Montana Pharmacy

[westKYdigger]

Its surprising what shows up sometimes. Found this in a Mississippi antique mall. Can only find one reference, dated 1918.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

I like it. But what does the base say?

 

[westKYdigger]

It is blurry, but either WDN Co or WBM CO. If it's WBM, it is most likely Western Bottle Manufacturing of Chicago. It is in the same date range, 1901 - 1920 as the newspaper reference I found for the pharmacy.

 

[sunrunner]

great pharmacy , and from Montana!

 

[Lordbud]

Beautiful condition, looks like it was never buried. I've seen Montana druggist bottles on ebay go from unbid up to quite a pretty penny depending on the town/rarity. I wish there were more than 2 or 3 Western collectors on this forum. Be nice to have someone with Montana-specific knowledge of old bottles. I check the other Western Bottle blogs and there are barely any posts. Maybe one post a week on Western Bottle News. Less on Western Whiskey Gazette...Bottle Collectors page on Facebook consists of 99% Eastern-related posts. I love reading about everyone's finds and digging stories, but where are the Western bottle collectors online these days?

 

[botlguy]

Here's one (ME) but it seems that many of you ignore most of my posts. Not complaining, heck, I don't read my c**p either.[8D] However, I have 50 years of Western Bottle experience. Also we have LordBud, DANSALATA, & (forgive my senior moment) at least one other whom I respect muchly.This bottle is not particularly rare and the size is on the small side but Montana stuff is pretty popular. I just returned from Helena, Montana a few hours ago, (5 1/2 hour drive) where I attended a wonderful insulator swap / tailgater. If you would like to trade it for something I have I'm willing because I can use it to trade for something I want, I know lots of Montana collectors. In my opinion, it's worth in the $25 - $30 range and I would be willing to trade in that range. Jim, from the woods of northern Idaho.

 

[westKYdigger]

Thanks for the responses. Jim, I will consider a trade at that value, but I don't collect western items, unless it's western Kentucky.[] I do like early meds, flasks & infant feeders. Am I right about the time frame for this pharmacy, around 1918?Tim

 

[botlguy]

I am in no way an expert at dating pharmacy bottles but this one looks to be from after 1900 but perhaps not as late as 1918. Regardless, it's quite collectible and I know it would be a good trader for me. If I never got rid of it that would be fine also. I'll email you a list of traders and then pictures if interested. I'm pretty sure I don't have any Kentucky bottles other than some newly emptied Bourbon bottles. We'll see. JimBTW, I am also quite interested in acquiring a 1/2 ounce pharmacy bottle from Kentucky, I don't think I have one in the collection yet. Trying for 48 or 50 states.

 

[cowseatmaize]

The plaque on the door says 1906 to the mid 30's ... the company, not the bottle.

 

[andy volkerts]

As the top appears to be tooled and not machine made, I would date it to about 1907-10, and if it the Chicago co, I would think right at 1906, as the bigger city glasshouses had abm machines after that date for the most part. As for rarity, it depends mostly on the town. BUT Montana bottles are sought after along with Idaho and Colorado, especially if they are territory bottles, before statehood...........Andy