![]() Limitations on overall shape were much reduced and the possible variety Round (cross section) body was rarely an issue with medicinals so the Little else that physically differentiates the extremely diverse medicinalīottle group from other groups. Which are of course not medicinal group unique characteristics - there is The contents.) Beyond the glass thickness and neck attributes. ![]() (Note: Various medicines were made in ointmentįorm for external use so these type bottles had wide mouths for accessing A narrow neck and bore likely limited evaporation through Most medicinalīottles also had a narrow neck and mouth (aka bore or throat) since thisĬonformation was most useful for pouring out the typically liquidĬontents. That can be useful in bottle fragment identification at times. Medicinal bottles is distinctly less than for soda/mineral water, beer,Ĭhampagne, and most wine bottles. (One exception was citrate of magnesia which was usuallyĪlmost soda-like bottles.) Generally speaking the glass thickness of Typically carbonated which demanded heavier glass and typically a roundīody shape. Some quality of the contained product, i.e., the contents were not Liquor bottles (another very diverse category) in that bottle design was Were used for external human use (e.g., witch hazel, denatured alcohol). This section also includes chemical and "poison"īottles which, of course, contained liquids that were not for humanĬonsumption but were sold and/or distributed by some of the same companiesĪs medicinal bottles (e.g., The Owl Drug Company - example to theīeen covered also under the "Household (non-food related)" or "Miscellaneousīottle Types" sections below, but are covered here because since some "poisons" Were likely ten's of thousands of different embossed druggist bottles madeīetween the 1870s and 1920s - the heyday of the proprietary druggistīottle. Prescription bottles, i.e., bottles with the druggist or store name,Īddress, city/state, and/or other information or a graphic feature Medicinal compounds to sell from their stores utilizing proprietary druggist or Most of the many thousands of local druggistsĭuring the 19th and early 20th century typically concocted their own (aka pharmacy, drugstore, or prescription bottles) due to their close connection to the other types This section also includes druggist bottles This website can not cover but a sampling of the medicinal bottles one Many times more embossed ones not addressed by Fike's book.Īdd in the fact that most bottles were not embossed with product orĬompany names (probably less than 40% as late as 1890) and one can understand how Within eachĬhapter is a listing of hundreds of different embossed bottles with Medicine Bottles) into over 40 different "product" chapters, rangingįrom "bitters" to "cures" to "purifiers" and many more. Medicinal bottle category is indicated by Fike (1987) dividing his classicīook (The Bottle Book: A Comprehensive Guide to Historic, Embossed Though intimidating in its immense diversity there are some useful trends in shapes that markĪ bottle as very likely to have been used primarily or originally as aĬontainer for some type of medicinal product. Mid-19th century until at least the Depression in the 20th century. Used for tens of thousands of different medicinal products from the Medicine with a general shape (rectangular with indented panels) that was The bottle pictured to the left is a mid-19th century The picture at the top of the page shows justĪ tiny bit of medicinal bottle diversity which is frankly staggering inĭepth and variety as virtually any shape imaginable was used at some Thus, the allure of patent or proprietary Person - if they were even available - was very limited and their trainingīackgrounds often suspect. Of Odell (2000), "Medicine is as old as man, no doubt born of necessityĪnd wrought by trial and error." Self-medication was oftenĪll that could be had by most people and the ability of doctors to help a Primitive medical knowledge and practices and universal ignorance about Most important personal issue of all time, made even more important during This variety is not too surprising since one's health was (and still is) probably the (1987) on medicine bottles - "Literally hundreds of thousands of brandsĪnd variations of vessels were manufactured." during the noted era. Click here to move to the Organization & Structure Summary.īottles are probably the largest and most diverse group of bottles producedĭuring the era covered by this website - the 19th through mid 20th centuries.
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