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Foster, Milburn & Co. | Buffalo, New York
Orrin Foster and Thomas Milburn began their patent medicine business in Toronto in the 1870s and established an office in Buffalo, New York. Burdock Blood Bitters became one of their advertised remedies. Surviving trade cards show the firm using colorful illustrations and testimonials to reach customers through drugstores. An example in The Henry Ford’s collection is dated circa 1885.
The company marketed the bitters as a “blood purifier” for complaints ranging from digestive trouble to fatigue. The name pointed to burdock root; a later, circa 1920 example in the Smithsonian’s collection also identifies yellow dock, dandelion, senna, cascara bark, and goldenseal. That later ingredient record does not establish the exact recipe that filled this earlier bottle. Period advertising even addressed women directly with claims about dyspepsia, sleeplessness, and constipation. These were historical sales claims, not established medical benefits.
Imagine it on a late Victorian drugstore shelf: the embossed name made the product recognizable even after its paper label was gone, while the small irregularities in the glass recorded how this particular bottle was made.
Dating: Circa 1885–1895 is my best estimate from the applied top and the firm’s documented advertising in that period. The available evidence does not support assigning it a single exact year.
Details
- Height: 8½ inches
- Applied top
- Burdock Blood Bitters embossing, with Buffalo on one side and Foster Milburn Co. on the other
- Numerous bubbles and twists, especially through the shoulder and neck
Condition
- No chips, cracks, or scratches
- Small patches of faint haze in two or three interior corners
- Overall bright and shiny
