A rare-colored USA Hospital bottle recently turned up in ebay, creating quite a bidding frenzy. The 3″ tall deep puce cylinder closed at $732 thanks to plenty of bidding. This example did appear to be dug, had weak embossing and a minor lip flake but rightly had lots of interest. We do feel if the color had been lighter and this had otherwise been a choice example that the selling price would have been much higher.
Bottles marked with “USA Hosp. Dept” or “USA Med’l Dept” are believed to have been produced during the Civil War for carrying medical liquids. Research by bottle collector and Civil War researcher Mike Russell suggests that these bottles were made at Baltimore, MD; Pittsburgh, PA and possibly St. Louis, MO glass houses.
These bottles are often found in clear and aqua but are scarce and highly prized by collectors in the many other colors in which they were made, especially cobalt blue, shades of amber, yellow, olive and other greens. The puce colored example is a rarity indeed; while it may not be unique, we do not recall seeing such an example in several major collections which have sold in the past 20 years.
Love studying the civil war and I’m also a bottle collector. Have a dream of owning one of those USA hospital bottles one day. Nice bottle
I came across a U S A MED’L DEPT bottle. It is about 9 inches tall and the aqua color. In good shape except for some discoloring. Any value to this bottle or is it common?
Definitely has value but not like those of more desirable colors. If you post a photo or two over at my forum (http://forum.antiquebottles-glass.com) I will offer my two cents as to value.