When you use as many bottles as H. H. Warner did for the marketing of his Safe Remedies, especially his Kidney & Liver Cure, you are bound to have some that slip through that contain errors. Warner was no exception and there are some classic error bottles that appear from time to time. Perhaps the most well-know of these “errors” is the so-called Left Hand Safe. In 1974, Seeliger reported that bottle appeared in both a double collar and blob version and was “[p]robably the most common embossing error appearing on Warner bottles. Several batches were made with safe hinges on the left side of bottle.”
Not being an expert in bottle manufacturing, I can’t tell you exactly what happened to cause this; however, the easy explanation would be that the mold was simply assembled incorrectly with the Safe facing the wrong direction. At some point, the error was noticed and corrected, but some of the error bottles made their way to Rochester and were filled and distributed to the public.
When I first started collecting Warner’s in the mid-1970’s, you would see these Left Hand Safe bottles with some regularity and they regularly sold in the $50-$60 range. In more recent years, these bottles show up less frequently and typically command prices in the $150-$200 range. Without question, these Warner’s bottles are very desirable and deserve a place in any Warner’s collection. If nothing else, they are a novelty. If anyone has more information on how this error occurred, please let me know and I’ll add it. In the meantime, keep looking for those Left Hand Safes.
Warner's Safe Cure Blog 
Hello. The mistake on bottles noted as reverse spelling, letters, or images. occur when…… The mold engraver or(person who actually carves the designs or letters into the mold) engraves or carves them into the mold as they would look, rather than in reverse, which is the way they should be done. mold images have to be reversed as the bottle is a mirror image of what is engraved into the mold……Warners would have to be engraved into the bottles in the same order but each letter would have to be backwards to come out right on the bottle, some styles of letters would remain the same as W..or M… or T. hope this helps…….Andy
Thanks Andy. Great information. Does that mean that the person embossing the safe had to do the safe in reverse? Sounds like a difficult task.
Hello srj84. Yes that is correct. he obviously didnt do this reversing on (reverse safe hinge) warners bottles, thus, providing us bottle collectors another warners to collect.LOL try saying that three times fast!! Yes it is very difficult, and created many instances of brain freeze in the minds of engravers trying to keep that concept while working on molds. Thats why there are so many error bottles in existance. I know this to be true, as my great grandfather worked as a mold maker for the Pacific Coast Glassworks many years ago in San Francisco, and my grandfather and my father worked for Owens Illinois Glass co in Ohio. A very long history of making mold mistakes over the years so to speak!!………..Andy
Hi–I found a warner’s rheumatis cure bottle made in Rochester,NY USA–with the S backwards—does this contribute more to the value? and how much value is on a bottle like this—thanks–confused Bob
Bob, a reversed “S” on the Rochester Rheumatic Cure is a mold error and would enhance the value of the bottle. Not by a lot, but some. I have seen Rochester Rheumatic Cures going in the neighborhood of $80-100 in good condition. The reversed “S” might bump that value up to $120-140 to the right buyer. It is a nice but not uncommon variant. I am always amazed by the variety of mold errors in Warner bottles. Guess he got what he paid for.
Hi there, I recently got a left side hinge example and am awaiting its arrival. I will be back here, it’s awesome Thanks Rick
Thanks Rick! I don’t post to it as regularly as I used to, but still try to find interesting tidbits about H. H. Warner and his Safe Cures.