Early Hair Restorer dug at work

[PhilaJDH]

Had a nice surprise at work yesterday when I dug this old hair restorer bottle out of one of the trail treads. I was hiking to a work site when I noticed some dumpish material on the trail and the adjacent hillside. I slowed my pace while I was passing the area and notice a tiny bit of glass in the trail, probably the size of a tic tac. I'm surprised I saw it actually, the sun must of hit it just right so it shined up. I bent down and picked a little soil away and found that what I thought was a small shard of glass was actually the top half of a bottle, neck and top intact. I happen to be carrying a shovel so I used to it carefully scoop the dirt away and reveal a entirely intact bottle. Did some quick research last night and found that this might be a less common variant of this bottle. There were several listings for that, mostly between $5 and $10. But I didn't see anything on eBay that matched mine. Did find it here though. Seems promising. Would love to know how much it sold for. Anyway, that's a lot of typing. Pics!

 

[PhilaJDH]

Here are a few more photos. Difficult to see the color, but it seems to match Jeff and Holly's description of apricot puce, though mine may be darker.

 

[digger dun]

what a great way to start the day!

 

[ScottBSA]

Color is really important. Can you take a picture of the bottle with light shining through it? If the bottle has a purpley hue to it, you have found a real winner. Great accidental find regardless of color. There's probably more stuff close by. Scott

 

[sunrunner]

from what I see , you got it. exhalent .

 

[2find4me]

Wow what a find! That is definitely the older variant, looks to be in good shape as well. Could be as early as 1865. If you get a chance, go back and look around for more! That looks to be the deep puce LINK.I do not have an account but here is a very dark colored example: worthpoint.

 

[Bass Assassin]

That's a great find. Look around for more

 

[CazDigger]

Great bottle I would say $500+ if in perfect condition. DEF. go back and see what else might be there!

 

[tigue710]

awesome! Great find. The cheaper ones are in amber, thats a really good color there

 

[cannibalfromhannibal]

A quick check on a price listing showed 14 examples sold from a high of $898 & $840 to a low of $190. I ignored all from the last century and came up with some interesting ranges. Simplest one was the top 6 on the list all were sold in 2004 or more recently. The top 2 were sold in 04, and in 2011 & 2009 2 sold for $750. In 05 & 09 2 sold for $728 & $700 respectively. 2 more from 06 05 sold in the mid $300 range while 2 in 2000 & 07 sold for $275 & the low, $190. They all listed in different descriptive color variants from black amethyst to copper, strawberry & apricot puce shades! These were all sold through major bottle auction houses so you could add another 20-25% to the sold price as that is the average buyers premium added to the hammer price. Therefore, I would say $700ish would be a good guesstimate, but priceless if in my collection! Jack