Warner’s Safe Cure: Marvelous Melbourne!

 

 

Warner's Safe Nervine Half Pint in Green from Melbourne

Just in case you were asleep this past week, a nice little gem of a Warner’s Safe Cure came up for bid on eBay. A half pint Nervine from Melbourne in GREEN. Now, mind you, a half pint Nervine from Melbourne is considered a rare Warner’s in and of itself a rare bottle. A half pint Nervine in green is…….well…….something more than rare.

In my experience, I have seen a few Safe Cures from Melbourne with a greenish tint, but they were all of the H. H. Warner & Co. Ltd. variety and are the later Melbourne bottles. This bottle was the full blown early Melbourne variety with the traditional safe image embossed on it. It is generally believed that these bottles were not made in Australia, but rather made in the United States or England and shipped there. The fact that this is green would suggest that it came from England. As you can see from the pictures, this is not a bottle with a green tint or green if you hold it a certain way under the light. This bottle is just plain green. Not sure who was the high bidder, but they paid just shy of $2500 for it. Which, considering the rarity of this bottle, is a steal.

I would invite my friends from downunder, including Wayne, to weigh in on how rare this bottle is. Interestingly, the seller was not from Australia, but rather from Germany. I emailed the seller in Leipsig and he kindly told me the story of this bottle. It seems that the local soccer (football for you non-Americans) team needed a new practice field and, it just so happened, that the field was on top of a pre-1900′s dump. There were apparently bottles lying around for the taking. This particular Warner’s Safe Nervine was buried up to its neck when the seller saw it. As it turned out, it was undamaged. I wish I had that kind of luck.  For my part, I think it may be time to add another bottle to my “A” List.  Congratulations to the seller and to the high bidder on this nice Warner’s gem….I’m GREEN with envy.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Frankfurt Beauty!

This little beauty recently sold on eBay for a cool $1725.  The seller was in Poland, so it appears that a few of these gems are still coming to the surface.  Both the green and the amber Frankfurt Nervine half pints made “Honorable Mention” on my “A List.”  Although both colors are very rare, the amber is perhaps slightly rarer having been unlisted before 2005 by Ojea. You probably won’t see another one of these on eBay any time soon.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Shades of Tippecanoe

 

 

From time to time, I used to hear that you could find the infamous Tippecanoe in an olive variety. Generally speaking, I considered this to be myth until I actually saw an example that I considered olive. They do exist and some are strikingly olive. More often than not, however, they tend to be amber examples with shades of olive. This makes sense, because the olive coloring is most likely the result of impurities in the glass manufacturing process rather than an intention by either Warner or his bottle supplier to issue an olive Tippecanoe. I mean, really, who wants a green log?

The above examples, courtesy of American Bottle Auctions, are in the current Auction No. 49.  In their catalog description, ABA makes the very important point, that seeing olive in a Tippecanoe is most often only through comparison. Putting one Tippecanoe next to another gives you an idea of the shades of amber and olive-amber that show up in this bottle. Very subtle shades of olive are very difficult to see and I am always skeptical if I see a Tippecanoe described as olive. In any event, the above examples are a beautiful pair.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Those London Half Pints are Hot!

Perhaps the hottest Warner’s Safe Cures these days are the London Half Pints. The appeal of these wonderful little bottles stems from something I have observed before, which is that they turn up in some wonderful color variations. These bottles in there more common colors of amber and olive are nice bottles in there own right, but some of the recent color varieties really elevate them. London Half Pint Safe Cures typically sell in the $100 range and Nervines in the $200 range, but when they appear in unusual colors, they sell  for a premium. A recent Half Pint Nervine in emerald sold in the $500 range.

If you have been watching eBay lately, you may have seen a few of these unusual London Halfs show up in colors ranging from emerald to light olive. My collection includes a citron London Nervine Half Pint. You can really appreciate these great colors when they are displayed with other Warners. I have included a few a these color variations above and I’m sure that there are more out there, so keep your eyes open.

Warner’s Safe Cure Collections: Wayne Wood

One of the pleasures of putting together the Warner’s Safe Blog is that I have had a chance to meet (virtually) many Warner’s collectors from around the world. In the future, I hope to feature some of their collections to show the incredible variety of Warner’s Safe Cures out there.

