# Civil war opium bottle.



## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jun 22, 2020)

Vicksburg civil war dug relic from soldiers camp. Open pontil with applied lip. Opium medicine bottle. Lots of character.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## Troutmaster08 (Jun 22, 2020)

With bottles like this it's interesting to think about what it was used for. That very bottle could have treated the pain of a wounded soldier.


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## nhpharm (Jun 22, 2020)

Just curious-what makes this an opium bottle rather than a general purpose medicine that could have had any number of nostrums in it?  I'd also date this a decade or more before the Civil War honestly.


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jun 23, 2020)

I got it off a dealer of civil war relics Bob vicksburg who lives in vicksburg, Mississippi. It could just be a term he uses for all medicine bottles. They sell better is my guess. He knows his stuff so I always take his word for it. I still love the bottle no matter what it held in it's past.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## nhpharm (Jun 23, 2020)

It is a cool bottle...made in a dip mold (like early case gins).  The few of these I have dug over the years have been in 1840's stuff.


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## Screwtop (Jun 23, 2020)

ROBBYBOBBY64 said:


> I got it off a dealer of civil war relics Bob vicksburg who lives in vicksburg, Mississippi. It could just be a term he uses for all medicine bottles. They sell better is my guess. He knows his stuff so I always take his word for it. I still love the bottle no matter what it held in it's past.
> ROBBYBOBBY64.




I've been meaning to buy one of his bottles for a while now, but I keep using the money for others things from Gettysburg, etc. Great piece, I love the color!


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jun 23, 2020)

That's good information thanks. I have a bunch of civil war private property dug relics. Pipes, bullets, bottles and inks. I have to do a civil war post. Good stuff buddy. Thanks again nhpharm.
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jun 23, 2020)

Screwtop said:


> I've been meaning to buy one of his bottles for a while now, but I keep using the money for others things from Gettysburg, etc. Great piece, I love the color!


Never a dull moment on Bob's site.


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## Kheidecker (Jun 23, 2020)

Wow. If that bottle could talk. Beautiful piece of History


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jun 24, 2020)

Kheidecker said:


> Wow. If that bottle could talk. Beautiful piece of History


Thanks buddy I love the old distressed ones. There is so much to learn by digging up the past. I feel strongly about preserving as much as humanly possible. 
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jun 24, 2020)

Troutmaster08 said:


> With bottles like this it's interesting to think about what it was used for. That very bottle could have treated the pain of a wounded soldier.


Right! Opium was the number one med for pain in the civil war. Odd right, how civil could it be with people fighting like that! 
 LOL!
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## Kheidecker (Jun 24, 2020)

Yeah I keep in touch with our local historical Society guy and donate a lot of it to him so he can be seen for decades. I buy a lot of stuff but then I also dug up a lot of stuff and digging up the stuff is by far much better. I think of the person that threw the object away over a hundred years ago. I find something cool man I'll be shaking.KEEP DIGGING


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## ROBBYBOBBY64 (Jun 24, 2020)

That's all good stuff. My issue is I don't get down south as much as I would like and then to get permission to dig an old camp site of a major battle is another story. Inks from the Battle of Fredericksburg and bottles from the Battle of Vicksburg. Confederate bullets from who knows where. I like knowing where the relic was discovered. Nothing better than digging old stuff up and being the first to touch that item in over 100-150 years. What a rush!
ROBBYBOBBY64.


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## American (Jul 1, 2020)

nhpharm said:


> Just curious-what makes this an opium bottle rather than a general purpose medicine that could have had any number of nostrums in it?  I'd also date this a decade or more before the Civil War honestly.


That bottle definitely predates the Civil War, as far as when it was blown.  It could have still been in service during the Civil War.


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## Bohdan (Jul 1, 2020)

Keep in mind that opium is a thick tar-like substance. In the 19thC. it was generally supplied in 'cakes' wrapped in paper in metal tins. Perhaps a 'tincture' of opium?  But a beautiful bottle.


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## willong (Jul 2, 2020)

Bohdan said:


> Keep in mind that opium is a thick tar-like substance. In the 19thC. it was generally supplied in 'cakes' wrapped in paper in metal tins. Perhaps a 'tincture' of opium?  But a beautiful bottle.



Good point on the packaging of opium. Up here in the PNW, bottle collectors typically called any small glass vial an opium bottle if it was dug in an aera formerly hosting a Chinese population. The practice persisted despite knowledgeable people making the same point.  "Opium bottle' just sounds so much more exotic than "small pill vial."

Tincture of opium, otherwise known as laudanum.   Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock had the habit, as portrayed in the movie "Tombstone." Several years after the notorious affairs at Tombstone and her parting with Wyatt Earp, Mattie ended her life in Pinal, another Arizona mining camp, with a final dose.


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