i have found a really old bottle of medicine under my floor boards?
Posted on March 12, 2008
Filed Under History |
steve m asked:
it says GUM ARABIC (cleaned) hunter-penrose ltd,wholesale chemists,109 farringdon rd,london EC.
this bottle looks really old it still has the cork in the top and the medice inside . it has never been opened. what was this for and the important question is , is it worth anything as i know some old bottles are worth a nice some of money
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13 Responses to “i have found a really old bottle of medicine under my floor boards?”
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dunno, but try typing the name into yahoo search and see what comes up
As to its worth I don’t know.
Someone might want to buy it who is a collector of apothecary memorabilia.
It’s not worth jackshit but you could always try it to see if it gives you a buzz!
I would say that an old bottle is definitally worth something, although if it is common, it may only be about $5. You should get it appraised from a dealer.
put it on ebay
Gum Arabic is a natural gum also called gum acacia, is a substance that is taken from two sub-Saharan species of the acacia tree, Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal. It is used primarily in the food industry as a stabilizer, but has had more varied uses in the past, including viscosity control in inks. Its E number is E-414.
Gum arabic is a complex mixture of saccharides and glycoproteins, which gives it one of its most useful properties: it is perfectly edible. Other substances have replaced it in situations where toxicity is not an issue, as the proportions of the various chemicals in gum arabic vary widely and make its reliable performance troublesome. Still, it remains an important ingredient in soft drink syrups, “hard” gummy candies like gumdrops, and in marshmallows. As the name implies, gum arabic is also found in chewing gums, where it acts as one of the many factors that result in the texture of the gum. For artists it is the traditional binder used in watercolor paint, and was used in photography for gum printing. Pharmaceuticals and cosmetics also use the gum, and it is used as a binder in pyrotechnic compositions. It is an important ingredient in shoe polish. It is also used often as a lickable adhesive on postage stamps and cigarette papers. Printers employ it to stop oxidation of aluminum printing plates in the interval between processing of the plate and its use on a printing press.
The substance is grown commercially throughout the Sahel from Senegal and Sudan to Somaliland.
As for the bottle, I am uncertain of what it would be worth without a photo to acertain condition. A search on e-bay should bring you an idea of what it could be auctioned for.
it is not a medicine it is a glue.sure it iwll be worth something…. what i have not idea
I wonder why it was under the floorboards.
Some chemists have displays of old stuff in their shops. I cannot see them paying much for this bottle though.
It seems you have a Victorian product. The address of the chemists ends with EC. This is a Victorian post-code from about 1870s-1890s [approx], after that numbers were added following the expansion of London.
Gum Arabic is what the label says, a form of gum.
The product you have was probably used in the print trade.
You can try Hunter Penrose Supplies Ltd Tel 020 7407 5051
Also go to the John Jarrold Printing Museum on-line, they may have historic info on Hunter-Penrose etc.
Also visit hands-on-pictures.com - where you find out all about water colour printing using Gum Arabic. This printing method developed in the 1890s.
What you may have is a bottle of Gum-Arabic used by an early photographer who may have lived in your house. The gum in question was used for printing of photographs.
The printing method of early photographs dates from the 1850s.
gum Arabic is used in watercolour painting, it is not a medicine, and my guess is that its not very old either i wouldn’t give up your day job just yet its probably not worth that much!
Resist the temptation to drink it, this is not Alice in Wonderland
Wow sounds like it is really old,you need maybe to take to a chemist and ask what it is first but don’t open it,it may be worth a few pound.