# Additions to the Peoria collection, Quart Druggists and others!



## Plumbata (Mar 30, 2010)

My quart pharmacy collection is growing! Left to right they are from Memphis, NYC, Peoria IL, Chicago, Philadelphia(?), and San Francisco. I like big pharms!






 Got the small jar with original lid cheap off the bay. It is marked "Wilson's Pure Food Products Peoria, ILL" and is flawless. I've dug a bunch but every single one had at least 1 crack, so i was happy to see it offered. The larger ones are just as fragile, with the one pictured suffering from sickness and a divot in the back. A minty example is in a box somewhere at home.










 All these came off ebay as well. A nice unlisted amber "Allaire Woodward & Co. Peoria, ILL" med, a half gallon "J. Zahringer Peoria, ILL" alcohol jug from the 1910s, a good "Gillig & Singer Peoria, Ills" soda, and a "Schnebly - O'Meara Co. SOB Peoria, ILL"  Pre-pro shot glass.





 A relatively rare and costly "Barker & Wheeler Co. Crescent Nurser Peoria, ILL" baby bottle in great shape. Need to make a cool stand to display it on.





 More fun pharms. The amber one is from a town just down the road from Champaign, IL and would be great to dig in non-cracked condition. The ACL pharms were cheap and might be worth collecting sometime down the line.


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## madman (Mar 30, 2010)

those are some killer bottles ! nice love the large phrams


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## stumpknocker (Mar 31, 2010)

Those quart pharmacy bottles sure look great.


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## Lordbud (Mar 31, 2010)

I've got a couple quart pharmacies...make that one quart pharmacy. I do have several pint pharmacies though. The 16 oz. and 32 oz. pharmacies can be tough to get ahold of as the prices have gone way up the past 10 years. I haven't added that many nice bottles to my collection in a long while.


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## Plumbata (Apr 1, 2010)

Thanks folk!

 Yeah lordbud it seems that the 16 and 32 ounce pharms are quite tough to get in general, on the market or in the ground. It would be awesome to get one from every state, but it would cost a fortune to get ones from the last 2 states to enter the union or get ones from the territories, though they would totally kick arse.

 I have no idea what the prices were like 10 years ago but I find them generally reasonable at present, and still less than what they should be considering the relative scarcity of such sizes. I can't imagine that any pharmacist ordered many of the larger sizes to begin with and they are far more prone to breakage too, which makes them special. I'd like to add some ACL quarts too, but they are scarce despite being recent. 

 I still kick myself for not buying a minty square quart from Keokuk, Iowa that was full of gross cod liver oil (easy clean though). The embossing was spectacular, but they listed it several times with no bids at 9.99. That was before I decided to collect them, but its size and beauty really impressed me even though they weren't a stated interest then.


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## Lordbud (Apr 1, 2010)

> I have no idea what the prices were like 10 years ago but I find them generally reasonable at present,


 
 For example a common Lengfeld's embossing variant 16 oz. size was being offered for $40 at the last couple of shows I attended in 2009, but I decided to spend the $40 on an "unlisted" citrate from Oakland instead. Of course it is tough to say whether a citrate or a 16/32 oz. druggist bottle from the same concern would be the rarer bottle.

 A rare G. Leipnitz 32 oz. druggist was priced at $200, the seller offered to come down to $150 since it needs to be cleaned. Both of these examples may have sold at subsequent shows by now, since I haven't been able to attend the past couple Western shows.

 To me paying $150 for a bottle is a bit on the expensive side, and $40 for a basically common embossing variant although a large 16 oz. size just wasn't in the cards. So I guess it is all relative as far as reasonable goes. Hope you're getting your 16/32 ouncers for good deals!

 The really tough ones to add to a 50-state collection will be 16/32 oz. examples from Arizona and New Mexico which might exist. Hawaii and Alaska ...I would make a guess that 16/32 oz examples don't even exist for those states.


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## IllinoisDigger (Apr 1, 2010)

wow to the mahomet amber pharm!


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## deacon_frost (Apr 2, 2010)

man that is one sweet nurser plummy[]


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## Plumbata (Apr 14, 2010)

Thanks for the good words everyone!

  Lordbud/Jason, i appreciate you sharing your experience with this relatively immature category of bottle collecting. I would say that a magnesia is better than a 16 ouncer of similar rarity, more due to personal aesthetic interpretation than market reality, but a 32 ounce druggist takes all in my opinion. The last states to enter the union certainly would be tough as hell to obtain, but man would they be beautiful to look at! Even small alaska pharms go for exorbitant prices, and in that climate I doubt more than 1 in a thousand quarts would survive, if they existed to begin with. Gives ya something to search for though, eh?

