Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Bromo-Seltzer Bottle, c. 1900-1910 |
Object Name |
Bottle, Medicine |
Description |
Bromo-Seltzer Bottle, c. 1900-1910. Medicine type bottle in cobalt blue glass. Possibly hand-blown with a single-ring tooled lip which probably had a cork as a stopper. The bottle also has a ball-neck and can hold 4 ounces. |
Date |
c. 1900-1910 |
Creator |
Emerson Drug Co. Baltimore, MD |
Catalog Number |
2019.002.002 |
Dimensions |
H-4 W-1.625 D-1.625 inches |
Collection |
3D - Medical & Psychological Tools & Equipment |
Inscription Text |
"BROMO-SELTZER / EMERSON / DRUG CO. / BALTIMORE, MD." |
Provenance |
Part of 4+ boxes of archaeological material recovered from the Morgan Oyster Beds on Bear Island in Belmont, CA. |
Notes |
"When Isaac E. Emerson began placing his headache remedy – Bromo-Seltzer – on the national market in 1891, he opened up a major chapter in bottle production. Although it is probable that Emerson’s initial bottles were generic and aqua in color, about the turn of the century he began buying cobalt blue bottles embossed with the name of the product and his firm, the Emerson Drug Co. (...) Between ca. 1900 and the late 1970s, Emerson made or commissioned more than 20 variations of the Bromo-Seltzer bottles in at least seven sizes." [https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Bromo-Seltzer.pdf 05/06/2019] "Over the years, the various factories that made the bottles produced them in at least six sizes. The exact measurement of the earliest bottles could vary because the hand manufacturing techniques were inconsistent. In addition, different factories made bottles of eight different heights – although some were only slightly divergent. (...) Five different glass houses certainly manufactured the bottles." [https://sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/Bromo-Seltzer.pdf 05/06/2019] "The company incorporated in 1891 with factories in Maryland and New Jersey. The Maryland Glass Corporation was the original manufacturer of the famous blue bottles. By 1929, they had the capacity to manufacture 72,000,000 bottles annually. The company expanded rapidly and made Capt. Emerson a millionaire within a short time. The Downtown of Baltimore was for many years marked by the Bromo-Seltzer building which sported a giant, iron replica of a Bromo-Seltzer bottle on the top of the building. Emerson, who died in 1939 at the age of 71, was known as a lavish entertainer. He was an accomplised yachtsman who as a young chemist worked out and patented the formula for what he termed, "Bromo Zeltzer". After graduating from the University of North Carolina he set up a drug store in Baltimore in 1880. He earned the rank of Captain during the Spanish American War." [http://www.bottlebooks.com/questions/common/bromo_seltzer_bottles.htm 05/06/2019] |
Search Terms |
Archaeolgy Archaeological Material Archaeological Materials Bottle Collection Bottle Collectors Bottles Drug Stores Medical Equipment Medicine Morgan Oyster Company |
Subjects |
Bottles Chemical industry Drugstores Medical equipment & supplies Medicine |
People |
Emerson |
Credit line |
Courtesy of John Shroyer |