| Gover Ad Source: HAIR RAISING STORIES |
Featuring mostly glass bottles but also ceramics and other miscellaneous items
| Gover Ad Source: HAIR RAISING STORIES |
| Embossed Scott's Emulsion Bottle. |
While a cod liver oil was used for a lot of years, the maker's mark on the bottom of this bottle narrows the bottle down to a ten-year period. It has an O in a square, which indicates the Owens Bottle Co, and a date range of 1919 - 1929.
![]() |
| J. R. Stafford's Olive Tar Bottle |
J.R. Stafford’s Olive Tar was a versatile Victorian medicine, first sold in the 1850s. It could be inhaled for its “healing balsamic odors” to soothe the throat and lungs. Or else you could take it “upon sugar” as a sort of makeshift cough syrup. And if you had muscle pain or a skin irritation, you could take whatever of the Olive Tar that you hadn’t inhaled or eaten and rub it on for “its magnetic or concentrated curative powers” of relieving pain.
It was supposed to be “a highly refined extract of the juices of the Olive and the Pine,” according to an 1880 advertisement in the National Repository...
Olive Tar was also supposed to work as an ointment for horses, too. Letters in the Working Farmer (1855) testify to its efficacy in healing the backs of horses, as well as cases of croup and asthma in people.
J.R. Stafford also made Iron and Sulphur Powders to “Re-Vitalize and Purify the Blood,” to energize the nervous system, invigortate the liver, strengthen digestion, “regulate the Secretions of the Body” and worked on “all Female Weaknesses” in the bargain. But at a dollar it was twice the price of Olive Tar.
Mr. Stafford’s establishment was at 442 Broadway, New York on “the east side of the Battery.” ...
Source: Stafford’s Olive Tar – The Vintage Medicine Cabinet (wordpress.com)
According to what I've found, the date range is 1875-1899.
Here is another good link.
J. R. Stafford’s Olive Tar – Bay Bottles
---
![]() |
| Large Blown American Bottle Company Bottle. |
This bottle is about fourteen inches tall and has bubbles in the glass. According to the SHA.org site, the A B Co maker's mark, which is very faintly embossed on the bottom, indicates the bottle was made by the American Bottle Company, with a date range of 1906 - 1916. I don't know what it held at this point. Perhaps I'll find that out someday. It is the largest blown bottle that I've ever found.
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”.)
These bottles measure about 4.75 inches tall.
See post showing Dr. S. Pitcher's bottle.
This
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.
| TIPO Bottle Find. |
| I. Trager Co. Whiskey Bottle |
This bottle is embossed THE I. TRAGER CO. CINCINNATI, O.
The I. Trager & Company was a distillery in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1887 until 1918 when prohibition ended this business enterprise like thousands of other companies during the “great experiment” known as prohibition. Imagine working for 40 years only to have the government shut your business down and send all your employees to the unemployment line. Sadly this was reality for tens of thousands of workers when this law was enacted in the early 20th century. The law also ended a way of life for the Trager family as they were forced to close their family business also. The company produced many brands of whiskey during their heyday, including Black Warrior, Creme de La Creme, Deerfield, Old Colony Club, Tulip Rose, Edgemont, Youghiogheny Malt, and Union Rye.Here is the link for that information and more.
I. TRAGER & CO. USED BEAUTY TO CATCH YOUR EYE! - The Antique Advertising Expert
---
Bottle Embossed My Wife's Salad Dressing. |
I found the bottle shown above a long time ago and never paid much attention to it. It seemed like a novelty or something. I thought people would put their own homemade salad dressing in it, but I just learned there was a commercial salad dressing by that name. Below is an advertisement for the salad dressing and another product by the same company.
The bottle shown in the ad isn't like the one I found, but it is probably the same product, perhaps in a later bottle. Here is what I found about the seller.
Fred Fear & Company was, at one time, the largest seller of pure maple syrup, clam juice, and Easter Egg colors in the United States. It was founded in 1892, and once operated plants in St. Johnsbury, VT, Brooklyn, NY, and Lewes, DE. In 1954, the company was acquired by the Childs Company.
| Embossed Lucky Tiger Hair Products Bottle. |
This bottle does not appear to be real old. It has an H in a square as the bottle maker's mark on the bottom. That indicates the Hemingray Glass Co., which according to the SHA.org site, would put it between 1924 - 1935.
The maker's marks can really help narrow down the date of a bottle.
Bottle embossed 3 IN ONE OIL CO. on both sides. |
Both sides are heavily embossed SAUER'S EXTRACTS.
There are some small bubbles in the glass.
Embossed: BURNETT'S STANDARD FLAVORING EXTRACTS.
Extract bottles are common finds along the Treasure Coast. McCormack bottles are very common, followed by Sauer's and Burnett's.