  Illinoisdigger, yeah that is a Mahomet pharm, and it was actually listed several years ago by a seller in Champaign who I bought 2 cases of indian artifacts from. I regretted not buying it for a dollar as an example of what could be found, but the buyer, located in indiana, listed it for cheap and i decided it was worth getting. Do you think you and your son will be getting out to do some privy digging there? 

  deaconfrost, thanks for complimenting the nurser, but since i didnt dig it it isn't as special due to the lack of associated positive experiential memories. It looks dug though, and has thin glass so it is crazy how it survived with NO damage. It really is slick so i need to whip out the router and make a nice display stand for it, as laying flat it is kinda lame. I know that ancientdigger has one too, only the 2nd one i've seen. They are nice pieces.


  Anyway, here are a few more somewhat interesting pictures:


  Full set of "Blue Ribbon Salad Dressing Oakford & Fahnestock Peoria, ILL." bottles, the large one being one of well over 30 complete one's i've dug (common in TOC era deposits). The 2nd one is presumably a sample size, same age but i have only found 2, and the smallest size is probably another sample, with .75oz less capacity, one of 3 I dug (but 1 was lost when my bottle bucket tipped over into a muddy crevasse )

  Probably my favorite food bottles in general due to the awesome level of detail. Being from my town of interest doesn't hurt either. 





  118.3 grams of essentially pure silver sponge.





  One of my many handmade 1/2 gram uranium ampules next to an ampule of elemental Bromine (Br2)! How many of you knew that there is an element other than Mercury that is liquid under normal conditions? Nifty eh? Don't breathe the stuff it is narsty!





  Got the one on the left cheap off ebay, and I plan on reselling it as the one my dad uncovered the base of (and then had me dig out) is in slightly better shape, and it means more anyway.





  What is most interesting about the new coke is the partial birdswing, here is the more easily visible part roughly in the center of the image:





  Presumably rare Methamphetamine HCl pharmacy supply bottle and box. Too bad I didn't get it full of the 250 5mg pills, haha.  Got it listed on ebay now with an exorbitant BIN/BO price, so far 100 is the highest offer but I figure eventually someone will like it enough to offer more than it is probably worth.  Otherwise i would be happy to keep it with my small accumulation of controlled substance bottles.


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## RIBottleguy (Apr 14, 2010)

Those are some great adds man!  I should stay away from those quart sized druggists, I'd be addicted in a second if I ever saw one from RI.


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## Plumbata (May 5, 2010)

*Opium, etc.*

Well here are a few more goodies I've bought at what i thought were worthy steals (40% or less of the easy market value), or stuff I rediscovered.

 Small apothecary ipecac and opium jar:















 Blown bottle full of Tablets for treating Sun Cholera, which contained Opium (or morphine which was used in other similar preparations)





 Extraordinary "Gum Opii" opium resin drawer knob/pull. I've never seen one of these, and despite the chip it was a steal. I bet that drawer had what would be at least 20,000.00 worth of opium in it based on street prices now. Too bad I can't have it all, hehehehe.

















 Other knobs from the lot, minus a spermacetti (very cool) and a mint leaves knob:









 "H.G. Farrel's Arabian Liniment Peoria" bottle with applied lip and original contents. This is for the Peoria collection.









 This isn't exactly new to the collection, I got it as a doorprize at the bottle club 3 years ago but then lost it (happens so often). I found it again so here it is, a nice hard-to-find Peoria flavoring extract bottle:


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## Wangan (May 5, 2010)

*RE: Opium, etc.*

Very nice bottles!Why would they mix Epipcac and Opium when its gonna come up as soon as it hits your stomach?Maybe Epipcac was topical or intravenous too?Too bad you didnt have the chest of drawers those handles came from.I bet it was nice furniture.


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## Plumbata (May 5, 2010)

*RE: Opium, etc.*

Well i never really looked into it before now, I figured that the ipecac would have stimulant properties which would help counteract the sedative properties of opium (but not the painkilling or peristalsis-immobilizing effects), or maybe it could be used to stop intestinal motility and also initiate vomiting when accidental ingestion of poison took place, but this page seems to provide good information regarding the actual uses of ipecac+opium:
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/kings/cephaelis_pulv1.html

 Yeah, I bet those apothecary drawers would be killer pieces of furniture, and would be AWESOME to have as storage space for smaller items or collections. Good luck finding a set at an affordable price though!


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## Lordbud (May 5, 2010)

*RE: Opium, etc.*

Watch out with the extract bottles. They can easily become another sub-collection. Besides the local wholesale druggists many retail druggists also had their own extract style bottles made with embossing similar to your Chas. J. Off bottle. Wonder what his middle name was? [8D]


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## Plumbata (May 5, 2010)

*RE: Opium, etc.*

Hey GodBud [], I think I have 4 different flavoring extract bottles from Peoria. Flavorings in general certainly won't become a separate collecting interest (despite the 50-100 each of Burnett's and Price's I've accumulated) since Peoria bottles are my main focus. I will get all the local extract bottles that I can manage but it may take a while. They are cheap enough when they show up usually but 20+ for one is insane.
 I really hope that Charles' middle name was comical too, haha! []

 So, howabout your own local extract bottles? Any good ones from Cali?


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## KBbottles (May 5, 2010)

*RE: Opium, etc.*

Awesome stuff!!!


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