The Apothecary Shop and Drug Store

The apothecary shop was the place to buy medicine in the years before the twentieth century. Bottles, cans, wooden boxes, and paper packets held the medicines. The owner dispensed the requested medicine, and there were no required prescriptions from doctors. The apothecary shop became a drug store by the end of the nineteenth century, and […]

Store Collectibles: “Firsts”

Printed matchbook label: “Percussion Matches Manufactured by P. Truesdell, Warsaw, New York. Warranted New Yorker Print” was printed on the first matchbook label, which was made from 1855 to 1857. Cigarette cards: In 1885 Allen and Ginter of Richmond, Virginia, issued ten cigarettes in a box plus a picture card for five cents. These eventually […]

Cabinets

The store cabinet used to store thread or dye may have been refinished, repainted, rehardwared, and reworked, and then found a place in the living room in the 1960s. Today the collector prefers a cabinet that is in good original condition. Old store spool cabinets had very narrow drawers, often with glass on the front. […]

Coffee Mills and Grinders

Until about 1860, coffee drinkers roasted and ground coffee beans at home. Coffee mills were found in grocery stores during the second half of the nineteenth century. The large Enterprise No. 1 Store Mill, patented in 1870, had one side wheel. The two-wheel model was made in 1873. The large floor-model store grinder or the […]

Signs of the Times

Some old store signs were lithographed directly on tin and designed to look like a picture with a frame. They are hard to find in good condition. The Grape Nuts sign featuring a girl and her St. Bernard is one of the best known examples. Any of these early signs that picture an American flag, […]