Opium vial and seated silver

IAMZIM

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2011
1,567
2,160
Butte City, Montana
Detector(s) used
ace 250/garret pinpointer, garret AT Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
No tokens today. (DARNIT!) But I found an 1890 seated dime and a medicine vial, that I thought was an opium vial, when I was digging up the little pin. Silver is always good!
2013-04-12 18.49.49.jpg 2013-04-12 18.50.12.jpg 2013-04-12 18.50.25.jpg
 

Last edited:
Upvote 15

beau-bc

Full Member
Mar 3, 2012
153
137
Detector(s) used
MXT&Deus for relics &coins
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Those bottles with the paper lables looks manufactured by the west and newer than the ones you found, the bottles from China I think held powdered plants or animals that they've been using for thousands of years.In my picture theres a bottle filled with red pellets,site 130 years old, found the same pellets in Chinatown being sold today, they are PO CHAI PILLS used for whatever is ailing you. they come in plastic vials now
 

OP
OP
IAMZIM

IAMZIM

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2011
1,567
2,160
Butte City, Montana
Detector(s) used
ace 250/garret pinpointer, garret AT Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Those bottles with the paper lables looks manufactured by the west and newer than the ones you found, the bottles from China I think held powdered plants or animals that they've been using for thousands of years.In my picture theres a bottle filled with red pellets,site 130 years old, found the same pellets in Chinatown being sold today, they are PO CHAI PILLS used for whatever is ailing you. they come in plastic vials now
Ok cool! Thanks for the ID, I KNEW archy's dont know everything! lol! (No offense to any acheologysts!)
 

kuger

Gold Member
Nov 6, 2007
9,721
2,794
Detector(s) used
,M.X.T.& Tesoro Tejon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well,yes,I am saying that pure opium is like tar(i provided a supporting scenario for why pure opium wasnt in these),therefore I dont see calling the vials as Opium vials,very accurate?I also provided liks to some very knowledgable peoples collections and a link to this site and a previous description(did you realize those in red are links?)As your bottles in your Link/pics,states it was an elixir...which means it contained laudanum/opium.Check my links I gave if I am still not clear

as for the pipe,I apologize I was mistaken,I thought you derived your info from the museum.Thes pipes(like you found) are "Chinese",I have only,and have only seen them come from Chinese sites,and for what ever reason modern lore has assumed they were opium pipes....(The Chinese consumed a massive amount of opium....no doubt,but so did the "whites",as it was very addictive,and the whole reason the Brit's introduced the Chinese to it.Look into the Opium Wars,and the East India Trading Co)as I have said they are for tobbacco(see my link)I hope I am more clear this time....if not try my links and if you still are not convinced then......?
 

kuger

Gold Member
Nov 6, 2007
9,721
2,794
Detector(s) used
,M.X.T.& Tesoro Tejon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Those bottles with the paper lables looks manufactured by the west and newer than the ones you found, the bottles from China I think held powdered plants or animals that they've been using for thousands of years.In my picture theres a bottle filled with red pellets,site 130 years old, found the same pellets in Chinatown being sold today, they are PO CHAI PILLS used for whatever is ailing you. they come in plastic vials now

The vials just like the ones in question that I dug in an 1860's dump that produced the vials with the contents was a liquid,a black,colored liquid.
 

kuger

Gold Member
Nov 6, 2007
9,721
2,794
Detector(s) used
,M.X.T.& Tesoro Tejon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
.....I actually gave the Museum in Virginia City Montana a whole bunch of those vials,and some of the brass box's that smoking opium came in
 

hamiddetecting

Gold Member
Feb 22, 2012
6,398
2,510
North Pole
Detector(s) used
Sovereign GT and Excalibur II, Whites, Garrett, Fisher, Alert, MD,Cscope,Tesoro, Compas, XP, Long Rs
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
OP
OP
IAMZIM

