# A couple of pics,...



## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

I was bored and was playing around with the camera. These shelves are tough to catch the way they're placed in the room...I've always had bottles on these shelves, even at other residences in the past...they're from an old store display.


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

One on either side of the dining room door....[]


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

Looking into the stairwell...


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

And looking into the dining room from the stairwell....


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

I think I'll try these again when theres some good sunlight,...the lights tend to want to wash some of the color out of the pics...This is the display case in the corner of the same room,...Some of these shots might be familiar to long time members, as I've posted similar versions of some in the past. Thanks for looking.


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## Wangan (Nov 6, 2010)

Very nice Joe! I really like the gargling oil sign,nice touch! I love the old script. Is there a gargling oil bottle right there?


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

No,...LoL, but there should be Tim,....you're right,....I've got bottles scattered all over the house. Someday I'll find just the right cabinet or display to fit all my better meds in. So,...there's one here.


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

There's one here...


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## cyberdigger (Nov 6, 2010)

Thank you for sharing, Joe! I do love to stare at bottle pics!! []

 ..I think I spotted Mr. Moses up there.. []


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

The one Fred found recently and we swapped for is right here....


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

Thanks Charlie,...yes, He has a place of honor there, where he can preside over the other bottles, and give them advise as needed..[]

 Here's one with a green one to show the diff in colors....(I love when the same bottle come's in many different colors.) Someday I'll get a cobalt abm one and perhaps the elusive amber version to complete the color run...Hey, I'll bet there's an aqua version out there as well!

 I think that's all the Merchant's bottles we have around here for now....OOPS! there is one more...Be back shortly.[]


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

This one I suppose doesn't technically count as a Merchant's bottle? but has the bottom embossing "Glass from F. Hitchchins Factory, Lockport NY....The Acid spring was located in nearby "Alabama swamps" and there are 4 or 5 different colors of these. This was always one of my dream bottles, and my digging buddy from the Lockport area, his father was very old, and lived there all his life, He used to always have this example sitting on his desk....Recently, I reconnected with my friend, and he gifted me this bottle. Even though a glueback, it means a lot to me, and a beautiful bottle indeed. (I can't truthfully remember if Merchant had any affiliation with "Oak Orchard Acid Springs" or not....I'd have to go back and look. I'm just glad we live close enough to Lockport to find their glass sometimes!


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

Okay,...thought of one more,....last one for now.[]


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

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## JOETHECROW (Nov 6, 2010)

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## wolffbp (Nov 7, 2010)

Ok Joe, you know I had to chime in[]  Yes, G.W. Merchant did have a connection with Oak Orchard and there are bottles similar to yours with G.W. Merchant embossed on them.  I'm not sure if he was an agent [before or after H.W. Bostwick "sole agent" or whether he actual bought rights to one of the springs.  I still need one for my collection as well as the Alabama Genesee County embossed variant.  Here's a neat little write-up I found.


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 7, 2010)

Hey Brian,...your two cents is always appreciated...Had I told you about my Lockport buddy and I taking a cloth 1800's map and going into the swamps (now nature preserve) to locate the old site? (Ths was during the early eighties)...His dad was once head of the Lockport Historical Society),...and also the one my bottle came from, although now deceased...anyhow we had his fathers map with a plastic cover, and also his directions,....as a young man he had tied a piece of wire rope to a tree near the site....We spent HOURS looking,..finally sat down in our hip waders and took a break...there, higher in the tree above us was the wire,...nearly grown in. We did locate one small shard of green lockport glass, and as we were walkiing to our truck, a nearby farmer asked what we were up to in our waders....we related the story and he says...."Well, you should have been here a month ago then"...Naturally we asked why. He had some of the bottles on his basement stairs and gave 'em to the gas company guy! He also informed us, that when he was a boy, the bottles were in huge piles in the woods, and they'd throw them up in the air for skeet shooting...[] Later that year the ditch witch went through My freind and his fathers jointly owned property frontage and kicked out two acid spring bottles....One Olive example and a green one,....it also broke another...They are the folks that live near the old Royalton mill.


