History

• There were thousands of medicine vials manufactured in the olden days, as well as doctors by the thousands who distributed their own supposed cures in a bottle. Vials contained elixirs, syrups, extracts, balms or mysterious ointments from the Orient, all basic cures for common human ailments. Some solutions included controversial ingredients such as cocaine, opium and chloroform.
  
  

Collectibles

• Vials that are in mint condition, which were never opened and contain now-illegal ingredients are highly collectible, with values in the hundreds of dollars. It is rare to find these types of vials intact. Once cocaine became illegal, the vials were sometimes destroyed, or the ingredients inside were confiscated. During Prohibition, if there was genuine alcohol in the medicine, these vials were also confiscated.
  
  

Markings and Colors

• Markings molded onto the glass vial without a label are collectible if worded with rare, now-illegal ingredients such as marijuana, cocaine or opium. Rare vial colors are deep olive green, citrine, yellow and cobalt blue. More common colors are amber or dark brown. Tubular shapes are very collectible.
  
  

Pontil Bases

• The base of an antique medicine vial sometimes adds to the appeal and value. Most glass antique medicine vials were made from hand-blown glass. These vials were made during the time before factory production in mass quantities. An open pontil base on the bottom of the bottle will indicate age. That is the part where the stem was broken off while being glass-blown. An open pontil will look like a hollowed round indentation in the glass.
  
  

Civil War Era

• Bottles from the Civil War have pontil bases. They are quite collectible, because they are considered a crossover collectible. They belong in three collecting categories: antique medicine bottles, glass collectibles and Civil War antiques. Citron color, which is a translucent yellow, is considered rare for medicine bottles from the Civil War.