No info on this bottle ever.

[Krazycoach]

As a kid (now 62) we found an old homestead in the CA foothills that produced two bottles (both mint). The first was a Dr Murray’s magic oil SF cal.. which I know is fairly rare. The other was an Eppersons Liniment ….aqua, rectangular with a larger top/opening. It has two embossed horses on the back with one cutting his leg on a barbed wire fence… and “trade mark” written below them. I have inquired everywhere and got no response. Just getting back into interest. There was another broken one in the pit too. Miracle anything survived as huge rocks were thrown in. The homestead was at least 1870s. Any info. Help??!!!

 

[CanadianBottles]

Welcome to the forum! Can you post a picture of the Epperson's? That sounds like it's going to be a very valuable bottle. Not too often you find an unknown pictorial California med, and one from a very small town too.

I found some information on the company online. There's a picture of the label here, with a registration date of 1889: https://archives.sos.ca.gov/Items/Details/11318 It was made by Epperson Bros. of Durham, California.

Looks like the business wasn't very good, because they were advertising a pharmacy for sale in 1890: https://books.google.ca/books?id=Jh...#v=onepage&q="epperson bros" "durham"&f=false That whole book is worth a look through, the state of the medical profession in 1890 was definitely something else! The ads are incredible - just scanning a few pages I saw an ad for cocaine suppositories to cure menstrual cramps, cocaine pills for malaria, cocaine wine to cure insomnia (that doesn't sound right...), cocaine wine just because it feels good, free samples of purified opium ("in steadily increasing use for over twenty years"), services to cure opium addiction, Listerine for internal use, and a bicycle ad proclaiming that if you buy it, you will let your horse die of neglect.

They didn't seem to actually sell their pharmacy until 1898, unless this was a different premises: https://books.google.ca/books?id=uu...#v=onepage&q="epperson bros" "durham"&f=false

There's also an Epperson Bros saloon token from Durham, so it looks like they got out of the patent medicine business and into the liquor-selling business instead (the patent medicines were probably liquor anyways).

 

[Krazycoach]

I do not have the bottle right now… it’s at a different location. I might try in a month to get there and snap a photo. Thanks for the info.