Road Dog
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Dr. Cooper's Universal Balm
Got this latest Balm off feebay. I collect these and have variations dating from the 1850's to this example from 1920. Pierpont & Co sold this Balm early on and later was sold by Ransom , Hamlin out of Buffalo NY sold this later on well into the 1940's. Originally named Dr. Cooper's Universal Magnetic Balm the "magnetic" was dropped because it was a false claim. The first 50 years of these bottles were embossed Dr. E.C's Balm. In the 1900's the embossing was changed to read Cooper's Balm. This clear labeled bottle is a transition between the earlier style bottle and the newer style. You can still make out the old embossing under the newer. I washed this bottle abit and it came corked with some residue still in it. It had a strong camphor kinda smell and was orange brown in color. Ransom, Hamlin sold Miller's Magnetic Balm as well as Cooper's Magnetic Balm. I think Cooper's was the better as it had 3% more alchohol.
I never knew what the ingredients were in the Cooper's Balm until getting this bottle. That was a big plus in my information gathering as Cooper's was not advertised much in New York. While in California Redington & Co advertised it alot. There is some speculation that Cooper's originated in California, but the earliest advertising I could find there was from 1858. I found earlier ads from New York as well as the earlier bottles being from New York. Bringing my conclusion that this is a Rochester New York Balm. I'm still in search of a machine made version of this bottle. This bottle is a tooled lip bottle and probably dates from the late teens.
Got this latest Balm off feebay. I collect these and have variations dating from the 1850's to this example from 1920. Pierpont & Co sold this Balm early on and later was sold by Ransom , Hamlin out of Buffalo NY sold this later on well into the 1940's. Originally named Dr. Cooper's Universal Magnetic Balm the "magnetic" was dropped because it was a false claim. The first 50 years of these bottles were embossed Dr. E.C's Balm. In the 1900's the embossing was changed to read Cooper's Balm. This clear labeled bottle is a transition between the earlier style bottle and the newer style. You can still make out the old embossing under the newer. I washed this bottle abit and it came corked with some residue still in it. It had a strong camphor kinda smell and was orange brown in color. Ransom, Hamlin sold Miller's Magnetic Balm as well as Cooper's Magnetic Balm. I think Cooper's was the better as it had 3% more alchohol.
I never knew what the ingredients were in the Cooper's Balm until getting this bottle. That was a big plus in my information gathering as Cooper's was not advertised much in New York. While in California Redington & Co advertised it alot. There is some speculation that Cooper's originated in California, but the earliest advertising I could find there was from 1858. I found earlier ads from New York as well as the earlier bottles being from New York. Bringing my conclusion that this is a Rochester New York Balm. I'm still in search of a machine made version of this bottle. This bottle is a tooled lip bottle and probably dates from the late teens.Amazon Forum Fav 👍
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