Hop-Cel Nerve Blood & Brain Tonic

[LaidBackJack]

I store my larger bottles in those liqour store boxes with the 12 cardboard compartments, They're safe & the boxes stack well...and one room has become loaded with them. After a while, I forget what is where...and sometimes it's a real treat to open a box I haven't seen in a long while, & get re-acquanted with bottles I've almost forgotten I even had. This happened the other day, and I found this one, which I got years ago, & never had any luck finding anything out about. It's tooled, 9" tall, and a beautiful red amber, with a darker red shading where the glass is thicker. Shot through with bubbles of all sizes. Real sharp embossing on both sides.... "Hop-Cel Company San Francisco" and "Nerve Blood & Brain Tonic". I've never learned anything about it, anyone ever seen or heard of this brand before? I've left it out to grace a window display for a while, before I put it back in storage I thought I'd take another shot at trying to find something out about it.

 

[bearswede]

Hey Jack...

It's listed in the '99 Kovel's under "Tonics", page 234... $55...

That's all I've found out so far...

Ron

 

[LaidBackJack]

Ron, thanks I guess I missed that year Kovel's. I assume that a "tonic" would have a significant alcohol content...for medicinal purposes only of course. You really have to wonder if all those old bitters, tonics & cures didn't just taste like #@!$%#! .....I've never seen any review of what they tasted like. $55 sounds OK to me, figured it must be worth something being so hard to find.

 

[BRIAN S.]

Hi Laidback,
My auction report says 55.00 also. If you would like some more info on your Tonic ....you can visit Bill's website and drop him a line. He is the upmost authority on Tonics. http://webpages.charter.net/blindsey8952/index.htm Brian

 

[LaidBackJack]

Thanks Brian. Well, mine is apparently a different variant than what he lists. Mine is 9" and his is 10-3/4". I sent him a pic & description, maybe he'll get back & tell me mine is a previously unknown, one-of-a-kind variation worth $500! Just kidding.

 

[medbottle]

Hiya LaidBackJack. I have some more info on this bottle for you. The stuff was made by the Hop-Cel Co. in Watsonville CA. At some point I believe they moved their operation to Alameda Ca, because the label has "Watsonville" crossed out with "Alameda" stamped above it. The tonic was a non-alcoholic syrup, meant to be mixed with "hot, cold, or carbonated water". It was composed of hops, malt, celery, pepsin, phosphates, and tonic and aromatic barks. Recommended for mental and physical exhaustion, wakefulness, nervousness, impaired vitality, indigestion and all stomach kidney and liver troubles. The undiluted syrup was taken as an expectorant. Yummy!