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A Beautiful Relic of New Hampshire’s Shaker Medicine Trade
Imagine a New England household in the middle of the nineteenth century: a wood stove warming the room, a medicine shelf stocked with herbal preparations, and a corked bottle promising renewed strength and relief from everyday ailments. This handsome No. 1 Shaker Syrup bottle from Canterbury, New Hampshire, belongs to that world.
Standing 7⅝ inches tall, this example combines bold embossing, luminous aqua glass, a substantial applied top, and an abundance of original manufacturing character. Light catches its rippled surfaces and countless seed bubbles, making the glass appear almost alive—as though those little bubbles are still rising through it.
Identification and Estimated Date
Embossed:
“No. 1 / Shaker Syrup”
“Canterbury N.H.”
This bottle is associated with Corbett’s Shaker Compound Concentrated Syrup of Sarsaparilla, produced by the Canterbury Shaker community.
Estimated date: circa 1860–1880. Its mouth-blown construction, applied collar, and smooth, unpontiled base are consistent with this period. The base has a smooth domed push-up rather than a pontil scar, preserving the early bottle’s handmade character while reflecting the transition in glassmaking techniques.
Dr. Thomas Corbett and the Canterbury Shakers
Brother Thomas Corbett (1780–1857) was selected by the Canterbury Shakers to train as a physician in 1813. He became a central figure in the community’s herbal medicine business, developing preparations sold beyond the village throughout the Northeast.
His sarsaparilla syrup remained associated with his name after his death. The medicine trade helped support the Shaker community while carrying its reputation for careful workmanship into homes and drugstores beyond Canterbury.
Shaker sisters also played a substantial role in the community’s medical care, serving as nurses, caregivers, and practitioners. This bottle represents a fascinating intersection of New Hampshire history, communal industry, herbal medicine, and women’s work.
The Syrup and Its Remarkable Advertising
Corbett’s preparation was a sweetened compound herbal syrup built around sarsaparilla. Historical formulas changed over time, but documented ingredients included sarsaparilla root, yellow dock, black cohosh, pokeweed, mayapple, juniper berries, and sugar.
Period advertisements promoted it as a blood purifier and family remedy, claiming benefits for skin complaints, rheumatism, weakness, appetite, and digestion. These sweeping promises reflect the medical beliefs and advertising practices of the nineteenth century.
An 1882 advertisement instructed purchasers to recognize the genuine preparation by the embossed Shaker Syrup name, number, and Canterbury address—making the lettering on this bottle an enduring part of the product’s identity.
Wonderful Handmade Glass
This example offers especially attractive visual character:
Beautiful aqua glass, with deeper blue-green color concentrated along the thicker edges and shoulders.
Strong, readily readable embossing.
A rectangular body with beveled corners and recessed panels.
A substantial applied collar with visible handmade irregularity.
Numerous seed bubbles and scattered elongated bubbles.
Wavy manufacturing striations and rippled surfaces that catch the light beautifully.
A smooth, unpontiled base with a domed push-up.
The original bubbles, waviness, and irregularities give this bottle its distinctive personality. It rewards being turned slowly in the light, revealing new details from every angle.
Condition
Excellent, near-mint condition, with one tiny localized haze spot.
No chips.
No cracks.
No scratches.
One approximately pea-sized patch of haze on the back panel.
Otherwise bright, clean, and shiny.
Abundant original manufacturing bubbles, texture, and striations.
Please examine the photographs for the glass character, embossing, applied top, and overall 7⅝ inches.
A striking example of Canterbury Shaker medicinal glass, combining a documented New Hampshire connection with bold lettering, beautiful light-catching texture, and exceptional preservation.