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 7, 2010)

I also found some interesting info over at GuntherHess's site....A clipping,... and a photo of  Merchant's bottle I'd LOVE to own, that I forgot existed....


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 7, 2010)

Clipping.


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## wolffbp (Nov 7, 2010)

So judging from the second clipping Merchant was an agent (as I suspected).  That was a great story about trying to locate the springs.  (I think you posted something like that before)  My father and I also made an attempt at locating the springs (1977 or 78) as we had also heard a story about crates of bottles in the woods.  I think our directions were pretty bad and we found nothing (not even the springs).  That torpedo Merchant is quite nice too!


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 7, 2010)

Yeah Brian,...My memory's NOT what it used to be...sorry for the repeat story,...I think it's cool that you guys tried to find it too!,...I can't say I'd expect to encounter someone else who did that![] Only on this forum I guess....[] Thanks for chiming in with your story and info. We did find some odd items that the state or Feds moved to a nearby treeline/hedgerow when they "sanitized" the site...seems like one of the items was an old iron stove. Details get blurred by time,...I'm not even sure just exactly when in the eighties we went. (Sometimes I have to remember what vehicle we had, to narrow it down).[] Maybe I'll get to talk to my buddy, Bob sometime soon,...hopefully his memory is better than mine.


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## #1twin (Nov 8, 2010)

Great looking stuff Joe. Thanks for sharing the pics.  
 Marvin


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## cyberdigger (Nov 8, 2010)

Hijack alert! []


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## cyberdigger (Nov 8, 2010)

Multiple attacks.. []


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 9, 2010)

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## Penn Digger (Nov 11, 2010)

Very nice Joe!  Love that sweet green Merchant's torpedo.

 PD


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 11, 2010)

Thank you Tom,.... Here's some obscure info on Gargling Oil.


      DISCOVERY: Merchantâ€™s Gargling Oilâ€™s tie to Lockport 
 Anonymous The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Fri Jun 13, 2008, 11:03 AM EDT 

 The history of Lockport and the Erie Canal are full of interesting curiosities. This is perhaps, in part, because the Erie Canal brought a continuous barrage of strangers and new ideas to Western New York. One such new idea, created by Dr. George W. Merchant, found its genesis in Lockport in 1833. Dr. Merchant was the town druggist and he created a product and company that would exert great influence in Lockport for nearly a century. He was responsible for marketing the product â€œDr. Merchantâ€™s Gargling Oil.â€ It is not clear why the product was called gargling oil, when its primary application was as a liniment, and if someone were to, perhaps, have the misfortune to actually gargle with the product, they certainly would have regretted it.

 Apparently, Dr. Merchantâ€™s Gargling Oil was a very effective liniment. Its timing in Lockport was also excellent. Tired and sore canallers and their mules and horses needed frequent doses of liniment to soothe their aches and pains. Dr. Merchant sold his product alongside the canal and demand for his product grew exponentially. Dr. Merchant took on a partner, Morris H. Tucker, and the two built a two-story frame building at Cottage and Walnut streets for their business. Unfortunately, Dr. Merchantâ€™s health began to suffer and he sold his share of Dr. Merchantâ€™s Gargling Oil to a three-member corporation composed of Tucker, B.L. Delano and Henry Walbridge The corporation claimed Lockportâ€™s own Washington Hunt, governor of NY, as a director. Walbridge was actually Huntâ€™s father-in-law and the two were very successful in their commerce. They had purchased 32,000 acres of land along the Erie Canal and proceeded to ride the canal to riches. 

 Dr. Merchantâ€™s Gargling Oil Company, thrived under the marketing expertise of Tucker. He seemed to be far ahead of his time in terms of promotion and marketing. One scheme involved sending a dozen bottles of Dr. Merchantâ€™s Gargling Oil in a satin lined oak box to the Sultan of Turkey. The Sultan never acknowledged the gift, but American newspapers picked up on it and sales of gargling oil shot up. Tucker also developed the marketing slogan: â€œGood for Man and Beast!â€ Over time, separate specialized products were developed for both. The product for beasts was packaged in a yellow wrapper, and the human variety was in white packaging. In recognition of the special status to the Sultan of Turkey, the gargling oil for animals had a drawing of an Arabian Stallion having his legs massaged by a turbaned groomsman. The oil for human application had a picture of a man and wife and a table with bottles of liniment upon it.

