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A Spectacularly Crude Louisville Patent-Medicine Bottle
Offered here is an outstanding aqua JOHN J. SMITH / LOUISVILLE, KY. medicine bottle, made for the celebrated John J. Smith’s Tonic Syrup and blown locally by the Kentucky Glass Works Company of Louisville.
The base is boldly embossed KY. G. W. CO., identifying the glasshouse that produced it. Kentucky Glass Works Company operated from 1879 until approximately April 1887, firmly dating this example to the early 1880s—most likely circa 1880–1885.
John J. Smith’s Tonic Syrup was an extensively advertised Louisville patent medicine. Period advertisements stated that Dr. John Bull possessed the exclusive right to manufacture and sell the original formula. Buyers were warned to look for Bull’s private stamp because competing and counterfeit preparations were already appearing in the marketplace. The tonic was marketed principally for fever-and-ague complaints and as an alternative to quinine.
What truly separates this bottle from an ordinary example is its spectacularly primitive glass:
- Extremely heavy orange-peel and hammered surface texture
- Abundant seed bubbles throughout
- Dark mineral and furnace impurities suspended in the neck
- Twisted flow lines and dramatic glass striations
- Thick, crudely applied and hand-finished top
- Strong front embossing
- Circular KY. G. W. CO. glasshouse mark on the base
- Rich blue-green aqua coloration
The bottle measures approximately 6 1/8 inches tall by 2 1/8 inches wide.
It remains in excellent condition with no chips, no cracks, no haze and no notable scratching. Bright, clean and shiny, with all the crude glassmaking character collectors hope to find but seldom encounter this dramatically.
A wonderful Kentucky patent-medicine bottle combining a known product, documented Louisville glasshouse, unusually tight production date and positively outrageous hand-blown character.
