the details which includes TODCo on the mortar and TRADE MARK at it's base. 

I understood that these rectangular bottles, which they used for all variety of their liquid products, that the single wings were always mouth-blown with a tooled prescription finish (like this example) and the machine-made ones were two winged owls.  I'm not an expert with the myriad of bottles used by TODCo. but this is likely a rare exception to that "rule."  This bottle also has the script embossing on the back shoulder of THE OWL DRUG Co. with plenty of room below for the paper label that noted what product that was bottled in that particular bottle.  I also don't know if this is the largest of this style bottle, but must be on the upper end of that run as it likely held about a pint. 

Several interesting features can be observed on this unusual bottle; features which might help pin down which machine produced this bottle.  One distinct feature - though is somewhat common with most earlier machines - are offset vertical side mold seams.  This is a function of the use of two molds to produce bottles on a machine - the first "ring" mold which held the gob of glass by the finish/lip and neck followed by a 45 degree rotation of that mold as it moved the yet-to-be-blown bottle into the "blow" mold.  The offset mold seams are visible at the following link - click image of the shoulder, neck and finish.  It shows the body (blow mold) seam coming up the left side of the image onto the shoulder then disappearing in the neck; the neck ring seam is to the right side of the neck and starts on the shoulder and runs up to another mold seam which is found on the extreme outside edge of the upper finish. 

Of interest also is that there is no continuation of the side mold seams onto the upper surface of the finish; the mold seams end at the noted edge of the finish seam.  Click view of the top of the finish to see this lack of a mold seam on the upper finish surface - a common attribute on most other machines including the "individual section" machines used today.  One other visible attribute is the faint oval mold seam on the base of the bottle which was NOT induced by an Owen Automatic Bottle Machine (a scar which is way more sloppy).  Click base view to see this faint fine line of the seam which was formed by the ring mold during the first mold part of the blowing cycle.  (Note:  The machine likely used to make this early20th century bottle was the O'Neill Semi-automatic Machine which was one of the first machine capable of producing a narrow mouth bottle and contemporary with the Owens machine.  If interested, this machine is discussed in depth in an article found on my educational Historic Bottle Website at this link - https://secure-sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/ONeillmachines.pdf  )

The bottle was found by a friend I worked with for years who didn't collect bottles and gave it to me.  It was found out on the rangelands of Eastern Oregon (private land) many years back having naturally turned a nice shade of lavender from its century or so laying out in the sagebrush and juniper country.  No irradiation enhancement here!  Since TODCo. also sold liquor - and actually had a few styles devoted to their liquor business (very rare) - I suspect that was what was in this bottle but we will never know for sure.  I can picture the cowboy herding cattle into the sunset with a final nip to end the day.  Condition of the bottle is about mint with just some wisps of dirt inside that will clean out, a few minor scratches and a very small (5mm x 3mm) bubble near the back base (visible in the back image above) which has a tiny pin hole in the covering glass.  It also has a few bubbles in the glass befitting it's early machine heritage.  That along with the nice amethyst tint makes it a great addition to an Owl Drug collection or any other collection.  Time to pass it on to another appreciative collector.   $45

PAINES - CELERY COMPOUND with complete labels! -  This is a great and rare example of a common bottle.  This example has both labels still present - the front one is 95+% complete and the rear one essentially 100% complete.  To top it off the bottle is a beautiful light to medium golden amber, has various bubbles in the glass, and it has a true applied "brandy" style finish (aka "lip") with a bit of slopover.  Having never been buried the bottle has no staining inside or out and is in perfect mint condition.  Click on the images to the right to view larger versions of those pics.

Click the following links to see additional images of the bottle:  PAINES embossing side; CELERY COMPOUND embossing side; close-up of the upper body, shoulder, neck and applied finish. 

According to Richard Fike's great (1987) book on medicine bottles, the product was first introduced in 1882 and made at least into the 1920s.  It was a popular patent medicine for a wide variety of different ills.  This early (mid to late 1880s) example has labeling (image to the immediate right) which notes that the product "Restores Strength, Renews Vitality, Purifies the Blood, Regulates the Kidneys, Liver and Bowels" - all for a dollar a bottle!  As fine an example as one can get of this bottle.  $25