Recently, I got an email from Wayne Wood from  Essex, England. Wayne sent me some photos of his Warner’s collection that includes some nice Londons. Thanks Wayne.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Beautiful Londons!

Those of you that have followed this blog know that I have, on occasion, expressed my humble opinion that the Safe Cures from London are my personal favorites, because of the array of colors in which they appear. Mind you, I am not dismissing the importance or desirability of Warner’s from any of the other foreign offices, only noting that the title for the widest and most varied selection of colors belongs to the Brits.

Usually one has to see of display at a bottle show or in someone’s home to really appreciate the beauty of these bottles when displayed alongside one another. Every once in a while, such a display appears on the internet and deserves a second look. Recently, a British collector listed a selection of London gems on eBay and offered up some great pictures. Here, with the persmission of andrewb6296, is a second look. Cheers!

Faux Warner’s: The Reproductions by Crownford China

Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832) is given the credit for coining the phrase “imitation is the sincerest of flattery.”  Whether that is true or not remains to be seen; however, thanks to Crownford China, the name of Warner’s Safe Kidney & LIver Cure was given somewhat of a rebirth in the late 1960′s or early 1970′s, when that manufacturer issued a reproducation bottle in a variety of colors. Some of these reproductions also included a label that bore no resemblence to the original Warner’s Safe Cure Label. The Warner’s Reference Guide designates them as WRG #R1 and WRG #R2.

To Crownford’s credit, although they got the label wrong, they did a respectable job on the reproduction of the bottle. The bottles have roughly the same dimensions as the original pint Kidney & Cure. I have not seen them in any size other than a pint nor have I seen them for any of Warner’s other cures, such as Nervine, Diabetes or Rheumatic Cure. There was also another reproduction issued in the 1980′s, which did not include a label. The first reproduction appeared in aqua green and amber and appeared with a blob lip, while the later version appeared in cobalt blue and yellow with a double collar. The double collar lip on the later reproduction is hollow unlike the original double collar. The cobalt blue is particularly striking and I am sure that some collectors thought they had stumbled onto a one-of-a-kind cobalt Warner’s Safe Cure, unitl they realized it was a reproduction.

Some Warner’s collectors have added these reproductions to their collections and ironically, in recent years, several of the reproductions have well surpassed the price of the original Kidney & Liver Cure. The cobalt reproduction has fetched a price as high as $150. Go figure. If you look at the base of the early reproduced bottle, most have the name “Crownford China” embossed there. It is unclear why these reproductions were made, except that they provided a nostalgic nic nac and perhaps as a nod to one of the great patent medicine kings.

Thanks to Ed Ojea for several of the photographs included with this post and Jack Stecher for his insights.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Animal Cures

If you are a serious Warner’s collector, you will likely remember the first time that you actually laid eyes on an Animal Cure. I had collected Warner’s on and off for over two decades before I actually held one in my hands. I had read about them in Mike Seeliger’s book, where he says

“[p]robably the rarest Warner presently known. Only two green ones are known to exist.”

H. H. Warner: His Company & His Bottles at 20. That was in 1974.  In the intervening 34 years, more Animal Cures have surfaced, but they are far from common. Indeed, depending on color, they generally sell for between $900 and $1800+. I know of two labelled Animal Cures that exist (one with the contents). Needless to say, the price for the labelled ones would be exceedingly high, assuming they ever go up for sale, but don’t hold your breath.

The Animal Cure itself is a fascinating bottle. Americans refer to it an the Animal Cure, while the Brits apparently all it a Mammoth Cure. Its 40 ounce size makes it stand head and shoulders above the average Safe Cure pint. It appears in various shades of green and amber in the London variety and various shades of amber in the 3-City variety. It is unclear as to whether there was actually a difference between the ingredients of the Safe Cure for humans and that for animals, although the labelled Animal Cures state plainly as the bottom “To Be Used for Animals Only,” which implies that it would be unfit for humans. Indeed, a page in both 1887 Warner’s Artists Albums is devoted to the Animal Cure. It states in part:

“Warner’s Safe Cure for Animals” is a special preparation for animal use, and should not be used by mankind. For all ordinary troubles, liver and blood disorders, proceeding from mal-assimilation of food and imperfect action of the kidneys and liver, it is a specific. It is put up in very large bottles, and sells for $1.25 per bottle. It has been used in many cases with most signal success, and many thousands of dollars of horse-flesh alone has been saved by the timely use of this great remedy.

