L.Q.C. Wishart’s / Pine Tree / Tar Cordial / Phila / Patent / (Tree) / 1859 (11 oz)

L.Q.C. Wishart’s

Pine Tree Tar Cordial Phila

Patent (Pictorial Tree)1859

Dr. Lucius Q. C. Wishart, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Large Square Green Glass Medicine

Provenance: Chris Bubash Collection

Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial bottles are a collector’s favorite because they can be found in a range of beautiful glass colors and the bottles display a prominent embossed pine tree. The bottles were made in at least three sizes: 11-ounce, 16-ounce, and 25-ounce and were most likely blown at Lancaster Glass Works, Lancaster, New York and/or Harmony Glass Works, later Whitney Glass Works, Glassboro, New Jersey.

Our featured example is the large 25-ounce size and is embossed shoulder to base in a sans serif typestyle ‘L.Q.C. WISHART’S’ on the first side panel. ‘PINE TREE TAR CORDIAL PHILA., in three lines, occurs on the second panel. The third panel has the pictorial embossed pine tree with ‘PATENT’ in a shallow arc above the tree and ‘1859’ embossed beneath in a straight line. The fourth panel is blank and is where the proprietor placed his paper label. The square bottle has beveled corners and an applied sloping collared mouth and has a smooth base.

Although only one mold has so far been determined for the 25-ounce bottle, there are at least three for the pint and five for the 11-ounce sizes. In no two molds are the pine trees identical. The expansive glass color range includes yellow greens, olive yellow, lime green, grass green, emerald, blue greens, teal blue, medium sapphire blue, golden amber, amber, and aquamarine. See some outstanding glass colors and labeled examples.

The Lancaster Glass Works, established in 1849 at Lancaster, near Buffalo, and operated until about 1908, is said to have been one of the source of bottles made for Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial. Whenever made, presumably the first were produced in 1859 for Lucius Q. C. Wishart; those without “TRADEMARK” were used through 1873 when Lucius sold his interest in the cordial, or a new firm was formed for which H. R. Wishart, his son, patented the trademark.

Lucius Q. C. Wishart started his paint dealer and grocery business in 1856 located at No. 10 South Second Street in Philadelphia. After patenting and introducing his Pine Tree Tar Cordial to the public in 1859, he entered the field of patent medicines. He soon moved to larger facilities at No. 232 North Second Street. About 1861, he placed Dr. Wishart’s Great American Dyspepsia Pills on the market, and in 1865, Dr. Wishart’s Worm Sugar Drops. From 1860 through 1873, his listings in the city directories include “patent medicine,” “druggist,” or “physician.” In 1874 he was a mere “salesman.”

Wishart’s son, Henry R. Wishart, inherited the Pine Tree Tar Cordial brand about 1870 and soon sold it to Philadelphia druggists Harry C. Campion and his son, John W. Campion. John’s brother Franklin joined them, and the firm was called the Campion Brothers until 1897 when Franklin retired. J. W. Campion and Co. were still selling Pine Tree Tar Cordial into the 1900s. It was advertised for “Consumption of the Lungs, Cough, Sore Throat and Breast, Bronchitis, Liver Complaint, Blind and Bleeding Piles, Asthma, Whooping Cough and Diphtheria, & c.”

Primary Image: Large size, 25-ounce and small 11-ounce “L.Q.C. Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial Phila Patent (Tree) / 1859” bottles imaged on location by Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Midwest Studio.

Support: Reference to American Bottles and Flasks and Their Ancestry by Helen McKearin and Kenneth M. Wilson, Crown Publishers, New York, 1978.

Support: Reference to Dr. L.Q.C. Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordials from the Marshall Collection, Peachridgeglass.com, June 21, 2013

Support Image: Auction Lot 229: “L.Q.C. Wishart’s / Pine Tree / Tar Cordial. / Phila / Patent / (Pine Tree) / 1859” Medicine Bottle, America, 1860-1880. Square with beveled corners, bright olive yellow, applied sloping collared mouth – smooth base, ht. 7 1/2 inches. AAM pg. 575 A beautiful color, strong embossing and a pristine exterior surface highlight this example. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #177

