Antique pharmacy bottles come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes and, since the early 1960s, the number of collectors has grown rapidly. Every year in the United States, dedicated collectors make the circuit of organized bottle shows, buying, selling and trading to round out their collections. Here's enter this world.
Instructions
1. Acquaint yourself with the landscape of 19th and early 20th century rural North America. Access to medical care was limited, and what passed for medical care (bloodletting, leeches) was often as bad as the disease.
2. Know that, not surprisingly, many citizens dosed themselves with "patent medicines" and other solutions that they bought by mail order or from local pharmacies and physicians.
3. Remember that many of these solutions contained alcohol and narcotics ranging from morphine to opium to cocaine. They made the patient feel better for a time, but the diseases they claimed to cure (cancer and diabetes, for example) are still mysteries to us.
4. Be aware that beginning in the early 20th century, both the United States and Canada passed legislation limiting or regulating advertising claims and sales, and, while some products survived into the 1950s and beyond, the industry shrank - and the collecting began.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of glass. Most collectible bottles date from the late 19th and early 20th century, although there are some 18th century specimens out there.
6. Understand that most collectors specialize. Some collect certain colors or shapes; others collect certain types of bottles.
7. Discern among the various categories of pharmacy bottles: barber bottles, which were used to dispense hair tonics and lotions; bitters bottles, used to dispense medicinal solutions of gin with herbs; drugstore bottles, usually embossed with store and city name; and patent medicine bottles, filled and embossed by the manufacturer.
8. Learn at least a bit about what determines value: color (clear and aqua are the most common and, therefore, the least valuable); shape (long-necked or squat); detail (embossing can be simple or very elaborate); scarcity; condition (bottles bearing the original labels in good condition are among the most valuable; cracks and chips, of course, reduce value); and age.
9. Assess the market and decide what you want to collect and why.
Tags: 20th century, early 20th, early 20th century, 19th early, 19th early 20th