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Bottle Vitals
| Date | Color | Shape | Size (Height x Width x Depth) | Value* | |
| Hood's Sarsaparilla | 1880s | Green | Rectangular | 9" x 3" x 1.75" | $15.00 |
Bottle Views (click to enlarge):
| Front | Back | Side | Side | Bottom |
 |  |  | |  |
| Hood's Sarsa Parilla | Apothecaries | C I Hood & Co | Lowell Mass | 23 |
This bottle would have contained Sarsaparilla, a popular cure-all in the late 1800s. It was manufactured by Mr Charles Ira Hood at C.I. Hood & Company out of the "Hood Laboratory" in Lowell, Massachusetts. Mr Hood had started selling his sarsaparilla in 1876, and business rapidly grew, causing it to move production twice, finally building their famed Hood's Laboratory in 1882. That, too, expanded over time until by 1898, the building had 175,000 square feet of floor space, and was a the time the largest building in the world devoted to making patent medicine. Here's what it looked like, from a postcard from the period:
The sarsaparilla was marketed as a general cure all for all kinds of things, including "that tired feeling". It was said to promote purification of the blood and increased overall strength and vitality.
The company marketed heavily, using newspapers, trading cards, leaflets, cookbooks, and calendars. Their calendars were apparently very popular and featured high quality original artwork.
And of course every page of the calendars and books would promote one or more of the Hoods line of medicines. Like many medicines of the time, one of the main ingredients was alcohol, which may have had more to do with its medicinal effects than the other ingredients (sarsaparilla root, dandelion, gentian, and juniper berries), though sarsaparilla actually is known to be beneficial for arthritis and a few other things.
The company and its medicines was very popular and there is a lot more information online if you're inclined to search for it.
Finally, here is the before and after. Soap and water, a brush, a wooden pick, and vinegar were used for this one.
* Value is based on sold eBay listings at the time of posting. Value varies with condition, but the bottle is fairly common (Hoods Laboratory was able to fill 10,000 bottles a day, and they had brewing capacity of nearly a half million bottles).
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