Support Image: Auction Lot 126: Two “L.Q.C. Wishart’s / Pine Tree / Tar Cordial / Phila / Patent / (Tree) / 1859” Medicine Bottles, America, 1860-1880. Square with beveled corners, shades of bluish green, applied sloping collared mouths – smooth bases, ht. 8 inches and 9 1/2 inches; (smaller example has been professionally cleaned with light remaining wear marks). AAM pg. 575 Both examples have bold embossing and very different tree forms. Large example is in fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #164

Support Image: Auction Lot 30: “L.Q.C. Wishart’s / Pine Tree / Tar Cordial / Phila / Patent / (Tree) / 1859” Medicine Bottle, America, 1860-1880. Square with beveled corners, medium blue green, applied sloping collared mouth – smooth base, ht. 9 3/4 inches. AAM pg. 576 Bright, clean and bubbly. Fine condition. – Norman Heckler Jr. & Sr., Norman C. Heckler & Company, Auction #119

Support Image: Auction Lot 153: “L.Q.C. WISHART’S – PINE TREE / TAR CORDIAL / PHILA. – PATENT” / (motif of a North American pine tree), Pennsylvania, ca. 1860 – 1855, deep olive yellow, 7 5/8”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. Two tiny flakes are off panel edges. Nice glass whittle and plenty of air bubbles. This is one of the earliest (and rarest) of the Wishart’s Pine Tree bottles that lacks the ‘1859’ date beneath the tree. Howard Crowe Collection. – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions, Auction #161

Support Image: Auction Lot 154: “L.Q.C. WISHART’S – PINE TREE / TAR CORDIAL / PHILA. – PATENT” / (motif of a North American pine tree) / 1859”, Pennsylvania, ca. 1865 – 1875, yellow amber with olive tone, 7 1/2”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. Perfect condition, rare color and plenty of air bubbles. Identical tree to lot 153 but on a slightly later bottle. Howard Crowe Collection. – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions, Auction #161

Support Image: Auction Lot 155: “L.Q.C. WISHART’S – PINE TREE / TAR CORDIAL / PHILA. – PATENT” / (motif of a North American pine tree) / 1859”, Pennsylvania, ca. 1865 – 1875, medium yellowish citron color, 7 5/8”h, smooth base, applied tapered collar mouth. A tiny flake is off the edge of a side panel, otherwise in pristine perfect condition. A rare color for this earlier mould and has plenty of trapped air bubbles. Identical tree to lot 153 and 154. Howard Crowe Collection. – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions, Auction #161

Support Image: Auction Lot 176: “L.Q.C. WISHART’S – PINE TREE / TAR CORDIAL / PHILA. – TRADE” / (motif of an American pine tree) / “MARK”, Pennsylvania, ca. 1885 – 1900, deep reddish amber, 9 1/2”h, smooth base, tooled tapered collar mouth. Pristine perfect condition and the only mould example found in amber. This is the first of four bottles with the ‘Trade Mark’ embossing, but lacking the ‘1859’ date. They are the last bottles produced by L.Q.C. Wishart. Howard Crowe Collection. – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions, Auction #161

Support Image: Auction Lot 179: “L.Q.C. WISHART’S – PINE TREE / TAR CORDIAL / PHILA. – TRADE” / (motif of an American pine tree) / “MARK”, Pennsylvania, ca. 1885 – 1900, light to medium sapphire blue, 9 3/4”h, smooth base, tooled tapered collar mouth. A tiny flake is off a shoulder panel and some minor scattered scratches are on a label panel. You are bidding on what many consider to be the rarest and most important color found in any Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial bottle! You want to check the auction records on this one! Howard Crowe Collection. – Jim Hagenbuch, Glass Works Auctions, Auction #161

Support Image: Dr. L.Q.C. Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial reputedly cured Consumption of the Lungs, Cough, Sore Throat, etc., etc. The firm began to market its product in 1859, but private die stamps were not issued until 1875. They were last issued on November 13, 1882. 50,455 were printed on silk paper and 130,395 on pink and watermarked papers. Some were left imperforate, but most were die cut. The perforation varieties have their own catalog numbers. The imperforate copy is on watermarked paper, and the die cut copy is on pink paper. A card proof of the Wishart stamp. – rdhinstl.com

Support Image: Trade-Mark (No. 2,042) registration on October 27, 1874, for H. R. Wishart and his “Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial.” – Library of Congress

Support Image: Circa 1868 advertisement for Dr. L. Q. C. Wishart’s Pine Tree Tar Cordial. – Library of Congress

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