- #1
Thread Owner
Bottle Vitals
| Date | Color | Shape | Size (Height x Diameter) | Value* | |
| Coe's Cough Balsam | 1880s | Green | 12-sided cylindrical | 5.5" x 1.75" | $15.00 |
Bottle Views (click to enlarge):
| Front | Back | Side | Side | Bottom |
 |  |  |  |  |
| The C G Clark Co New Haven CT |
This bottle is a 12-sided cylinder (a regular dodecagon for geometry buffs) sold by the C G Clark Company of New Haven Connecticut. The company sold several products, but it appears that two of them were primary -- a dyspepsia cure, which came in a large flat panel bottle, and their cough balsam, which came in this distinctly shaped bottle. It would have originally had a paper label, and would have looked like this:
It was advertised starting in 1860, and by 1865 it was selling a million bottles a year, at least according to their own advertising (click to enlarge):
It was marketed as a cure for coughs and as a general cure for "all throat and lung diseases" and was claimed to cure you quicker than anything else. Here is a later advertisement for it.
It was advertised nationwide for several decades. Here are a couple more advertisements.
I couldn't find much information about the company itself, other than its products. I did find that they published a Famers Almanac, which seemed a bit odd. But I'm betting their own advertisements were featured heavily.
Here's the before and after. Cleaned with soap and water and brushes.
* Value is based on average sold eBay listings as of the date posted. Value varies considerably depending on condition and whether or not the label is present.
