This week I’ll finish off my finds from the last bottle club
meeting. A Mason B. Wood Druggist Watchemoket, RI was my next find. Watchemoket was a small town that later
became part of East Providence. The shape is pretty appealing; it is round with a flat front. This style was patented by the Whitall Tatum Co. This cute druggist bottle was listed, but not in
this size (3-1/2”).
Another highlight of the collection selloff was an A.J. Hopkins & Son Improved Magic
Healing Powder Providence, RI. As far as I know, it’s
been close to two decades since one of these has surfaced. Since the picture on the LRBC website is
black and white, there is a small possibility that the bottle was aqua like
mine, even though it looks and is listed as clear.
This entry is a particularly rewarding one. The origins of this bottle go back 10
years. I bought my Denham’s Homeopathic Pharmacy bottle as a kid with a bunch of other
bottles. When I got older I tried to
research it online. I didn’t get a
single hit. I figured it was probably
out of state and put it back in my display.
Well last week I tried my new and improved search. I found a Henry J. Denham. To my great surprise I found an article
stating that he opened a homeopathic pharmacy in Providence in 1875! A few more articles further backed up this theory. That makes this bottle quite the rare find.
One of the dark horse categories in RI bottle collecting is
seltzer bottles. A few are scattered
throughout the online listing, but there is probably close to 100 different
companies out there. I usually don’t bid
on them because they can sell fairly high and the shipping is absurd, but when
a few came up for sale within driving distance, I chanced it. My favorite out of the four I won was a nice
early E.P. Anthony Mineral Waters
Providence, RI. As one of the most
successful pharmacists in Providence,
he must have had a soda fountain in his pharmacy which often featured seltzer
bottles. This early (circa 1910s)
example is significant because it links a pharmacist to the beverage industry.
My newest ebay find was a nice Hazard Hazard & Co. Chemists NY & Newport medicine
bottle. An unlisted square style, I have
one size already, and now I can add this 5” size to make a pair! The Hazard Hazard name was the second newest incarnation of this company, lasting from about 1887-1893.
