Warner’s Safe Cure: Collecting in the 1970′s

When I started collecting Warner’s Safe Cures in the mid-1970′s, bellbottoms were in and disco was on the turntable (the internet, ipods and satellite radio were the stuff of science fiction). I remember salivating when I saw show displays like the one above from Mike Seeliger. While I’m sure that I had a few Warner’s Safe variants, perhaps a Kidney & Liver Cure, Diabetes Cure and maybe even a half pint London Safe Cure, my collection was in its infancy. Mike, on the other hand,  along with folks like Jack Stecher, had taken Warner’s collecting to a new level.  I remember that I could not believe how many Warner’s there were and, more importantly to me, how was I ever going to get my hands on some of those rare Warner’s depicted in Mike’s book (parttime jobs as a teenager were not the source of great wealth).

Well,  flash forward 35 years and I have put together a pretty nice collection of Warner’s Safe Cures, including a few that are likely “one-of-a-kinds”.  Although, I have not displayed my collection, except for participating in the 2001 Warner’s Display at the Rochester Show, I still have the bug.  I am fortunate to call Jack and Mike friends and to be able to share the Warner’s Safe Cure bug with other friends worldwide via this blog. After two and a half years, we are coming up on 25,000 hits.

My advice to younger collectors is to decide on what type of bottles you like. Whether it is Warner’s Safe Cures, bitters, fruit jars or something else. Learn as much as you can about the bottles you like and their value. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have the money to run out and buy every bottle you like. Patience is a virtue. Stick with it and you will eventually meet your goals. Most of all, have fun

Special thanks for Mike Seeliger for allowing me to use copies of his photographs and slides from the 1970′s. They bring back great memories of my early days of collecting and remind me of how much fun I have had collecting bottles.

Warner’s Safe Cure: The Rochester “A” List (Part II)

Although the Warner’s Safe Cures manufactured by the Chambers Works are early examples of the Safe Cure bottles, they are not the earliest.  After Warner acquired  the rights to Dr. Craig’s Kidney Cure, one of his first bottles was the shoulder-embossed Safe Cure (pictured above). While I would not consider this bottle to be rare, they have become harder to get.  The same is true for the Rochester Safe Cure. Only in Rochester was Safe Cure called “Safe Kidney & Liver Cure”. In all the other foreign offices, it was simply referred to as “Safe Cure.” For a short period, the Rochester bottle was also embossed “Safe Cure”.

While neither the shoulder-embossed Safe Cure nor the Rochester Safe Cure make the “A” List, there are some that do. For example, this aqua Kidney & Liver Remedy. While the amber is relatively common and the clear would likely be considered more scarce, aqua is down right rare.

 The same might be said of two  other Rochester variants, both of which are considered mold errors. The first is the “No Safe” Safe Remedies Company. For whatever reason, the bottle manufacturer omitted the word “Safe” from the mold leaving the bottle embossed “Warner’s Remedies Co.”  While the unlabelled Warner’s Safe Remedies Co. bottles are considered common, the Warner’s Remedies Co. are rare. The second variant is made rare, not be the omission of embossing, but by the addition of it. It is the half pint Nervine with “8 OZ” embossed just below the neck. Here again, the half pint Nervine is considered fairly common, but in this case, the glassmaker probably used a half pint Safe Cure mold and slugged out the word “Cure,” replacing it with “Nervine.” The result is a fairly rare variant.

Another very difficult Rochester find is the Warner’s Safe Remedy sample. While the Safe Cure sample appears regularly, the Safe Remedy sample comes around far less often.  Find one that’s labelled and you have a real gem. This is also true of the labeled Safe Diabetes Remedy sample.

Most discriminating bottle collectors turn their noses up a screw top bottles. However, not all screw top medicines are considered equal. Take, for example, the Warner’s Compound bottles sold by the Warner’s Remedies Company. These very late Warner’s are highly prized by Warner’s collectors due to their rarity.

The other significant category of Rochester Warner’s are the Log Cabin Remedies. They are the subject of Part III of this series.

Warner’s Safe Errors: 3-Cities Safe Cure “Reversed N’s” Revisited

For those of you who follow this blog with some regularity, you know that back in October, 2008, I featured a bottle, which I referred to as the 3-Cities Safe Cure “Reversed N’s,” because of the fact that the “N’s” in the embossing of  “TORONTO, CANADA” and  “LONDON, ENGLAND” on the sides of the bottle were backwards. At that point in time, only one of these bottles had surfaced and it was listed in the Ojea/Stecher Warner’s Reference Guide as a “one-of-a-kind”.

