Label Under Glass

Valerian Root and Capsaicin Bottles

Label Under Glass bottles
Label Under Glass bottles enjoyed their peak popularity from the 1800's to the early 1900's. They were used for storage of many acids and bases, as well as stock compounding solutions used by many pharmacists of the time.
Label Under Glass apothecary bottles employed an ornate label that was covered by a thin layer of glass to prevent damage to the label. These labels were often gold leafed and were visually attractive as well as funtional. The contents were listed on the label often in Latin, which was the language of medicine up until recent times.

Drugstore Museum Label Under Glass
No drugstore museum would be complete without a display of label under glass bottles. Notice the ornate glass corks as well as the gold leaf around the labels. These were the stock and trade of compounding pharmacists all over the United States.

Drugstore Museum Label Under Glass Bottles
Pharmacists often placed these label under glass bottles in the basement when they were no longer used. This occured in the 1930's or 40's. They often sat in storage until they were either thrown away or placed back into circulation as a collectable.
My father, Bill Soderlund, Sr. threw away a great collection of these back in the 1950's while working for Fred Hay in Camden, Minnesota. Fred wanted to clean the basement up so out they went. This was the sad fate of many of these wonderful label under glass bottles.