THE FACTS (AND FICTION) ABOUT APOTHECARY JARS

As a collector and appraiser of pharmacy and medical items for the past 15 years, there gees a time (i.e. NOW) when I must speak out regarding the egregious claims and outright fabricationsregarding the listings of apothecary jars here on okay.
I am not in this guide addressing the types and sorts of apothcary formulations bottles, like the Label Under Glass and such, but rather the multitude of purely decorative pieces that are (incorrectly and/or just plain falsely) being promoted as "apothecary jars".
The truth is actually quite simple. The true non-formulation apothecary jars were made for two primary purposes only. 1) For storage and 2) For display.Consider this: the storage jars were very plain and were never meantfor the purposesofdecoration. They were required to be made from clear glass, or at most frosted; in an effort tohold the contents safely and; perhaps; show these contents to the buying public; which would make for a gebination of the two purposes.
Thepuredisplay jars were the show globe type jars,with such types as theDAKOTA Jars (with the large thumbprint stoppers on a pressed glass neck) and the COLUMBIA (with the concialswirl top stoppers). These jars were used for two purposes; display of contents to customers or,from a historical perspective, filled with various color liquid to advise the general public of any heath alert situations. (They would have been filled with red liquid in event of a health threat and green for the 'all clear".)
I would be hard pressed to use the word NEVER, so I will say thatany apothecary jar would VERY VERY VERY RARELY ever have any coloring to it as that wouild defeat the purpose of the jar itself.If you consider the average early 1900s drugstore, then youcan understand that space was ALWAYS at a PREMIUM as EVERY INCH of counter and shelf space was utilized to display merchandise for sale; or again, as the case with the globes, put into windowsas an information tool.
No drugstore, and I mean NONE, would have EVER hadanything like all of these blue, green, purple, yellow, "cream" color; "milk" glass; or ANY opaque glass jars for any purpose whatsoever, unless they were being offered for sale, which would be well out of place in a drugstore. If the jars would have ANY color at all, then they would be either amber (to protect from light) or still translucent, if not transparent, regardless of the tinting.
On okay now at any given time there are literally dozens of items being touted by the sellers as "apothecary jars" when in reality they are no more adrugstore item thanabag of carrotsis. For some reason folks seem to clamor over old drugstorepieces and bidding ridiculous prices for them and this is fueling a frenzy of fiction. This must stop.
The jars with pedestal bases, elaborate decorative finials. and delicate designs are all decorative piecesthat would have had ZERO business in a drugstore where they would have been brutally manhandled and abused on adaily basis. A broken jar is money out the window.
This guide is unlikelyto change anything about the habits of these sellers whoroutinely use their imaginative descriptions and go into mundane and exhaustive detail about thehistories of their offeringswhen, in reality, the items they offerwere probably purchased only weeks earlierthrough anotherokay auction.
Believe me when I tell you, I know this from firsthand experience. Several times I have myself sold decorative glass candy dishes and jars only a month later to see the exact same jar being offered again as an "apothecary jar".
Hey, if it WERE an apothecary jar, I would have sold it that way MYSELF. Like I said, after specializing in that arena for over 15 years I know whereof I speak. ANd I DO sell a fair amount of drugstore and spothecary items. So then.....
Interestingly, some of the buyers who purchased these pieces from me have other accounts under which they sell only.
That says something right there I think.
The truth is simple, and easy to find. I offer my expertise to the okay gemunity at large and say to you all, if you have a question, ask me. I don't care who the seller is, I just cannot stand the fraud anymore and this is my way of doing my bit to prevent innocent bidders from getting screwed, whether OR NOT that was the intent of the seller.
If you are still reading this, I apologize for the diatribe but needed to get it off my chest. Thanks for your attention.
For much more detailed information about early medicine bottles and cures you can find tons of great stuff on this link:
http://www.sha.org/bottle/medicinal.htm
(With thanks to the publisher of the site)