The Joseph Burnett Company’s claim to fame was a useful innovation in the production of vanilla extract. Unlike most of his competitors, having graduated from the Worcester College of Pharmacy, Burnett stands out as one of the few fully qualified proprietors certified as a pharmacist. In this capacity he played a role in the first painless dental surgery publicly performed using ether, as well as producing a string of less effective products, which include a cocaine product to “stimulate vigorous and healthy hair growth” ...
Mr. Burnett listened to the lady’s description of the flavoring she wanted. This extraordinary request challenged Mr. Burnett’s resourcefulness. A man ahead of his time, he believed in supplying what his customers needed, if he could. He busied himself in his laboratory. He [went to New York] and bought a pound of the very best vanilla beans he could procure [for $3.50] and extracted the rare, delicate flavor of which she spoke, and after long, careful experiments, when he was satisfied with its quality, he made the first Vanilla Extract. “The lady was so pleased she urged him to make more, promising to take her supplies of it from him and to introduce it to her aristocratic friends. This was the beginning of Vanilla and other extracts in this country and throughout the world...
Below is the link to a much more lengthy account of the Burnett Compay.
And from the same article is one of several ads.
![]() |
| Uncleaned Case Gin Bottle. |
There is no embossing on this bottle, but there are some features that suggest that it is a later example. There appears to be a slight depressed panel on the side shown above. The surface has some irregularities that might be from a removed embossing or damage to the mold. It is dark green glass, evidently made by using a dip mold. See the following video to see how that would have been done by blowing glass into the mold and then finishing the lip side later.
(66) Square antique glass bottle - YouTube
Here is a great article on case gin bottles.
| Five-Inch Tall Milk of Magnesia Bottle |
Here is the link for more about that.
Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia Originated in Stamford - Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project
| Nine-Inch Tall Milk of Magnesia Company. |
| Five-Inch Tall Bromo-Seltzer Bottle. |
Embossed: BROMO-SELTZER
EMERSON
DRUG CO.
BALTIMORE.
Bromo-Seltzer was invented in 1888 by Isaac E. Emerson and produced by the Emerson Drug Company of Baltimore Maryland. It was sold in the United States in the form of effervescent granules that were mixed with water before ingestion. The product took its name from a component of the original formula,sodium bromide. Bromides are a class of tranquilizers that were withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1975 due to their toxicity. Their sedative effect probably accounted for Bromo-Seltzer's popularity as a hangover remedy...
Bromo-Seltzer's main offices and main factory were located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, at the corner of West Lombard and South Eutaw Street... Source: Wikipedia.
| Later Screw-Top Bromo-Seltzer Bottle. |
This screw-top bottle is six inches tall and is embossed only Bromo-Seltzer on the shoulder.
| WHITTEMORE'S Shoe Polish Bottle. |
Whittemore Bros. & Company (later known as Whittemore Brothers Corporation), Cambridge, Massachusetts (1852-c. late 1930s??) was a large producer of shoe dressing and related products, launched in 1852 by David and Joshua Whittemore. (Cambridge is now part of the greater metropolitan area of Boston). The majority of older Whittemore bottles are marked with either of the two embossing variations “WHITTEMORE / BOSTON / U.S.A.” or “WHITTEMORE / BOSTON // FRENCH GLOSS”.
| WHITTEMORE'S Shoe Polish Bottle Other Side. |
This small embossed HYNSON, WESTCOTT and DUNNING bottle once held mercurochrome, an antiseptic commonly used in the 20th century. The bottle would have a glass stopper/applier, which is not with this bottle.
I did not find when the company was formed. They did produce a product, perhaps the same or different product, that was sold in a cobalt blue glass bottle. I've not found one of those.
Here is a vintage or antique ad for mercurochrome.
Below are a variety of seven. Each is embossed with the same label but varies in shape. The tallest is six inches and the shortest is just under five inches.
| Seven Different Embossed McCormick & Co. Bottles. Tallest six inches. Shortest five inches. |
Embossed: MANUFACTURED BY F. M. PLANK.
CHATTANOOGA TENN
It is a blown bottle and shows some nice bubbles, for example in the diamond on the front, and is a little sun-purpled.
It is a "quack cure" bottle.
This ad is from 1906.
The ad was found in the 1906 Proceedings of the Florida State Pharmaceutical Association.
The other Plank bottles that I've seen have the bust of a man embossed on the bottle. This one, however, has a diamond-shaped depression, that I imagine once had a paper label. I haven't yet found when this type of bottle was used. The bottle with the embossed bust is always described as being from the late 1800s.
| Penslar Chemical Company Bottle Embossed "Penslar" |
Small bubbles in glass. Also embossed in small letters near bottom: 2 FL.OZ.
The Penslar Chemical Company of Detroit, MI (USA) produced this product. The company operated from 1907-1965. The company also had a plant in Walkerville, Ontario, Canada.
It appears they made a variety of toiletries, salves, creams and pills.
Figural Bottle Find. I thought this was one of the best bottles I ever found. It seems to be painted pottery and has a nice seal on the b...