Antique SOZODONT for the TEETH antique bottle PURE PURPLE mold blown BIM 1890's

Description

A
4 3/4" tall
rectangular-shaped
light PURPLE AMETHYST color
antique
LIQUID TOOTH WASH
bottle.  M
any of these old tooth drops / tooth powder bottles claimed to cure any aliments of the
MOUTH TEETH GUMS BREATH THROAT TOOTH
and this one is no exception.   This is an ORIGINAL ANTIQUE hand
B
lown
I
nto
M
old bottle (
BIM
) with a tooled top, dating it all the way back to the 1800's.
Bottle embossed
:   "
VAN BUSKIRK'S - FRAGRANT SOZODONT - FOR THE TEETH AND BREATH
"
.
Condition
:  This bottle is in GREAT SOLID condition w/ few distractions.   Maybe just a trace of haze or age-wear but NO cracks, chips, dings, damage, etc.  (See photos for overall appearance)
.
Age
:  An ORIGINAL ANTIQUE hand-blown bottle (Blown-In-Mold = BIM) with a tooled top, ca. late
1800's
.
Shipping
:
FREE
domestic shipping,
includes
insurance.   We do NOT insure International orders unless buyer specifically requests this and we are able to provide an insurance estimate.  If an international shipping charge is much more than the actual shipping cost, we will refund the excess so what YOU pay for shipping/insurance is very close to, if not exactly, the ACTUAL shipping costs! This is important for foreign buyers to know as most of our foreign shipping charges are estimates.  We do not falsify information on the Customs Form, such as a price other than what the actual purchase price is, so please do not request us to do so. We ship several times a week and your prompt payment will hasten the turn-around time.
A good old antique TOOTH POWDER bottle.  In doing some research on this product we find that it was first created in 1859 by Roswell Van Buskirk of NJ. The name of this product
SOZODONT
isn't just an interesting sounding name but is related to early dentistry. For example, the Greek word "
SOZO
" means "
TO SAVE
" and the Greek word "
DONTIA
" means teeth. So this title of this product meant that it was '
TO SAVE THE TEETH
'!  However, shortly into 1900, negative reports by dentists about the product were published and the product faded from distribution. All that remains today are just a few of these old bottles.   Note the purple color of this one.  You hear about old glass turning purple
...
the purple color is the result of having manganese in the glass.  Manganese is a mineral, a rock, that was mined, crushed, and pulverized into a powder, then added to vats of molten liquid glass, and acted as a decolorizing agent to turn the natural aqua-tinted glass into a pure crystal clear colorless glass.   Then it was blown into a mold to create a bottle like this.   But when exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun or other sources of UV rays, it triggers a chemical reaction and the manganese starts to oxidize and slowly turns a lavender or amethyst color.   The end result is what collectors refer to as SCA (Sun Colored Amethyst) glass. The longer it is in the sun the purpler it becomes.  This bottle has been exposed to a high heat/light source to enrich the purple color that would naturally occur if exposed to sun light for a prolonged period of time.  I
t has not been colored, stained, or altered, as no matter if a bottle has turned purple by direct sunlight or UV rays in controlled environment, they all turn the same purple color as it is the same chemical reaction taking place.   The only difference is the time it took to turn purple.  Most importantly is that a bottle is old enough to begin with, as with few exceptions,
only clear glass bottles from before 1915
have manganese in them and will turn SCA.
After this, with the start of WWI, manganese was no longer available as foreign imports decreased and domestic resources turned towards the war effort.   Selenium sulphate then replaced manganese as a glass de-colorizer and when exposed to UV rays, it turns a yellow / straw color, and a dark burnt amber color
.
Generally speaking NO MORE purple glass after 1915!
Not only does this deep purple/amethyst color make this a great looking antique bottle, but it also authenticates it as being truly antique.
Many of the collectors of antique dental items like this, are dentists, building small collections of quality antique dental products to display in their waiting rooms and offices.  This one is
just this sort of thing
,
check it out!
* * NOTE:  We have a collection of antique DENTAL, TOOTH, TEETH related bottles and items that we are selling off.  Our father was a dentist and we collected these bottles over many years' time.  Some are quite rare and others are common but top end examples.  Please check our listings as we will work at listing the whole collection.  Feel free to contact us with questions.
Terms of Sale
:   Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction. We put our 30+ years of experience in antiques to use in describing every item we list. Items are sold in a store front format and your purchase is a binding contract, so please don't be hasty when looking over the listing. We find that communication is the key to successful transactions so PLEASE completely read the item description AND ask questions before purchasing,
thank you
!
6657-60x, 4511-14x
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