Warner’s Safe Cure: Battle of Tippecanoe

As a Warner’s collector, the name Tippecanoe is instantly familiar to me as the brand name selected by H. H. Warner to replace his original bitters line.  But where did the name come from?  I was familiar with the Battle of Tippecanoe, but was not clear about its significance in American history.

It seems that on November 7,  1811, forces under the command of native Virginian William Henry Harrison, then the Governor of Indiana Territory engaged a force of Tecumseh’s American Indian Confederation under the command of Tecumseh’s brother, Tenskwatawa. The battle occurred at the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers near Prophet’s Town, north of present-day Lafayette, Indiana.

Harrison, fearing the increasing strength of Tecumseh’s confederacy, launched a preemptive strike with a force of 1100 men. The ensuing battle lasted about two hours and the forces under Harrison claimed victory when Tenskwatawa’s forces fled and their village was destroyed. Some view the Battle of Tippecanoe as a draw, but it improved the safety of white settlements in Indiana Territory and caused Tecumseh’s confederation to disband. Harrison was haled as a hero and the name Tippecanoe followed him into politics and ultimately into the White House, when he was elected president in 1840. He holds the dubious distinction of having the shortest term as president – 31 days. It seems that as a result of his long winded inaugeral address in the rain, he developed pneumonia and died.

The Warner trade card pictured above attempts to depict the famous battle. Presumably Harrison is the guy on the horse with his sabre drawn. The message reads “After once using our Tippecanoe – You will use no nostrums nor preparations called Bitters.”  I guess that taking Warner’s Tippecanoe gave you the strength to take on a band of marauding indians. It was clearly an attempt by Warner to move away from the term bitters, although the content of the preparation was doubtless the same.

Oh, by the way, the name Tippecanoe is an anglicized version of the Miami word “Kethtippecanoogi” and means “place of the succor fish people.”  The county in which Lafayette, Indiana is located in named Tippecanoe and is the home of Purdue University.

And that, in the immortal words of Paul Harvey, is the rest of the story. Thanks to Glassworks Auction for the photo of the Tippecanoe bottle.

You can find additional information on the Battle of Tippecanoe at: http://survey.fold3.com/email/email887878f2954f493da3e6b92d002dc6b8.html

Warner’s Safe Cure: Slug Plates

From time to time, you will hear bottle collectors refer to the term “slug plate” in their description of a particular bottle, usually one that is BIMAL (“blown in mold applied lip”). In his Glossary of Antique Bottle Terms, Reggie Lynch defines a slug plate as a “metal plate inserted into a bottle mold to provide product specific info to an otherwise generic mold. Also refers to the mark left on a bottle by such a plate.” Slug plates were fairly extensively used by bottle manufacturers probably as a cost saving measure to allow them to customize a particular bottle for a patron without having to create an entirely new mold.

Slug plate marks turns up on a variety of Warner’s Safe bottles beginning with Warner’s intial offerings, which were manufactured for him by the Chambers Works in Pittsburg. See Warner’s Safe Cure: The Early Bottles and Warner’s Safe Cure: Bitters. Warner’s early bottles featured, among other things, a full slug plate. Apparently, when Warner ordered a particular type of bottle, whether it be his Safe Kidney & LIver Cure or his Safe Bitters, the Chambers Works simply put that particular slug plate in the generic mold and turned out whatever quantity was ordered. The imprint of the full slug plate is obvious on the face of the bottle and serves to mark it as one of his early variants valued by collectors.

If you think the slug plates were limited to Warner’s early Rochester bottles, you would be wrong. Although the full slug appears unique to the early bottles, Warner and those from whom he purchased his bottles, used slugs in later bottles. It appears that those slugs served two principal purposes, they allowed Warner to alter that name of a particular product contained in a bottle (e.g. Nervine for Safe Cure) and to alter the foreign office using the mold (e.g. Frankfurt for London). As was mentioned earlier, the bottles for the Melbourne office were initially manufactured in the United States and shipped to Australia given the primitive state of bottle manufacturing at that time. A couple of examples that demonstrate Warner’s use of slug plates in this fashion are the Frankfurt half pint Nervine, which was clearly slugged from the mold of the London half pint and bears the rectangular slug mark to prove it. Another is the early Melbourne bottles which show that the word “Melbourne” is slug plated in, probably from a mold otherwise used for Rochester or perhaps London bottles. These are but a couple of examples and others exist. Indeed, they represent an interesting and, undoubtedly unintentional, fingerprint of bottle makers of the time.