Warner’s Artist Album (1887) (see above). The scarcity of Animal Cure bottles suggests that it may not have been as popular for use with livestock as it was with humans. Nevertheless, Animal Cures provide a wonderful addition to any Warner’s collection.

 Photos courtesy of Ed Ojea and Jack Stecher.

The Rarest Warner’s

Even before I started this blog, I thought it would be interesting to put together a list of the Top 10 Rarest Warner’s.  I know what you’re thinking – not another list. For those of you who are not “list” people, I get it and appreciate the argument that lists are inherently subjective and therefore misleading. I concede the point, but I still want to put together a list and would welcome input for all the Warner’s collectors out there.

So, if you were putting your own Top 10 list together, what would you include?  How do you judge rarity?  For starters, rarity among Warner’s and for that matter any category of bottle is based on market availability. Undoubtedly, the low end of that scale is solidly anchored by the unbiquitous Kidney & Liver Cure from Rochester. You cannot go to a bottle show anywhere (at least not in the United States) that one of these wonderful, but basic Warner’s staples is not gracing a dealer table. It is the seed from which any Warner’s collection springs. However, which bottles occupy the other end of that same spectrum? A Pressburg Diabetes Cure? Perhaps a Frankfurt Nervine or a 4-Cities Rheumatic Cure?

Rarity is not only based upon the scarcity of a particular Warner’s bottle, but may also be based on the fact that a bottle is labelled or is a mold error.  All of these things factor into the decision of which are the rarests and most prized among Warner’s collectors. Let me know what you think are the Top 10 and why. Although everyone’s list may not match up exactly, I suspect that there will be considerable overlap among lists. Let me hear from you!

The photo of the labelled Pressburgs is courtesy of Dave Kyle and the aqua London Safe Cure pint is courtesy of Ed Ojea.

Collecting Warner’s Safe Cures

Most bottle collectors specialize in some area: figural bitters, mason jars, poisons, milk bottles, etc. The list of possible specialities is as limitless as your imagination. When I first started collecting, a friend collected  only “purple bottles” (those with sufficient manganese in the glass to cause them to turn purple when exposed sufficiently to the ultraviolet rays of the sun). Whatever area of specialization you may choose, it is helpful to know what the universe of bottles within that area is, although for some types, there is no catalog by which to gauge you collection (i.e. purple bottles). With respect to collecting Warner’s Safe Cures, collectors are blessed to have access to catalogs and price guides that have emerged over the years based on the knowledge that existed when they were published.

What I mean by that, is that with every year that passes, the universe of Warner’s changes – however, minutely. When Mike Seeliger published his book in 1974, he did so based on the knowledge of what was available to Warner’s collectors at that time. There was no Internet, so collectors in the United States had a more difficult time getting foreign Warner’s and had to rely upon those that showed up at bottle shows or in the classified ad pages of Old Bottle Magazine.  By the time that Ed Ojea and Jack Stecher published their guide over 20 years later, the world of Warner’s collecting had shifted dramatically with the appearance of varients not cataloged by Seeliger. Jack’s own collection was perhaps one of the most complete ever assembled. The arrival of the Internet and auction sites like Ebay, Glass Works and American Bottle Autions have changed the landscape for buying and selling Warner’s, especially ones located in places like Australia and New Zealand and even in the former Eastern Communist block of Europe.

There is no best way to collect Warner’s, except to dive in and learn as much as you can about what is available. Most collectors will tell you that even among the known varieties, there exist a broad range of color variations as well as those that have retained their labels and/or contents. A few so-called “one of a kinds” exist and I am fortunate to own a couple, but, for the most part, a Warner’s collector can assemble a wonderful collection based just upon known and available varients.

So……what are you waiting for?

Dave Kyle assembled one of the great Warner’s collections ever. He has moved on to figural bitters, but above are some pictures to give you an idea of the scope of his collection. Thanks Dave!