Posted 9 years ago
SpiritBear
(813 items)
Here's what I know: In 1833, Dr. Merchant, a Lockport druggist, started this liniment. Morris Tucker then joins in, and Morris turns out to be a wonderful advertiser.
Apparently, he sent a satin-lined oak box of 12 bottles to the Sultan of Turkey who never thanked them. This let him get quite easily away with this trade-card I picked up for my own bottle of it that I had dug (my bottle being 1890s-1900s) from the Bottle Club I'm in.
What's odd is that Tucker's name does not appear on this. Instead, it has John Hodge on it-- secretary (as said on my card) until 1886. But Tucker is responsible for not only the card's design, but also the slogan "For Man & Beast."
Hodge was an even better advertiser, helping the product go global and advertising in every place that he possibly could for the product that actually worked.
My lithographed card was done by G. H. Dunston Lithography of Buffalo, New York.
Later, yellow-wrapped meant "For Beast." "For Man" was the white-wrapped bottles.
I was also asked if I'd sell my bottle. So I pointed out that it's common even in this color. As it turns out, in my town the green one is rarely dug. Still, it's the closest thing to a "true" blob that I've dug intact.
Oh, BTW, check by the guy at right-- just by his knee toward the right of the card. See a bear-cub? Someone may have had a sense of humour.