Monday, February 10, 2014

S&K Italian Cream

Here is a medicine which is a complete mystery to me. I was recently dug in a western state in 1870s context. It came out of the ground sparkling clean, and was only washed out to pristine condition. This makes two examples of the S&K I have ever seen, with both being dug in either California or Nevada. The obvious "London" would seem to indicate this is an English product, and it very well could be, but I believe the "Injection Ricord. Paris" comes in a western blown version, and since I can find nothing in any of my research materials or on line, I thought I would put it out there to the experts. Anyone out there know anything about this bottle, or dug one?
Thanks, DM



7 comments:

  1. I would bet these are Western. I've dug only a hand full over the years, all in Northern Cal. They also come applied. Very nice find, what a beauty!

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  2. I unearthed a pair of these from a pit in NV, both were very "sick" and had the look of eastern glass. A very neatly made bottle considering the layer in came from. D. Storey

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  3. I've dug 3 or 4 of them in the Bay Area over the yrs.... and all somewhat stained.. Got one last yr as a matter of fact. As stated in an earlier comment, surprisingly neatly made considering the age, which leads me to believe they are Eastern blown. I wouldnt be surprised if Redington, McMillan & Kester, or another big SF drug firm were agents for this product out West.
    The example in the post is the cleanest I've seen. Could it be because of the type of soil it was dug in ??

    AP

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  4. I put S&K Italian Lotion London into a google search. Came up with examples of these bottles were dug in Australia. The interesting thing that came up was several examples were dug from a bordello privy in downtown Los Angeles during the Union Station remodel or upgrade of some sort. It was a arch dig and they placed the age at 1890-1900 of the bordello. That's all I got
    rs

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  5. everything about these looks British to me, especially the lip finish.

    Matt L.

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  6. The specimens I've unearthed have all come from 1880s privies. I have only seen clean ones, some in soil so harsh that even some of the western stuff was stained. My guess - agents in the west, blown in europe somewhere but not england, home of notoriously shitty glass.

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