Harvey’s Prairie Bitters

Harvey’s Prairie Bitters

PATENTED

H 67

March & Harvey, Chicago, Illinois

Old Amber Fancy Square

Provenance: Anonymous

Without a doubt, Harvey’s Prairie Bitters is one of the greatest bottles ever produced with four indented panels, protruding cobbed shoulders, and a standing barrel motif on the sides. Each of the three side panels is embossed, ‘HARVEY’S’, ‘PRAIRIE’, and ‘BITTERS’. The fourth panel is blank and is where a label may have been placed. The word ‘PATENTED’ is embossed horizontally on one of the tapered and curved shoulders. These bottles are both extremely desirable and rare.

We can find very few references for this bitters though there is a listing for Marsh & Harvey, 12 State under Bitters Manufacturers in the 1865 Chicago Illinois City Directory. Marsh & Harvey is incorrect, it should be March & Harvey.

In the same 1865 Chicago directory, Christian G. March is the proprietor of C. G. March & Co., wholesale wines and liquors at 12 State. Squire T. Harvey is listed as working for Agar, March & Co. who were commission merchants located at 12 State. The partners were John Agar, Christian G. March, Squire T. Harvey, and David Porter.

Earlier that same year, trouble brewed in Chicago Circuit Court as papers in a suit of trespass on the case were filed by Squier T. Harvey against his ex-partner Christian G. March. “Plaintiff alleged that he and the defendant were partners in wines, &c. and also the proprietors of the Harvey’s Prairie Bitters. That a few months ago their partnership was dissolved, when defendant published defamatory matter, consisting of a telegram addressed to J. M. McCormick, of Paxton, Ill. and others, to the following effect: “Don’t pay Harvey on any orders for anything, on account fraud. – C. J. March”

Squire T. Harvey started out in Chicago in 1862 and would move on after Harvey’s Prairie Bitters and preside over one of the largest wholesale liquor houses in the west based out of Chicago. His later years were spent both in Salt Lake City and Chicago where he died in 1902.

Our museum example of a Harvey’s Prairie Bitters bottle shades from its deep old amber color base, shoulder, and neck areas to a considerably lighter center and even lighter yellow-amber corners. It is very crude with a number of seed bubbles and a pronounced body twist. The example is ex: Judge Blaske, Dr. Burton Spiller, and Ferdinand Meyer V Collections. The same bottle is pictured in ‘The Encyclopedia of Collectibles’, page 141.

The new listing in Bitters Bottles Supplement 3 is as follows:

H 67 HARVEY’S // PRAIRIE // BITTERS // f // // s // patterned // PATENTED // patterned // patterned //
9 ½  x 3 ¼ (6)
Square, Amber, Four indented panels, protruding cobbed shoulders, and a standing barrel motif on the sides. LTC, Applied mouth, Very rare
1865 Chicago Illinois City Directory: Marsh & Harvey (should be March & Harvey), Bitters Manufacturers, Harvey’s Prairie Bitters, 12 State. Christian G. March and Squire T. Harvey. 1 year only. The partnership dissolved in mid-1865.

Primary Image: Harvey’s Prairie Bitters imaged by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio by Alan DeMaison.

Support: Reference to Bitters Bottles by Carlyn Ring and W. C. Ham. Use of Harvey’s Prairie Bitters illustration and Bitters Bottles Supplement image courtesy Bill Ham

Read More: Not Brown – Old Amber “Harvey’s Prairie Bitters” at Peachridge Glass

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