Thanks to Ed Ojea for the photos comparing the half pint Frankfurt with the half pint Londons, which clear show the slug marks.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Tippecanoe Bitters?

In 1883, Warner introduced a new product to replace his bitters line (Safe Tonic, Safe Bitters and Safe Tonic Bitters) that had come into being when he launched his patent medicine business. Although the distinct figural log bottle reveals no product difference, labelled versions suggest that Tippecanoe came in two grades: “XXX Bitters” and “The Best.” But why? Why take an established bitters line off the market and replace it with an unknown? Why two grades?

These are questions that may not have clear answers. Mark McDonald has suggested that Warner introduced the XXX Bitters first and later dropped the word “Bitters” from the label. Indeed, a close inspection of the XXX Bitters label reveals the following statement “Use No Nostrums or Preparations Called” followed by the word “Bitters,” which suggests a rebuke of bitters. Mark also suggests that Tippecanoe was introduced to create a clearly trademarked product, perhaps to compete with the Hop Bitters product marketed by fellow Rochesterian, Asa T. Soule.

Whatever the motivation, the product was principally (about 99%) rum for at least part of its existence. That existence likely spanned into the 20th Century. Although it was originally believed that Tippecanoe vanished from the market about 1895, at least one labelled version makes specific reference to the 1906 legislation enacted to limit the expansive claims of patent medicine hucksters. That label states in part:

Contains ethyl alcohol, 23 per cent. Guaranteed under the Food and Drug Act June 30, 1906. Serial No. 5017.

 In the end, collectors love the Tippecanoe bottle, because of its uniqueness and not because of what it contained. The majority of Tippecanoe bottles are found in the familiar amber with a prized few in green (which multiply their value considerably). Reports of a clear variety have never been confirmed. Some Tippecanoes also can be found with mold errors which misspell the word Rochester as either “Rochestr” or “Rocheter” and are also more scarce.

The Tippecane product was heavily advertised by Warner and appeared in his almanacs and other publications, including the Artists Album pictured above. Advertising signs also have been found in three varieties, including the one pictured above for “Bilious Headache/Blood Disorders.”  They provide an interesting diversion from the Safe Remedies for which Warner was best known.

Warner’s Safe Cure – Bitters

Anyone who collects bottles is familiar with the term “bitters.”  Bitters refers generically to a group of bottles that packaged a concoction of roots and herbs with a distinct bitter flavor compounded with alcohol. Understandably there are bottle collectors that confine their collections strictly to bitters bottles, including figural bitters. Without a doubt, bitters bottles occupy a significant place in the hearts and minds of collectors. Although Warner did not have collectors in mind when he introduced his bitters, he was, no doubt, aware of the market for such a product.

Warner produced a bitters product from the time that he introduced his first line of products in 1879-1880 until about 1883. The half pint of the Tonic Bitters continued after 1883 for whatever reason. Warner produced three bottles that contained bitters: Safe Bitters (pint and half pint), Safe Tonic (pint and half pint) and Safe Tonic Bitters (pint and half pint). I have also seen a Safe Tonic bottle with a Safe Tonic Bitters label (pictured above), so there was some interchangability among the products.  In the 1879 Almanac, Warner described the Safe Tonic as follows:

Warner’s Safe Tonic does not differ from the Safe Bitters in effect, except that the Tonic contains less stimulant properties and is therefore preferable for use where in order to obtain the alternative and blood purifying effect of the medicine it is necessary to use it at short intervals and for a longer period.

All of these bottles in both the pint and half pint sizes are valued by Warner collectors ranging from the Safe Tonic as Scare to the Safe Bitters and Safe Tonic Bitters as Rare. As a rule, the half pints are much more difficult to acquire than the pints and the half pint Tonic may be considered Rare. Not many collectors can say they have all six varieties and those that do are not likely to part with them easily.

Warner is not known for figural bottles. The notable exception is his Tippecanoe Bitters that was introduced in 1883. Stay tuned for more on that wonderful bottle.