# Displaying a bitters bottle carton that' s falling apart



## AndyR (Jan 25, 2003)

One of my treasures is an old box for Thurston' s Old Continental Tonic Bitters. It' s absolutely beautiful (at least to me). Unfortunately I am not able to have it on display because it is split at two of the four corners. While the box can stand on it' s own, it does so with the stability of a house of cards. My father-in-law (whose retired and has lots of time on his hands!) designed and constructed a display unit that protects the box beautifully. There is a 1/16"  airspace between all four sides and the tops of the box and the plexi so that the box can " breathe" . The plexiglass is the uv kind, which prevents some of the harmful uv rays from hitting the ink. I also keep it well away from direct sunlight. The plexi enclosure screws on at the bottom so that I can remove the box at any time. My father-in-law did a great job. I get a kick out of imagining what a fuss Mr. Thurston would think we made over his beaten up old box, but it is a real gem to me. Now if I can only find the bottle that goes with it!!! Has anyone ever seen one?


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## woody (Jan 31, 2003)

Your father-in law did a wonderful job in constructing your holder for the box.
 I haven' t heard of that bitters before.
 Maybe it was a label only bottle.


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## BRIAN S. (Jun 19, 2004)

Hi Andy , 
  I was browsing over some of these older posts and ran across this one of yours. 
 By the way ! That is a very nice Bitters Box you have and what a nice way to display it. 
 Your box is for a label only Bitters.  It is listed as a Ring & Ham's  T 26 L and It is a Rectangular bottle that measures 8 7/8 " x 3 1/4" x 1 3/4" ( 6 5/8") 5/8"  It is Aqua in color , it has a narrow square collar lip treatment , and 3 sunken panels. It is not embossed so maybe some one out there has one with the original label that would go GREAT with your box.    Hope this helps , Brian


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## Maine Digger (Jun 19, 2004)

Andy, that's a wonderful case your father-in-law constructed! I'm working on something similar for the 1830's letters I found in my walls. I'll be sandwiching them between non-reflective glass, and someone said something about sealing them and pressurizing with nitrogen? By the way, I just dug one of those Lydia Vegitable... bottles in the background of your picture you posted in your members area. Are there any particular bottles you're still looking for from Lowell area? We find quite a few here in Maine, and I'm sure the other 'New Englanders' do also![]


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