Pontiled Labled Poison

[photolitherland]

Ive had this bottle for a long time and have never known if it is legit or not.

I want to know if the lables were originally on the bottle or did someone come along and paste them on there to make the bottle more valuable and also how old is this bottle? Its the only pontiled bottled I have. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[marjorie040]

Hello photolitherland,

George Schools was born in Lebanon, Pa in Dec. of 1858
He lived most of his life at 367 Ninth Street in Lebanon with his brother and 2 sisters. Neither he nor his siblings ever married.

By 1880 he was listed in the Federal Census as an "apothacary clerk".
There is no census for 1890

In 1900 and 1910 he was a "druggist" and had no occupation listed in 1920 or 1930 This may help you date your bottle.
Your bottle looks legitimate to me and it's a great bottle!

Regards,

 

[photolitherland]

Thanks so much, thats really interesting, I wouldnt think this would be form the 1880s though since its pontiled. I was thinking it was more like form the 1850s but thats impossible I guess.
How did you find that info out? Ive been looking for stuff about this bottle on google but havent found anything.

 

[GuntherHess]

The labels seem correct. 1880s seems possible. The red label may have been added on a bit later than the first one as an extra warning.

 

[Poison_Us]

Seems legit to me. The bottle itself isn't considered a poison bottle as it has no embossing stating such. It has the typical shape of chemists bottles, which usually don't have embossing. Labels definitely show good aging and are in great condition.

 

[kungfufighter]

Looks good to me too...

 

[saratogadriver]

I think your confusion is in thinking the label is newer than the bottle, and hence the question of whether it's legit? I would say the label is definitely newer than the bottle, which does not affect whether it is legit one iota. Looks like the label is from around 1900 based on the research by others above, and I'd say the bottle is 1850, perhaps a bit older even.

Apothocaries, particularly small town ones, frequently reused bottles. Bottles were a not always common and certainly expensive commodity until the advent of the automatic bottle machine. Local pharmacists would encourage their clientele to bring in bottles for reuse.

One of the best examples of this I have ever seen was a US Army Hospital Dept bottle with either a Barre or Montpelier VT druggist label. I think Kungfufighter sold that one a number of years ago. A beautiful bottle, quite old and collectible, with a local pharmacist label, both being absolutely genuine.

There is one caveat to this though, and that is the label which is pasted on in the 20th century. Chapman Pharmacy in Fairlee VT is a prime example of this. There are tons of bottles floating around with those labels on them. The market has been flooded, and it's pretty obvious that someone has been pasting them onto slicks to make a $.

Your bottle looks like the real deal to me.

Jim G

 

[marjorie040]

Hello again, photo...

I am particularly interested in the "stories" behind the bottles and genealogy is also a hobby.
I obtained the information on Ancestry.com where I do my genealogy research

Regards,

 

[photolitherland]

Wow, thanks everyone for all the help. I knew the bottle was very old, probably 1840s but yes, I was confused about the lables, didnt know they reused bottles like that. This probably just became one of the best bottles in my collection.

 

[Clam]

I would have to agree that this bottle was reused by the druggest based on the comments that have already been made and one other one, and that is the fact that it was ground to fit a glass stopper that has been replaced with a cork. I am sure that this was a pretty common practice back in the day......