 In 1861, John Hodge joined the company. He advanced to president in 1886, taking over the reins from Tucker. He also had the good sense to marry Tuckerâ€™s daughter. Hodge, too, was a promotional wizard. He had a keen insight into the world of advertising. He began a program of painting billboards on anything stationary along the route of the Erie Canal. Barns served as his favorite canvas. He even convinced owners of the youthful Maid of the Mist company to allow a gargling oil advertisement on the side of their boat. His grand achievement has to be a reported advertisement painted on the Rock of Gibraltar. By the time of Hodgeâ€™s death in 1895, Dr. Merchantâ€™s Gargling Oil was sold worldwide and was one of Lockportâ€™s principal industries. But demand for Gargling Oil, just like the mules and horses along the towpath, died out and the company went out of business in 1928.


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## Erik T (Nov 14, 2010)

Nice love the stairwell pic!


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## RedGinger (Nov 15, 2010)

I was looking for a picture of the Lockport Travelling Flask?  I keep wanting to call it that, but that may be the wrong name.  I found this, on kungfufighter and wife's site, and wow would I pass out if I dug this one:

http://www.jeffnholantiquebottles.com/webpages/Item6240.html


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## RedGinger (Nov 15, 2010)

I'll take it:

http://lockportjournal.com/local/x212283150/HISTORY-Old-stone-house-on-Summit-Street-is-on-the-market


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## rockbot (Nov 15, 2010)

Killer bottles and display Joe. What a nice array of colored glass.
 Thanks for sharing!

 Rocky


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 15, 2010)

Thank you everyone for the comments,....I was searching out a pic of the travelers companion (Locport or Lancaster version) and found this interesting article with awesome Lockport bottles...!


    http://www.glswrk-auction.com/020.htm


 A question to the experts?...Although this bottle is attributed to Lockport,...It's not a coloration normally associated with them,...and the only one known?...in this color...The locale doesn't make it seem likely, but could it be from some other (Ahem,...stoddard?) or similar Glasshouse? Just wondering. Thank you...          Joe


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 15, 2010)

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## JOETHECROW (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

It's surprisingly difficut to find good images of these flasks...Here's some aquas which I love and an amber Ravenna...


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

Amber..

 I never did find a pic of the Lockport "Travelers"...These two pics are both Ravenna Glass works. (Really nice as well)


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## cowseatmaize (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

Good morning Joe. Nice pics.


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## RedGinger (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

May sound weird to the bottle experts, but where is Ravenna?  If it's Lockport, are you referring to the color/style or the place in Lockport that made these?  Was Ravenna a nearby glassworks?


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## cowseatmaize (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

It's in Ohio


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## cowseatmaize (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

Sorry Laur, I was burning something for breakfast and had to just hit OK.
 It's not far from Akron. They really made some great stuff IMO. They were in business for, let me look... 1857-80 or thereabouts.
 Aside from the marked stuff I guess they're attributed to some of the Jeny Lind and Pikes Peak bottles.


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=%2Fp267401coll36&CISOPTR=18947&DMSCALE=100.00000&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMMODE=viewer&DMFULL=0&DMOLDSCALE=9.76562&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=&DMTHUMB=1&REC=1&DMROTATE=0&x=68&y=134


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## RedGinger (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

Then why is it called Lockport if it's Ravenna?


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## JOETHECROW (Nov 16, 2010)

*RE: Finally found a couple of pics,...*

Laur,...They were made at both of those glasshouses..."Traveler's Companion" flask...Then with the name of the glasshouse (Lockport or Ravenna)...Other glasshouses also made a "Travelers Companion" flask. but I've never seen a Lockport Traveler's in anything but aqua.


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