Page 44 - Autumn Extravaganza Sunday 3rd October

197. STAPLESS DAFFY ELIXIR BOTTLE. 5 ins tall. Faintly impressed letters ‘STAPLESS / DAFFY’S / Faintly impressed
letters STAPLESS / DAFFYS / ELIXIR within a dotted tippexed outer frame, the indistinct letters themselves highlighted
similarly with dots. Cross hinge moulded, double collar lip. To the rear are very indistinct three lines of additional text - possibly
including the word LONDON. Only three, now four, of these faintly impressed bottles are known. Robert Staples (died 1755) and his
son Alexander both sold the Elixir Salutis or Daffys Elixir. Robert
is first linked to Daffys Elixir in 1735 (in the biography of Thomas Gent) as - the celebrated disposer of Dr. Daffys Elixir. Alexander is probably the person who used this bottle with its curious pimple method of embossing. Another example also had a faint crest below the name with TRUE/ DAFFYS/ ELIXIR //[p]//[p]//[p]// see
that/ STAPLES/ is on the/ STAMP/ [indistinct crest] //[p]//[p]//[p]// (Silcock Collection, BBR Auction 2uly 2010, lot 160). The crest
appears to be the same as that used in Dicey & Okell adverts of the late 1780s. Some adverts for Daffys actually picture
a bottle of this shape. Without a doubt this rates as one of the finest and most significant example yet found. Glass
whittled, all super crude, base pontil - just a stunning early Georgian survivor! No damages. 9/10. NR.
£1,500-2,000+