Page 27 - BBR magazine 140 - 30yrs issue

by John Ault
Well, that's what I thought when I saw
this superb condition giant 40oz hexagonal poison sitting amongst a load of bland chemist bottles in a certain auction house (1). I’d never seen an example in
this large form and size before, or with double raised embossed
plaques (2), 24 hours of chewed fingernails later I was the chuffed owner - after
laying out comparatively little money.
Apart from the Corbin-type of top the fully ribbed sides & label panel follows the earlier Toogood/ Savory/ Barker bottles exactly (3 & 4). In 'Deadly Pleasures' it states this style of moulding forms part of the 1859 patent number 215 (my pontilled example shown photo 5), the other part covered a bottle with a constricted neck for dispensing drops which was mentioned in an advert of the period (6). These
are incredibly rare bottles, one of which now resides in the Wellcome Medical Collection together
with another pharmacy type for dispensing powders which is also mentioned in the advert (7).
As for my bottle, there is a later looking
smaller size brown glass example known
that's similar in style to my cobalt, but 5 doesn't have the extra 'Not To Be Taken'
arched plaque, or the distinctive crude
manufacture. It was almost certainly
a chemist shop or hospital pharmacy bottle,
there's a fair amount of base wear,
and has a ground glass stopper closure
pointing to it being a bulk container for
dispensing dangerous/ corrosive fluids. The
only problem I have now is it won't fit in my
cabinet - but that's a headache I can live
with!
Appeasement Alan Wilmot August 12 1938 - April 12 2014
The first 8 years of our marriage were spent without bottles.
We had plenty of room in the house, peacefully perused our hobbies of reading, music, going to the pub, wandering for miles looking for fruit, berries and flowers for Al’s winemaking, and occasional trips on steam hauled trains - Al had a life long interest in model and steam railways, and vintage vehicles.
However, 30 years ago, having bought a sick codd and some blue poisons from a flea market stall, the collecting bug struck with a vengeance.
Not having a car then, we would walk miles to village Antique Fairs, looking for tips, going by bus, or train, to bottle shows.
Al’s enthusiasm grew with each passing year and life became a whirl of digging, researching, buying, selling, swapping, discussing - and gloating over new aquisitions.
There is no room in the house now. Every nook and cranny, cupboard and windowsill is loaded up with bottles, flagons, syphons, trays, jugs, mirrors and adverts which we have had the most wonderful time collecting, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
It will be the hardest thing I have ever done to continue without Al, my best friend, soulmate and collecting partner, but I promised him I would “keep the flag flying”, and I will, and hope I can make him
Lynne Wilmot
proud of me.
27
Too Good to be true? 1
2
3&4
6
7