IAMZIM

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2011
1,567
2,160
Butte City, Montana
Detector(s) used
ace 250/garret pinpointer, garret AT Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well,yes,I am saying that pure opium is like tar(i provided a supporting scenario for why pure opium wasnt in these),therefore I dont see calling the vials as Opium vials,very accurate?I also provided liks to some very knowledgable peoples collections and a link to this site and a previous description(did you realize those in red are links?)As your bottles in your Link/pics,states it was an elixir...which means it contained laudanum/opium.Check my links I gave if I am still not clear

as for the pipe,I apologize I was mistaken,I thought you derived your info from the museum.Thes pipes(like you found) are "Chinese",I have only,and have only seen them come from Chinese sites,and for what ever reason modern lore has assumed they were opium pipes....(The Chinese consumed a massive amount of opium....no doubt,but so did the "whites",as it was very addictive,and the whole reason the Brit's introduced the Chinese to it.Look into the Opium Wars,and the East India Trading Co)as I have said they are for tobbacco(see my link)I hope I am more clear this time....if not try my links and if you still are not convinced then......?

Lol! Thanks Kuger, I did see the links! And thanks for clairifying! If I can figure out how to change my link title, I'll change it to "medicine bottle".
 

OP
OP
IAMZIM

IAMZIM

Bronze Member
Apr 23, 2011
1,567
2,160
Butte City, Montana
Detector(s) used
ace 250/garret pinpointer, garret AT Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
How do I change the title?
 

kuger

Gold Member
Nov 6, 2007
9,721
2,794
Detector(s) used
,M.X.T.& Tesoro Tejon
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks,and no need really to change it.As long as you know the truth!:thumbsup:A moderator needs to change it
 

Rick (Nova Scotia)

Silver Member
May 8, 2008
4,098
2,711
🥇 Banner finds
3
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Omega, F75, AT Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
There was enough in it to be considered one the most important medicines.

"Opium, mixed as a tincture containing alcohol, became a popular medicine by the name of 'Laudanum'

"Laudanum: The common name for Tincture of Opium, and the form in which that drug is most frequently administered.. It is narcotic, sedative, and being made with spirit, is also, to a certain extent, stimulant and anti-spasmodic. For relieving pain, wherever situated, to diminish irritation, and to procure sleep, it is the best of the medicines we possess." The Family Doctor, a Dictionary of Domestic Medicine and Surgery, by a Dispensary Surgeon. London, c.1860)
 

Attachments

  • dsc02090.jpg
    dsc02090.jpg
    23 KB · Views: 81

buttedigger

Jr. Member
Mar 31, 2013
69
22
Butte, MT
Detector(s) used
Garret AT PRO /Tesoro Lobo SuperTRAQ
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
No tokens today. (DARNIT!) But I found an 1890 seated dime and a medicine vial, that I thought was an opium vial, when I was digging up the little pin. Silver is always good!
<img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=776905"/><img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=776906"/><img src="http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=776907"/>

Sweet finds I have yet to dig up history for butte and have no clue where I'm going yet. Hope to find some good stuff like you have right there
 

pepperj

Gold Member
Feb 3, 2009
37,495
138,981
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
Deus, Deus 2, Minelab 3030, E-Trac,
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Congrats on the silver and the bottle, and to all of the interesting posting on the bottle. I've dug the same bottle up from railway construction sites so and they would of dated 1880-1885 as the line was completed in 1885. I've heard both references to the bottle and maybe the term "Opium" was just coined to make it sound better than medicine. Either way they're a cool find and were always front and center on the display shelves.


Just would like to ask a question to the ones that have dug up these bottles. Has any ever snapped in half after a few years? We had quite a few that after years of laying on a display self would just snap one in half one day for no reason, you could hear the sound in another room when they broke.
 

surf

Silver Member
Jan 10, 2013
2,832
1,458
Detector(s) used
seeing eye shovel
Primary Interest:
Other
... But I found an 1890 seated dime and a medicine vial, that I thought was an opium vial, when I was digging up the little pin. ...

Hello ZIM,

An interesting thread, sir. A lot of people think these are "Opium" bottles. They certainly did not contain opium for smoking. Kuger is quite right about it being a tar like substance.


Dr. McMunn and many of his western peers used opium in elixir or tincture form in the Patent Medicine Era.

There's a most relevant couple of pages from the University of Montana that you might find of interest:

Opium ~~~~ Glass

100_1053.JPG


"Three glass medicine bottles with sheared lips purchased from Hawai'i"​
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top