Medicine Bottles

About Antique Medicine Bottles

From the late 1700's through the 20th century, manufacturers used distinctive bottles to package a variety of 'medicines.' These elixirs, liniments, amazing cures, serums, syrups, pills, doctor's discoveries, extracts, balms, and 'marvelous mixtures of the Orient,' could purportedly cure everything from muscle aches to delirium. Most of the bottles are pontiled, and while some are embossed with the name of the product, many were simply identified by labels touting "Dr. So and So's Liniment." Thousands of doctors and brands distributed medicine bottles, so the collecting possibilities are nearly endless. Collectors look for originality and condition of the labels, as well as interesting ingredients (cocaine, opium, and chloroform were quite popular).


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Interviews & Articles

An Interview With Antique Bottle Collector Bill Lindsey

My maternal grandfather and uncle got into bottles in about 1965 or ‘66 when I was in high school, and we started d… [more]

Guest Column: Collecting Antique Ball Jars

One of the most common fruit jars ever produced is the lowly Ball jar. Historical figures show that from between Se… [more]

An Interview With Chinese Snuff Bottle Collector Vincent Fausone, Jr.

In 1978, I found a snuff bottle and didn’t know what it was. It intrigued me, so I bought it. Then I found some boo… [more]



Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)

Historic Glass Bottle Identification

Historic Glass Bottle Identification

Bill Lindsey's fantastic bottle identification and information site. Loaded with detailed descriptions and diagrams… [read review or visit site]

Cape May County Bottle Collectors

Cape May County Bottle Collectors

Ed and Mark Runyon's wonderful guide to the antique bottles of Cape May County, New Jersey is a great site for anyo… [read review or visit site]

Antique Bottle Collector's Haven

Antique Bottle Collector's Haven

There's a ton of information here, but as with bottles, you have to dig to find the best stuff. Start with the famo… [read review or visit site]

Diggersdiary.co.uk

Diggersdiary.co.uk

This great site, from British diggers Darren Gray and Jeremy Kemp, is rich in information about hunting for antique… [read review or visit site]

Bottle Cap Index

Bottle Cap Index

Assembled by Gunther Rademacher with the help of several other contributors, this collection of over half a million… [read review or visit site]

Plopsite.de

Plopsite.de

Norbert Lamping's collection of 600+ ceramic bottle stoppers, Hutter stoppers, swingtops, swivel stoppers, and ligh… [read review or visit site]

Old Spice Collectibles

Old Spice Collectibles

Lather up with Creighton Friceks complete chronology of collectible Old Spice shaving products. Start with the bott… [read review or visit site]


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Top eBay Auctions  Help | Get weekly Medicine Bottles email

