Scott's Emulsion

[robertk]

Bottle Vitals​

	Date	Color	Shape	Size (Height x Width x Depth)	Value*
Scott's Emulsion	1880s	Aqua	Rectangular	9.25" x 3" x 2"	$15.00

Bottle Views (click to enlarge):

Front	Back	Side	Side	Bottom
Scott's Emulsion		With Lime & Soda	Cod Liver Oil	8

Scott's Emulsion got its start in the early 1870's as a product of the Scott & Platte Company out of New York. That company split in the mid 1870s and became the Scott & Bowne company. Their emulsion was a specially processed ("emulsified") Cod Liver Oil, with "phosphites" of lime and soda. Their processing method was said to render the cod liver oil into something "as palatable as milk", but I doubt you'd want to drink a cold glass of it.

It was advertised nationwide as a tonic for the blood, a cure for "wasting", general weakness, respiratory infections of all kinds, and various other ailments. Here are some examples from the late 1800s. Click to enlarge:



Here's a longer ad / article extolling its virtues:


In later years, they became associated with a logo with a man and a large fish. This image even appeared on the bottles in the 1930's, though this example predates that image and is from the 1880s or perhaps 1890s. The "8" on the bottom appears to be a mold number.



Unlike a lot of patent medicines of the period, this one actually had some real nutritive value, since it was made from cod liver oil. It was an excellent source of vitamins A and D, along with certain essential fatty acids. Perhaps because of this, the medicine has actually survived and is still being sold to the present day. You can even find it on Amazon.

This example was in pretty good shape to start with, so the before and after didn't change much. Just a light cleaning with soap and water and a brush.



* Value is based on sold eBay listings at the time of posting, and varies with condition.

 

[Limitool]

Great job Robert with the post and info. Surely you can see a big dent now in collection with researched bottles out now. Which leads too.... are you labeling each bottle researched for reference later...? When your done a couple of large display cases with info for each would be amazing to see.

 

[robertk]

Surely you can see a big dent now in collection with researched bottles out now.

Well, there's a decent dent in the easy ones. There's still a lot left to go. Though there is one particular kind of bottle that seems pretty generic that there are a couple dozen duplicates of, so that one by itself will make a big dent when I get to it.

are you labeling each bottle researched for reference later...?

Oh it's even worse than that. I've got labels, a database, and I'm even considering making an app (or web page) to manage them. I have even tested making little tags to go in front of the bottles (like you used to see price tags on shelves under things) with the database reference and a QR code so you can point your phone at it and get the TreasureNet post about it. That worked well, so I'll probably do that for all of them at some point.

When your done a couple of large display cases with info for each would be amazing to see.

It's going to be a while, but yeah, that's the plan. I already have one regular bookcase full of the ones I've identified, but there are still a lot more left on the big table.