Antique Bottles
Updated September 2, 2026
| Lot number | 206 |
| Category | Antiques & Furniture |
| Auction | Beaver Estate |
| Date | September 16, 2026 at 7:00 PM EDT |
| Auction house | Doran Auctions |
| Location | Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania |
Lot of three antique bottles. The small bottle with the dog on it appears to be a glass baby doll bottle. These were made by Amsco Doll E Toys. The second small bottle is marked Kemps Balsam. Kemps Balsam was a patent medicine of the 1800s. Patent medicine is often referred to as snake oil or quack medicine. Going down the Kemps rabbit hole lead me to discover that there is no balsam in this stuff. The active ingredients were chloroform and prussic acid. Prussic acid is better known as cyanide. Chloroform and cyanide, good for what ails ya. The last bottle is a Jamaica Ginger bottle. This was also marketed as a patent medicine. Jamaica Ginger, while not containing cyanide, was roughly 94% alcohol. That's 188 proof. During prohibition, high proof alcohol was often sold as a patent medicine. "No, no, I'm not three sheets to the wind at 10AM on a Wednesday, I'm just medicated." We don't advise trying that excuse at your workplace, HR has zero sense of humor. This time period must have been wild. Chloroform, cyanide and 188 proof alcohol were cure alls.
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