Wm S Merrell Chemical Company Fluid Extract

[robertk]

Bottle Vitals​

	Date	Color	Shape	Size (Height x Width x Depth)	Value*
William S Merrell Chemical Company	1880s	Clear	Rectangular	5.5" x 2" x 1.25"	$20.00

Bottle Views (click to enlarge):

Front	Back	Side	Side	Bottom
		(measuring scale)	(measuring scale)	W S M C Co

(This information is largely the same as for the Merrell Fluid Extract Bottle.)

In early part of the 1800s, William S Merrell opened a drug store in Cincinnati Ohio. Like many druggists in those days, it wasn't long before Mr Merrell got into the business of manufacturing his own pharmaceutical preparations. That business expanded and grew into the William S Merrell Chemical Company. Some sources say this company was established by Mr. Merrell's sons after his death in 1880, other sources say it was in the 1860's, and still others say it was in the 1840s. Here are some of the earlier advertisements for the company (click to enlarge):



And here is an article giving their establishment date as 1842. Click to enlarge.



It certainly had to have been in operation in the 1870's because they had two fires -- one in the fall of 1871, then another the following spring. Click to enlarge either article.



The company survived the fires, and survived some financial troubles in the early 1900s, and went on to become a prominent researcher in the 1900s, going through some mergers and name changes before eventually being acquired by Dow chemical and being renamed as Merrell-Dow, which was then eventually sold off to a multinational pharmaceutical company named Sanoli.

The company produced many different tinctures, extracts, and medicines in the 1800s at the time of this bottle. The style of the bottle itself is very similar to this one, from a local pharmacist in Constantine, Michigan, and is probably from the same time period, perhaps even the same glass company. Without a label or other embossing, it is impossible to know exactly which extract was in this bottle, but it was definitely a fluid, as evidenced by the measuring scales on the sides of the bottle.

Here is the before and after cleaning for this one. Click to enlarge.



* Value is pretty much a wild guess on this one. I couldn't find an example of this particular bottle, though there are other bottles from this company that are similarly priced.

 

[Limitool]

As usual Robert great job gathering the info and complying it in this format.