Williams Royal Crown Remedy

dw3000 · Aug 15, 2012

I posted this in general chat about bottles, but thought I would post here as well.

I have this Williams Royal Crown Remedy and Bitters bottle. Anyone heard of it?

Still full with original contents. Original paper labels and box. One label in English, one in German (I think). The box is in pretty rough shape. I was told this came out of a drug store basement and was never opened, so I guess this is as close to "mint" as they come.

I think its neat that the bottle has never been opened, but I'm not a fan of full bottles. In this case, the brown liquid really obscures the embossing. Is a bottle like this more collectable/valuable with the original contents or should I dump it?

Here's a link to some additional photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85037248@N05/7791018236/in/photostream/

cannibalfromhannibal · Aug 15, 2012

I'm with you and would dump it in a heartbeat. It looks nasty, as you say obscures the embossing, plus often times these concoctions become toxic or poisionous over time. If you do dump it, avoid dumping where it can cause contamination to water source or where pets can make contact with it. Jack

dw3000 · Aug 16, 2012

RE: William's Royal Crown Remedy

Contents safely disposed of. Looks much better. I found out William's Royal Crown Remedy was made in London, Ontario. Searched the web and found this lengthy advertisement in the London Free Press from around 1891, which extols this miraculous remedy. Interesting read. Here's the link: http://archive.org/stream/cihm_01603#page/1/mode/2up

mctaggart67 · Aug 16, 2012

RE: William's Royal Crown Remedy

I'm pretty sure I sourced my Williams boxed bottle from the same place as you did. Barrie Antiques Centre? I also purchased some advertising material for the concoction as well. These are very intriguing bottles, in that they come from a seemingly fly-by-night operation. Williams certainly puffed his medicine with flashy promotion, and then he just disappears. I don't know if he died, fell ill, went bankrupt, absconded, or moved to parts unknown. Anyhow, glad some his bottles have survived.

mctaggart67 · Aug 16, 2012

RE: William's Royal Crown Remedy

By the way, Ontario pharmacists have a code of professional conduct, and part of that code is to dispose of old medicines safely gratis. Although I've had some contents dumped by a local pharmacist, my impression is that they don't quite have the same respect for antique bottles the way collectors do, meaning the bottles were handled "roughly."

dw3000 · Aug 16, 2012

RE: William's Royal Crown Remedy

Actually I got mine from a place in Fergus. Apparently the bottle came out of a pharmacy in Harriston.

mctaggart67 · Aug 16, 2012

RE: William's Royal Crown Remedy

Now that's pretty interesting about Fergus. My hunch is that someone's found a stash -- a crateful maybe -- of these suckers and has sold them to various parties hither and thither. Doesn't reduce the value or really affect the rarity, though.

dw3000 · Aug 16, 2012

RE: William's Royal Crown Remedy

Yeah, I bet a bunch of these came out of the basement of that pharmacy. Got to wonder what was down there. The guy I got it from said he had a few of these bottles. Kept one for himself and sold the others. I got the last one.

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