DAVIS VEGETABLE PAINKILLER, Post-Civil War Era bottle, near perfect condition For Sale

In 1840, a very ill Perry Davis mixed opiates,ethyl alcohol, and herbs into an elixir that he said made him feel better, and thePerry Davis’ Vegetable Painkiller was born.

His on-foot, door-to-door sales grewrapidly so he patented the “medicine” in 1845, and was on his was to producing one of thefirst successful patent medicines of the 19th Century, moving hisfamily and the manufacturing to Pond Street In Providence, Rhode Island.

A self-proclaimed man of letters, “Dr.Davis” was a devout Baptist and, interestingly, a lifelong temperance advocate,yet he sent free cases of his "medicine" to Baptist missions aroundthe world. Probably one of the major reasons his miracle medicine was so popularwas unlike other “cures” he did not address a specific ailment, but promised freedomfrom pain, any pain! Davis was generous beyond his free contributions, and in1850 gave $36,000 for a new Baptist Church (over 1.3 million dollars today) inProvidence. At the time of Davis' death in 1862, during the Civil War, his Painkillerwas seen as so crucial to the Union Army that they took control of the Davis factoryon Pond Street.

First packaged in a round aqua glassbottle, the style changed in 1867 to an octagonal panel bottle with the name DAVISon the recessed front panel and VEGETABLEand PAINKILLER embossed vertically on opposite side panels, as is the bottle Iam showing today.

While there are several DAVIS bottlesavailable online, they are mostly later versions of this bottle, many with a screwtop, produced by machines in the 1920-40time period. This vintage bottle is a classic post-Civil War era, light blueaqua, 6 inches tall and 1.75 inches wide, in near-perfect condition, clean andfree of cracks or chips, and is from the 1870-1880 period.

As always with vintagepapa, carefully wrappedand promptly mailed by USPS Priority. Thank you for looking!