Collecting OLD bottles

Long ago, before I really had considered Pharmacy as a career, my dad and I took up bottle collecting as a "hobby". (I think I was the only one of the kids interested.). He found the sites and I went with him to dig. They were really old garbage dumps but after 50 years or so everything has rotted except for glass. It was like treasure hunting and we found a lot of OLD bottles. I tell MY kids that is what they will inherit. I really liked finding a bottle with a label which was REALLY rare. (The ones in boxes are from old stores I've worked in - I did not dig those up!). The most valuable bottle I have (I think) is a brown Pepsi Cola bottle. But my most prized bottles are the drug store/medicinal bottles. That long thin bottle is a tinc. of opium bottle from the turn of the century era. They are fairly common. In fact the brown bottle on the top shelf, to the far left with the label, contains tinc. of opium as well. It was a common

ingredient in many medicines.

Lydia Pinkham's Curative Syrup for Women's ailments

contained it. It was a best seller. Many baby's teething

syrups contained it (or cocaine).Coca-cola originally

contained cocaine (hence the name). When the Food

and Drug laws were pasted all those wonderful

old medicines were taken off the market.

Listerine is about the only product to survive.

(It's okay...really!). Now, many of them like

Dr. Thatcher's, were variations of laxatives

to clean the blood by cleaning the ...oh never

mind...

I have to wonder what was in the many

"eye water" bottles I have.

I now have all of daddy's bottles too.

I'll have to take some photos

of them and post as well...

Pax