G. P. Weisel Druggist Medicine Bottle

Figure 1: Front panel view.

Here we have yet another medicine bottle, though fairly rare.  Sadly, by the time I rescued the bottle from the river, it appeared to have already been stepped on (note the crack on the front panel) [Figure 1].




The embossment on the front panel is (sideways, from top to bottom):




A sideways G.P. Weisel Druggist trademark above:  G.P. WEISEL / DRUGGIST / FAIRBURY, NEB.




This is very much a local medicine bottle; Dr. G.P. Weisel owned and operated just the single Fairbury, Nebraska drugstore.  Odd, then, that I happened upon one of these bottles near Eudora, Kansas (albeit in one of the oldest bottling areas I've seen so far), over 190 miles away.

Figure 2: Side shoulder/ finish view.

The bottle is mouth-blown, and has a tooled finish [Figure 2].

Figure 3: Base view.

The base embossments read [Figure 3]:

W. T. CO. / L / U. S. A. / PAT. DEC. 11, 1894

The W. T. CO. is the trademark of Whitall Tatum Company.




Because Whitall Tatum Co. had many different sequences of trademarks and base embossments over the years, it is fairly simple to date their prescription bottles.  This bottle was manufactured between the year 1901 and 1920 (when mouth-blown bottle production dramatically decreased).

Figure 4: The Knickerbocker Oval debut.

This particular sequence (W. T. CO. / letter or number / U. S. A.) was often accompanied by the bottle design's patent date, in this case, December 11, 1894, referencing the Knickerbocker Oval prescription bottle design [Figure 4].