Warner’s Safe Cure: Artist’s Album (1888) – Part I

If you have been following this blog for even a short amount of time, you have undoubtedly come to the conclusion that collecting Warner’s Safe Cures extends beyond just the bottles. Warners collectors are blessed with an enormous array of advertising paper and other ephemera produced by one of the great proprietary medicine companies of  the late 19th and early 20th centuries. H. H. Warner missed few, if any, opportunities to plaster the reading public with his brand, whether by almanacs, newspaper ads, posters, cookbooks or puzzles and games. This list is extensive.

Having said that, the question becomes which examples of his advertising best informs us of the enterprise. By my way of thinking, his almanacs and other publications give us one of the most complete pictures of his pitch to an American public desperate to cope with disease in an age where real, medically competent physicians were indeed rare. Among his publications, one of the best has to be his Artist’s Albums. I say “albums,” because there were actually two. While one of the two is distinctly more rare than the other, both are terrific examples of his marketing. The version with Santa Claus going down the chimney (above) is the more common of the two, while the version with the boy sitting on the log (below) is rare.

Unlike other Warner’s Safe publications that were printed by Mensing & Stecher, the Artists’ Albums were printed by Cosack & Company of Buffalo, New York. The back cover of both albums featured a box of Log Cabin Sarsaparilla.

Apart from the terrific graphics, the Artists’ Albums feature the most comprehensive catalog of the Warner’s Safe Cure inventory as it existed in 1888. The featured products included Safe Cure, Rheumatic Cure, Diabetes Cure, Nervine, Tippecanoe – The Best, Asthma Cure, Safe Pills, Benton Hair Grower, Animal Cure, Log Cabin Sarsaparilla, Log Cabin Hops & Buchu Remedy, Log Cabin Cough & Consumption Remedy, Log Cabin Hair Tonic, Log Cabin Extract, Log Cabin Plaster, Log Cabin Rose Cream, Log Cabin Liver Pills and Safe Yeast.  Each of the products was discussed and a facsimile of the package was included. The next part of this post will feature some of those articles.

The Artists’ Albums were issued at about the time that Warner’s medicine empire reached its peak. Over the period of the next five years, Warner went from proprietary medicine mogul to financial collapse and public humiliation. These publications provide us with a glimpse of the types of products pitched to our great grandparents.

Special thanks to Jon Moran for reminding me of the uniqueness of the Artist’s Album and providing me with scans of its contents.

Warner’s Safe Cure in Black & White

One of the pioneers of Warner’s collection is Michael Seeliger.  Michael published the original Warner’s Safe catalog entitled  H. H. Warner: His Company and his Bottles. Michael has permitted me access to some of his original Warner’s photographs taken in the 1970′s. Over the next several weeks, I will be featuring Michael’s photographs so that everyone can enjoy them. Thanks Michael!

Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Expo 2008 in York, Pennsylvania

Beautiful weather and a really nice show, what more could you ask for? Okay, a few showers, but otherwise delightful for August. Better yet, the Warner’s Safe Cures, Tippecanoes and Log Cabin Remedies were here for the picking during the dealers set-up and early admission. Many of us who worked on the Great Warner’s Safe Cure Exhibit  (“GWSCE”) in 2001 in Rochester, including Jack Stecher, Dave Kyle, Andy Lange and Bob Sheffield had a chance to catch-up. Andy was the clear winner as far as rare Warner’s on his sales table, including two London samples, a strap sided London Compound, a half-pint aqua London Safe Cure, two Pressburg Safe Cures (Green and Aqua), a labelled  olive London Diabetes Cure (perhaps one-of-a-kind), two Frankfurt half pint Nervines (in amber and green), a Frankfurt Diabetes Cure, a grass green Rochester Diabetes Remedy and two labelled Log Cabin Remedies with the orginal boxes. Seldom will you see so many bottles on the Warner A-List in one place, at one time. Nice work Andy!

When I was not drooling over Andy’s selection, I did manage to make it around the rest of the show. From Jack Stecher I got one of the original Safe Cure Almanacs from 1879-1880 and the London Almanac from 1888-1889. I have never seen either of these almanacs for sale before and neither had Jack. They had been in Dave Kyle’s collection.

In addition to the GWSCE, the show included folks from down under, who brought some of their Warner’s along. Wayne and Lorna Humphries from New Zealand came with Andy as well as James and Sandy Bell from Australia. Needless to say, they get the award for the longest journey. Perhaps the best thing was that there were Warner’s at almost every level from that for the beginning collector to that for the most seasoned collector. In addition to a host of Rochester Kidney & Liver Cures, Safe Remedies Company bottles and Kidney & Liver Remedies, I saw three Safe Bitters, four Animal Cures (including a light amber London, an olive London and an amber 3 Cities),  and a slug plate Rochester half-pint Nervine. In addition to the Safe Almanacs, Jack brought along so other go-withs, including vintage photos of the Warner Mansion and the Warner Observatory, several Benton’s Hair Growers and several stereoscope slides of Warner Island.

This Expo was a delight. Thanks to the Federation for a wonderful job.

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.