My second to last dig at the
satisfyingly productive construction site produced two siginificant
RI medicines. One was this H.I. Hough Druggsit Olneyville, RI
with an embossed bird! Pictorial druggists from RI are hard to find,
and they usually feature an owl or eagle. This one has a songbird,
making it perhaps the rarest pictorial RI pharmacy bottle!
Another very satisfying find was a Geo.
T. Dana & Co. Druggists Pawtucket, RI. This square medicine
had the embossing on a ribbon topped by a mortar & pestle. Very
nice, and very unlisted!
Walking a tidal river produced yet
another crier this May. A Wm. B. Blanding Providence, RI had
a large hole in the front. It was rectangular and had the WBB
monogram, which made it an earlier unlisted variant.
A fellow CT collector came across some
damaged RI pharmacy bottles that he was kind enough to give me for
free. Among them was an A.B. Briggs Physician & Surgeon
Ashaway, RI. A scarce small
town druggist, Mr. Briggs still managed to crank out a number of
elaborately embossed bottles. This is one of my favorite examples,
and it happens to be unlisted!
On my way back from another successful
trip to Brimfield, I got stuck in the infamous traffic heading
through Sturbridge, Mass. It was a blessing in disguise, however, as
it allowed me to take a good look at a yard sale I had passed by
quite a few times last year. I saw blob sodas, so I pulled over.
Sure enough, some were from RI! At $1 each I didn't complain. A
Frank P. Casey North Smithfield, RI turned out to be a new
variant, with "the property of" embossed above the slugplate.
