cannibalfromhannibal
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According to Fike's "The Bottle Book", he lists Billings & Clapp as est. in 1872 with a Charles E Billings and Albion Clapp. He states Billings worked for J R Nichols & Co, which were operating from 1857 to '72. A labeled bottle of theirs stated ..."successors to Jas. R Nichols & Co." Also from Digger Odells Pontiled Medicine book, he lists one that seems to resemble your variant, though no picture or description to confirm. He is usually good about describing inset panels which he does not mention, so I suspect this is the same as yours. Oddly, the one in Odell's book has a label reading, "Extract For Sarsaparilla Beer John T. Billing, Lowell, Ma." Understood they reused their own and sometimes competitors bottles to slap a label over the embossing to sell an entirely different product than the original embossed product. That said, it does look like a different druggist from Lowell than the one with Clapp in later years, suggesting it might be in fewer numbers with a smaller concern, = more scarcity? Also, Billings & Clapp Billings had an "S" at the end of his name, John T apparently did not.......Jack