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Radium Radia Quack Medicine Label Box Los Angeles Ca$164.12 Ends in 22 hours 12 bids 45 watchers
Dr.townsend's Sarsaparilla Albany Ny Olive Green Ponti$160.00 Ends Saturday 7 bids 30 watchers
Very Nice Pontil Pre Civil War Samuel Simes$151.50 Ends Monday 13 bids 30 watchers
Rare Pharmacy Display Jar - Dr. Jayne's Sanative Pills!$86.00 Ends Tuesday 8 bids 15 watchers
1849 Thru 1855 Saint Jacob's Bitter Bottle$77.00 Ends Saturday 7 bids 16 watchers
Antiq Luscomb's Salem Witch Liquid Smelling Salts Teal$66.00 Ends Tuesday 2 bids 24 watchers
Crude! Sparkling Mint, Pontil Schenck's Pulmonic Syrup$61.03 Ends Thursday 7 bids 6 watchers
Circa 1870 Blue Medicine Bottle Geo. Laird + Sons Co.$61.00 Ends Thursday 5 bids 16 watchers
Deep Teal Wishart's Pine Tree Cordial$56.56 Ends Monday 6 bids 29 watchers
Drakes 6 Log Plantation Bitters$52.54 Ends Saturday 5 bids 24 watchers
Antique Indian Restorative Bitters Bottle W/ Pontil$52.01 Ends Thursday 5 bids 20 watchers
Lg Antique Cobalt Blue Apothecary / Pharmacy Bottle $51.99 Ends Saturday 3 bids 25 watchers
2 Antique Bim Cobalt Blue Bottle Sanford's Cure Potter$50.95 Ends Saturday 2 bids 11 watchers
Merck Creosote Carbonate$49.99 Ends Sunday 1 bid 1 watcher
Dark Green "wishart's Pine Tree Cordial", Small Size$49.99 Ends Wednesday 1 bid 18 watchers
Antique Mercury Glass Apothecary Bottle Stopper$49.95 Ends Sunday 1 bid 5 watchers
Dose Glass J.w. Giesburg Pharmacist Kansas City, Kansas$41.00 Ends Saturday 7 bids 8 watchers
Lot Of 10 Antique Blue Embossed Medicine Bottles+1800's$40.00 Ends Monday 15 bids 14 watchers
Log Cabin Sarsaparilla Rochester, Ny. Hexagonal Amber$36.99 Ends Tuesday 12 bids 15 watchers
Bottle Witch Cream, Price Druggist, Salem, Ma.$34.99 Ends Tuesday 1 bid 7 watchers
Taylor's Opocura Bottle, Crude, Early Open Pontil Cure!$33.00 Ends Thursday 4 bids 23 watchers
Dose Glass Hood's Sarsaparilla Lowell Mass. Rare$33.00 Ends Saturday 6 bids 20 watchers
Vintage Max Bosch Medicine Bottle- Erie, Pa.$32.00 Ends Tuesday 4 bids 5 watchers
Antique Clarkes Sherry Wine Bitters Bottle W/ Pontil$30.89 Ends Thursday 2 bids 7 watchers
Antique Mineral Water Bottle "congress Spring 1800's$29.95 Ends Wednesday 1 bid 3 watchers
Wolf Grand Rapids Mich. Druggist Medicine Bottle 8 Oz.$29.00 Ends Wednesday 3 bids 5 watchers
Cocaine Bottle ~ Whitall Tatum Drug Poison (empty)$28.00 Ends Sunday 1 bid 1 watcher
Em Green Taylor Texas Rexall Druggist Pharmacy Bottle$26.00 Ends Sunday 2 bids 21 watchers
Vaughns Vegetable Lithontriptic Mixtur, Buffalo, Ip 8" $26.00 Ends Saturday 2 bids 6 watchers
Pontil Age Vaughn's Lithontriptic Buffalo$26.00 Ends Monday 4 bids 15 watchers
Primley's Iron & Wahoo Tonic Olive Amber$25.91 Ends Monday 6 bids 22 watchers
1860's-70's Boerhaves Holland Bitters$25.00 Ends Saturday 5 bids 13 watchers
Unopened Claes Tilly Haarlem Oil Horse Medicine Vial$24.95 Ends Tuesday 1 bid 1 watcher
Nice Vintage Cobalt Blue Owl Drug Co. Bottle$24.49 Ends Monday 4 bids 27 watchers
Antique Victorian Medicinal 'holloway's Ointment' Jar$22.55 Ends Saturday 1 bid 1 watcher
Amber Dowie & Muise Charleston Sc $22.49 Ends Monday 3 bids 7 watchers
St. Andrew's Cold Tea Bristol Tn. Battleship Tax Stamp$22.01 Ends Saturday 3 bids 15 watchers
J. Walker's V.b. 1870's Western Colored Bitters..teal!$21.51 Ends Saturday 3 bids 6 watchers
Antique +blue Star Coffin Poison Bottle +1800s+$21.50 Ends in 18 hours 12 bids 20 watchers
Pontil Age Wilson Fairbanks Medicinal Purposes$20.51 Ends Monday 3 bids 14 watchers
Brown's Sarsaparilla$20.50 Ends in 7 hours 4 bids 8 watchers
Apple Green Dr Langleys Root & Herb Bitters$20.50 Ends Saturday 6 bids 29 watchers
Amber Druggist Bottle Nevada, Mo. Ballagh's Drug Store$20.50 Ends in 22 hours 2 bids 13 watchers
Rare Marysville Montana Medicine Bottle W. Murgittnoyd$19.99 Ends Wednesday 1 bid 5 watchers
Pontil Age Dr S A Weavers Canker & Salt Rheum Syrup$19.50 Ends Monday 3 bids 10 watchers
Open Pontil Jewetts Pulmonary Elixer Rindge Nh$18.51 Ends Tuesday 2 bids 14 watchers
Open Pontil Oil Bottle $18.50 Ends Sunday 2 bids 15 watchers
Dr. Brown's Berry Bitters$18.29 Ends Monday 3 bids 8 watchers
Early Smith's Green Mountain Renovator Key Mold Base$18.00 Ends in 23 hours 1 bid 5 watchers
Antique S.o. Richardson's Bitters Bottle W/ Pontil$17.51 Ends Thursday 3 bids 5 watchers
W.h. Wainman Druggist Medicine Rossland B.c. Rare Bim $17.50 Ends Tuesday 4 bids 6 watchers
Pine Bluff Arkansas Early 1900s Druggist Bottle$17.48 Ends in 21 hours 3 bids 6 watchers
Blue Aqua Lindsey's Blood Searcher, Big Pontil Era Med$17.08 Ends Monday 3 bids 15 watchers
Emerald Green 1870's Billings Clapp & Co Boston$16.51 Ends Sunday 2 bids 5 watchers

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