LETTERS
to the Editor
Joe, We Miss You! Dear Editor, I was saddened to hear of Joe Widman’s passing. I miss his knowledge of antique medicines and glass and his articles on what he called “neat bottles.” I like all the articles in The Medicine Chest from all the authors, from Dr. Cannon on. Joe wrote in your magazine in September 2021 that it would be his last article. Who would ever know of the medicine bottles out there, like “Works Like A Charm,” and “Common Sense Colic Cure,” without Joe Widman. Joe was very helpful in my collecting of Michigan medicines. He once found for me a special bottle, a very rare Mixer’s Scrofula Syrup, hinge mold, 1870s, no ‘Cancer’ on the bottle from Hastings, Mich. (The bottle is always embossed with the word, “Cancer.”) We would talk on the phone and at shows. Joe was at all the National shows. Joe, you will be missed all over the country and especially here in Michigan. Thank you, Joe, for the keeping the fun in bottle collecting. Gordon Hubenet Michigan Medicine Collector PS: I will be starting a new company “Widman’s Best” — The Common Sense Covid Cure. Editor’s note: Joe Widman served as coauthor of the Medicine Chest column from January, 2019 through September, 2021. He was an avid collector of early medicine bottles ranging from common to very rare. Joe had a particular affinity towards those ebottles embossed with unusual, absurd, or unique sayings. He will be greatly missed.
2
Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
The Bird Takes Flight
Dr. Mauro: Unique?
Hi, John,
Hi, John,
I enjoyed Robert Strickhart’s article on Bird Bitters in the November issue. My brain started churning and I recognized the address on the bird bitters bottle (400 N 3rd St. Philadelphia).
I’m sending you an email with attached photographs (next page, top) of a bottle Tom and I found on a permission dig at a construction site in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The digging area was all primarily from the 1880s to early 1890s.
I knew I had a Mishler’s Herb Bitters with the same address (top), which I thought was from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The other bottle I dug up was a Mexican Medicine Co. (above) with the same address. I don’t know much about this 400 N 3rd St. company. Maybe it was called the Mexican Medicine Co. I thought it was odd that this company sold all three of these bottles. Mike Lehman Dillsburg, Pennsylvania
This bottle is teal green, shaped similarly to a Dr. Harter’s Wild Cherry Bitters, but has a very unique pedestal-style base. It is embossed on both sides, “DR. MAURO’S - HERB TONIC.” It has an applied top, an awesome color, and no chips or cracks. It does have some minor spotty content haze inside and some overall areas of lighter irridescence. Both of us have done some research and believe this bottle is from Chicago. I’m set up with Newspapers.com and there
