Bottle embossed DR. S. PITCHER'S and CASTORIA.

 

Embossed Dr. S. Pitcher's Castoria bottle.  Embossed on one side CASTORIA and on the other side DR. S. PITCHER'S.

It is five inches tall, has bubbles in the glass and the seam only goes part way up the neck.

This product started as Dr. S. Pitcher’s Castoria , the formula being patented on May 18, 1868.  Several years later the rights to that product and recipe was sold to Charles H. Fletcher, and marketed through the J. B. Rose Company,  and later the Centaur Company.

The 17-year patent for the original Pitcher’s Castoria product expired on May 18, 1885.   Several years after the patent expired,  in 1896 the firm  Heinsfurter & Daggett of Fargo, North Dakota began selling their own product under the name “Pitcher’s Castoria”.   Centaur brought this to court, and in January 1897 the judgment went in favor of Heinsfurter & Daggett to sell their product as “Pitcher’s Castoria”.

(Meanwhile, probably sometime during the period of 1893-1897, bottles sold by Centaur changed from being marked “Dr. S. Pitcher’s”,  to “Chas. H. Fletcher’s”.)

See post showing Chas. H. Fletcher's bottle.