If you watch eBay and other online auction sites, you know that on occasion, rare bottles surface and can be purchased for well under their true value. The key is knowing what is and what is not rare. As I have said in the past, I am constantly dismayed by people who list  common or good Warner’s Safe Cures are “rare,” either out of ignorance or as deliberate misrepresentations. Long story short, do your homework and know what it is you are buying and don’t just take the seller’s word for it.

In a recently concluded eBay auction, a second 3-Cities Safe Cure with Reversed “N’s” showed up and sold for slightly over $400, well under the value such a bottle might fetch at a show by a Warner’s collector. I was watching that auction with interest (since I have the other one) as was Steve Panton, who commented on it after the auction concluded.  So much for my one-of-a-kind. I guess two-of-a-kind isn’t so bad. Keep watching those online auctions, you never know when a gem may pop up!

Warner’s Safe Cure: It’s All in the Lips

Since I began this blog back in March, I have spent considerable time talking about the history of the Warner empire, the products marketed by Warner and the all important bottles that contained his wonderous elixirs. I have talked about the colors of those bottles, their labels and even some of the mistakes. I have, however, neglected one important feature those bottles….their lips. Now, that sounds like a relatively minor omission, but an important one nevertheless.

Over the course of its history, the Warner Safe Cure Company used a variety of lips on its bottles. The lips vary depending one when a particular bottle was manufactured and where it came from. Let me correct my omission, but illustrating some of the lips that graced Warner’s Safe Remedies over the years.

DOUBLE COLLAR – the double collar lip is distinct among the early Warner’s Safe Cures that came from Rochester: Safe Kidney & Liver Cure, Safe Nervine, Safe Diabetes Cure, Safe Rheumatic Cure, Safe Bitters, Safe Tonic and Safe Tonic Bitters. They also appear on the 3-City Cures sold from the Toronto Office and the early 4-Cities bottles from the Dundein Office (which were likely made in the United States).

MEDICINE COLLAR – this lip is noticeably present on some of the half pint varieties of the early Warner’s Safe Cures, such as the Safe Bitters and Safe Tonic, but not the Safe Tonic Bitters.

BLOB COLLAR – The blob collar is perhaps the most extensively used lip among Warner’s Safe Remedies. It effectively replaced the double collar and medicine collar lips and appeared in all variety of Safe Cures from almost all of the foreign offices, with the exception of Toronto. It was also used in the Log Cabin Remedies bottles.

FLARED OR TIPPECANOE – this lip is fairly unique among antique bottles and Warner even took out a patent on the Tippecanoe bottle design to protect it from imitators. Its mushroom lip is attached to the familiar log shaped bottle embossed with a canoe.

SMALL SQUARE LIP – the small square lip was less common than its large brother, but appeared in several Warner bottles, namely the sample bottles both from Rochester and London.

LARGE SQUARE LIP – the large square lip or collar graced later Warner bottles, most notably the Warner’s Safe Remedies Co. bottles in their various colors.

These represent the principal types of lips found on Warner’s Safe bottles. You will undoubtedly find some examples that are exagerated or diminished versions of these styles. Many thanks to Ed Ojea for assistance with the photos and for being the first to categorize Warner bottles based on lip type in his Warner’s Reference Guide. Watch those lips!

Warner’s Safe Errors: 3-Cities Safe Cure “Reversed N’s”

Although the Warner’s reversed or left hand safe is perhaps the most classic of Warner’s error bottles, one of the rarest is the 3-Cities Reversed N’s. This bottle (only one example is known) is in all other respects a typical Toronto (3-Cities) Safe Cure. However, upon close inspection of the embossing along each side, the error becomes clear. The “N’s” in London, England and in Toronto, Canada are all reversed. It is astonishing that the glassmaker that assembled the mold that produced this bottled so completely flubbed the letters.  Having said that, I suspect that the person doing the assembly was required to assemble the letters in reverse, so getting the “N’s” backwards is understandable.  I suspect it was an error that was quickly caught by quality control, which explains the rarity of this unique bottle.

The Warner’s Reference Guide lists it as 69A and notes its status as a one-of-a-kind. Thanks to Ed Ojea for the photographs of this rare bottle.

Warner’s Reference Guide – Now Out of Print

I recently communicated with Ed Ojea, who has provided great assistance to me in providing you with information and photographs on Warner’s Safe Cures. You will recall that some months ago, I recommended the Warner’s Reference Guide as a good source for those folks interested in collecting Warner’s.  Unfortunately, Ed advises that he has no sold out of the Warner’s Reference Guides with the exception of a few black and white copies. So, if you want one of the color versions, you’re gonna need to convince another collector to part with their copy or find one for sale on eBay.

Many thanks to Ed and Jack Stecher for collaborating on this very helpful publication. I think it remains the best available source on information about Warner’s Safe Cures…..with the possible exception of this blog.