# Dr S N Thomas "Electric" Oil



## marting11 (Aug 31, 2014)

Hello!
This canadian bottle is very common, we find it all the time but the one I've found seems to have a spelling mistake on it! "Electric" instead of "Eclectric".










Have you seen this variant before?


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## goodman1966 (Aug 31, 2014)

Nice find. I have the eclectric version. Have not seen that variant !


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 31, 2014)

Cool piece.


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## cowseatmaize (Aug 31, 2014)

Huh, I'd think electric would be the correct for the time with all the gizmos being put out but I suppose eclectic fits also.Maybe I just have too many ways of seeing things.


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## marting11 (Aug 31, 2014)

cowseatmaize said:
			
		

> Huh, I'd think electric would be the correct for the time with all the gizmos being put out but I suppose eclectic fits also.Maybe I just have too many ways of seeing things.



"Eclectric" is the actual name of the product. I think the name comes from the words "electric" and "eclectic" though.


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## Robby Raccoon (Aug 31, 2014)

Great advertisement idea they had!


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## cowseatmaize (Sep 1, 2014)

The cat looks wasted.


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## LisaTammy (Sep 1, 2014)

I need some of that oil today after digging 4 hours yesterday.Lisa


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## bne74honda (Sep 1, 2014)

You probably do have an error bottle there. The "Electric" oil bottle's embossing is very clear and crisp - signs of an under used or new mold. Also, the lettering is smaller on this bottle. Quite possibly, a new mold was prepared to modernize the font and the error was not discovered until some number of bottles were produced.  More evidence of this potential - both bottles are typical clean blobs, obviously from the same time frame. Anyhow, my 2 cents.. Brian


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## mctaggart67 (Sep 2, 2014)

Dr. S.N. Thomas' Eclectric Oil was Canada's best selling proprietary medicine from the late 1800s through to the 1920s. The medicine lasted until at least the late 1960s. There are hundreds of variants, ranging from hand-made corkers to machine-made corkers to screw-tops. I've seen spelling mistakes, including "electric," backwards letters, and a backwards front letterplate (all letters backwards). There are also variants with small lettering, large lettering, clears, aquas, and aquas with amber swirls. There are also ones from Newcastle, C.W. (Canada West, Ontario's name before Confederation in 1867). These are generally common, but tend to get scooped up into collections because they have a certain pizzazz, being older than Canada itself. Rarer -- perhaps rarest of all -- are variants from Newcastle, Ont. (Ontario), since they were only produced during a small window of time between whenever the "C.W.'s" were used up and 1870-71, when the firm moved to Toronto. Another hard to find variant is the 8-ounce machine-made corker -- not terribly exciting but a rare bird nonetheless.


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## luckiest (Sep 4, 2014)

Thanks for the good information, I have heard of open pontil C.W. versions, have you seen one?


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