Druggist bottles

[hemihampton]

I have gotten most of mine from digging Privies. Probably 100+ of them. Including Pharmacy & Medicine Bottles. to me all 3 the same? LEON.

 

[Screwtop]

I have gotten most of mine from digging Privies. Probably 100+ of them. Including Pharmacy & Medicine Bottles. to me all 3 the same? LEON.

To me, it's a druggist bottle if it says Druggist on it, although technically you can call a druggist bottle a pharmacy bottle.

 

[RCO]

It changes a lot when you get into more rural areas like yours, since there wouldn't have been many embossed druggist bottles used out there in the first place and it wasn't common for them to end up far from their home city (although it did happen of course, especially in towns along major passenger railway routes). If you head down to the Ottawa Valley and presumably Southern Ontario as well you're going to encounter far more of them.

there is more druggist bottles in other parts of Ontario , obviously Toronto has a lot but is embossed bottles from most other larger towns and cities if they were large enough to have druggists going back to the 1880's

I know the Ontario druggist book lists 100's and 100's of them from Ontario but I've only so far seen bottles from a tiny % of them

 

[CanadianBottles]

there is more druggist bottles in other parts of Ontario , obviously Toronto has a lot but is embossed bottles from most other larger towns and cities if they were large enough to have druggists going back to the 1880's

I know the Ontario druggist book lists 100's and 100's of them from Ontario but I've only so far seen bottles from a tiny % of them

Yeah that's what I would expect, really only a tiny fraction of druggists used their own embossed bottles. It was an expense that I'm sure many didn't think was justified.

 

[UncleBruce]

I have gotten most of mine from digging Privies. Probably 100+ of them. Including Pharmacy & Medicine Bottles. to me all 3 the same? LEON.

To me, it's a druggist bottle if it says Druggist on it, although technically you can call a druggist bottle a pharmacy bottle.

I believe the terms are all interchangeable. The style of bottle likely would have all contained medications of a sort. They probably would only refill their own bottles ergo the embossed identifications. Probably like today all of the potions/prescriptions could be only obtained through a pharmacy/drug store. It makes me think of apples. Many varieties, even colors, but they are all apples.

 

[Screwtop]

I have felt that the collecting of Drug Store bottles is a wide open field. Most collectors are only looking for their local examples, colored glass, pictorial bottles, etc. etc. Many super examples can be found for less than $20. While I don't really collect them when I find them cheap I usually buy them. You can literally amass a collection in the thousands if you pursue it with no limits. Message me your address and I will send you a couple.

You sure?

 

[UncleBruce]

You sure?

You bet!

 

[mctaggart67]

I collect cross-Canada BIM drugstore (prescription) bottles. Good points made on all sides about collecting these fellows. Yes, it's not difficult to amass a big collection. On the other hand, like all categories, those who pay attention to the category have, surprise (not), a better view of rarity, etc. However, numbers can grow exponentially in this categoyry, so I limit myself to excellent or better condition (pretty much non-dug) and to one example per druggist/company. I'll make exceptions, of course, for age, colour, odd embossing, and good story. As to story, I do a ton of research into the people behind these bottles. I suppose many kill their time with social media, while I kill time with hobbby nerd stuff! Still, it's pretty cool to own a couple of prescription bottles very likely touched by the same doctor who examined Louis Riel. Good Canadians better know what that means. Curious, thoughtful Americans (the majority I've met are these) will appreciate that my bottle is sort of the equivalent of a bottle from a druggist-physician who treated a rebellion leader hanged pretty much for political reasons at the hand of a president, among others.

 

[CanadianBottles]

I collect cross-Canada BIM drugstore (prescription) bottles. Good points made on all sides about collecting these fellows. Yes, it's not difficult to amass a big collection. On the other hand, like all categories, those who pay attention to the category have, surprise (not), a better view of rarity, etc. However, numbers can grow exponentially in this categoyry, so I limit myself to excellent or better condition (pretty much non-dug) and to one example per druggist/company. I'll make exceptions, of course, for age, colour, odd embossing, and good story. As to story, I do a ton of research into the people behind these bottles. I suppose many kill their time with social media, while I kill time with hobbby nerd stuff! Still, it's pretty cool to own a couple of prescription bottles very likely touched by the same doctor who examined Louis Riel. Good Canadians better know what that means. Curious, thoughtful Americans (the majority I've met are these) will appreciate that my bottle is sort of the equivalent of a bottle from a druggist-physician who treated a rebellion leader hanged pretty much for political reasons at the hand of a president, among others.

That's really cool to have bottles with a connection to Louis Riel like that. Which druggist? To me personally it would be a lot more special to find something connected to Riel than something connected to a former prime minister. I should look into the histories of the druggists behind the local bottles I have, a few of them I've looked into and never been able to find much information but some I've never gotten around to researching.

 

[nhpharm]

I collect New Hampshire pharmacy bottles and have gotten nearly 2000 different embossed ones in 30 years or so (including variations and different sizes)...and I suspect given time I will probably get quite a number more. They are typically reasonably priced and the collection is not beautiful but does contain a lot of small town history. I have a huge apothecary cabinet with drawers and 95% of them are in this tucked away by town...it's sorta l