# Unknown BLUE sarsaparilla, please help!!



## abcreview (Jul 6, 2010)

A year or two back I managed to acquire a superb blue glass sarsaparilla.  It is embossed Dr Gordons Homoepathic Compound Sarsaparilla.  This was found in a country town in Australia, that is as much information as I can give you.
 I have enquired in the US, the UK and all over Australia as to whether anything was known about this company or any other examples have been seen.  Nothing!!  I am thinking it is an Australian piece purely because it was found here, but would love to hear if anyone has other ideas.  There is nothing worse than having a great bottle like this and not knowing a thing about it.


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## bostaurus (Jul 6, 2010)

It is beautiful no matter where it came from...


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## GuntherHess (Jul 6, 2010)

I am not familiar with that bottle.
 The only Gordon I can think of was Dr A D Gordan who sold a vegetable cathartic compound in Rochester in the late 1840s. Seems too early for your bottle. Can you show the base?
 I would recommend checking John DeGrafft's American Sarsaparilla Bottles supplement which I think has many foreign bottles listed.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 6, 2010)

Willing to bet that is an English made bottle.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 6, 2010)

It could be foreign but it has some attributes you see on US bottles. The bottom may tell us more. The R with the two dots is something you see on 1870s Pittsburgh bottles quite a bit. The color would make me think foreign.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 6, 2010)

The term homeopathic seems odd as it wasnt used on American medicine bottles until the late 19th century and that bottle has an applied lip.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 6, 2010)

It seems to fit in with other Australian Sarparillias such as DR FOSTERâ€™S  JAMAICA SARSAPARILLA or DR WEILYâ€™S SARSAPARILLA


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## JOETHECROW (Jul 6, 2010)

It's awesome looking! Love that bottle.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 6, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  GuntherHess
> 
> The term homeopathic seems odd as it wasnt used on American medicine bottles until the late 19th century and that bottle has an applied lip.


 Exactly, that buzz-word seems a uniquely English thing. Also, the color looks English to me. 
 English or not (I'm an American bottle snob, I know..) I LOVE it.


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## abcreview (Jul 6, 2010)

Below is a picture of the base, which in itself is rather unusual.  Sort of like an inverted pyramid if that makes sense?  The only other bottles I have seen with this type of base mark are a series of bottles embossed Farmers Friend in Australia.  These are Australian bottles and come in a range of colours.  This is one other point which leads me to a possible Australian connection.  Has anyone else seen a base finish like this one?
 One of the closest matches to colour I have seen is in the following bottle:

 This is a Dr Ralays Royal Digestive Bitters, which is definitely an Australian piece from one of the Sydney manufacturers.


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## abcreview (Jul 6, 2010)

And here is the base - is there a way to add more than one picture to a single post?


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## Oldtimer (Jul 6, 2010)

With this info to consider, I would have to agree it's Aussie. Never seen a bottom like that, ever.

 As for multiple pics, not by using forum software. You have to save the pics to Photobucket, and then copy the IMG code to paste here using the {IMG} tags.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 6, 2010)

THere ia actually at least one well known American medicine with that type of base mold ... VAUGHN'S VEGETABLE LITHONTRIPTIC MIXTURE.
 Even so , I think the odds are it is Austrailian.
 Here is an ad from 1879 I dug up, maybe a lead, maybe nothing...


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## abcreview (Jul 6, 2010)

GuntherHess, I don't know how you managed to come up with that, but West Maitland is only about 200 km from where this bottle was found, not really that far, even for back then with the train system that we had.  I certainly think you are onto something!


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## GuntherHess (Jul 6, 2010)

There is a quite good on-line Australian historical newspaper website...
 http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home

 YOu should have lots of fun there []
 Its better than most of the USA newspaper databases I use.


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## abcreview (Jul 6, 2010)

I have used that online website to great effect MANY times in the past, and have searched for Dr Gordons in many different ways to no avail on there, that is why I was so surprised to see your success.  I admit to not having searched for a good year or so, when there have been a large number of records added since then, which just proves that you need to keep using these sites over time.  Thanks again, I am almost certain this bottle is from the Dr Gordon mentioned in the advert.


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## GuntherHess (Jul 6, 2010)

searching old ads is more of an art than a science. I doubt any two people searching for the same info would come up with the same results.
 Some search engines are horrible, that one isnt too bad.


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## junkyard jack (Jul 22, 2010)

That's a great looking bottle. Love the color!


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