Clarke Fluid Company, Cincinnati

[mctaggart67]

Just wondering if my American friends could help me out with this bottle. It's 64 ounces and embossed POISON / CLARKE FLUID CO. / CINCINNATI (see pic). Are they rare? What's the approximate value on these fellows? Thanks so much.

 

[surfaceone]

Hey Glen,

Hands across the border, sir. I think these were embalming fluid.

"Poison embalming fluid bottle & book, glass bottle embossed "The Clarke Fluid Co.-Cincinnati-Poison", angled corners w/cork top, c.1900, Exc cond, 9"H & "The Art and Science of Embalming" by Carl Lewis Barnes, c.1898, 474 pgs w/3 charts & many illustrations, shows bottle on page 225, VG/Exc cond, 9"H x 6"W. SOLD
75.00USD" From.

There's another one OVER HERE, and it's for sale.

They Incorporated in 1900, and disolved in 1920.

 

[mctaggart67]

Thanks, Surfaceone. I collect Canadian poisons, and know that clear ones are the hardest to find. In fact, I've got only three BIMs after 30 years of collecting. Embalming fluid bottles seem to be the exception the clear rule, so I wanted to ask on the forum. Thanks again.

 

[Poison_Us]

Spot on, Surfaceone. This is a sect of poisons we dont dabble in. Not because of nature of the content, just the bottles are usually pretty bland in design, except for a select few. So I couldnt give you a value or a rarity level...but I will see if I can get and ID of it..

...some time passes...

Well, it appears to be a KZ-12. Now, we don't trust these 2 parts of the book as it's out of date, but it's listed as rare, & worth around $30 - $50. Now take those with a grain of salt. Nobody goes by this info. And the KZ collectors are a smaller subset of poison collectors. So the demand is relatively low, so that keeps the price down, rare or not. So who knows, the price may be in the ballpark. I only know one member of the club who deals mostly with the KZs, I could ask him what he thinks of these.

 

[mctaggart67]

Poison_Us, I kind of thought that about embalming fluids with US collectors because the case is the same up here in Canada. Thanks.