An unlisted Indian Queen Bitters?
by James Viguerie
13 February 2014 (R•040819)
OK, maybe it is listed. This ebay listing might be Ring & Ham I 21 in Bitters Bottles, or a slight variation of it. Too bad it is not an unlisted figural variation. This one looks like it is from Pittston, Pennsylvania and not Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania as is noted in I 21 (see below).
The listing may want to be updated in Bitters Bottles Supplement 2.
I 21 L … Indian Queen Bitters
// I // CAP. 21 3/4 OZ // c //
Metropole Drug Company, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Pittston, Pennsylvania
Round, Clear, ABM
Tonics Were Cocktails, Metropole Drug Co. – Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, 1921
I did a quick check on the Metropole Drug Company. They had some trouble with the law in 1921. It seems they exceeded the allowed alcohol level being that Prohibition was in effect. I wonder what the level was…?
Tonics Were Cocktails – Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, 1921
Their legal problems did not stop them from submitting a couple of patents a few years later. They had patent 151,279 for a General tonic on November 20, 1923.
Metropole Drug Company, General Tonic patent 151,279 – United States Patent Office, 1923
And patent 180,243 for a Tonic on February 26, 1924
General Tonic patent 180,243, Metropole Drug Company – Index of Patents Issued From the United States Patent Office, 1924
Detail of cork. Notice the Indian wrapper piece. – ebay
Read More on Indian Queens:
Looking closer at the Brown’s Celebrated Indian Herb Bitters
Mohawk Whiskey Pure Rye Indian Queen
Why do we call the bottles the ‘Indian Queen?’
H. Pharazyn Indian Queen – Philadelphia
Ladies & Gents…The Kansas City Queen
