River Swamp Chill & Fever Cure - Large Example
by Bill Baab
If you collect cures, then the 1884 River Swamp Chill & Fever Cure, with embossed alligator, is probably your heart’s desire, unless one is already in your collection.
There are two sizes – large and small – of the amber bottle from Augusta, Georgia. Noted cure collector John Wolf, of Dayton, Ohio, said the small size measures 6-3/8 inches tall by 2-1/4 by 4-1/4 inches. The large size measures 7 by 2-5/8 by 3/4 inches, he said.
The small size is the most common, with an estimated three dozen located in collections around the country. There are fewer than 1-1/2 dozen of the larger bottles known.
French emigre and pharmacist Louis A. Gardelle developed the concoction, with the patent medicine first advertised in The Augusta Chronicle in 1884. It was said to cure “dumb chills, chronic chills and chills and fever.”
There also are two “mystery” examples, neither of which have been seen. A collector friend (now deceased) claims to have dug an aqua example. Another collector, Ken Nease, of Claxton, Ga., claims to have dug a cobalt example. When asked if he had not mistaken the cobalt machine-made Frog Pond Chill & Fever Tonic (formerly a cure), Nease replied: “It was sort of hard to forget that alligator!”
There are two varieties: On one, the “swamp” grasses stand straight up. On the other, the grasses are bending, as if in a strong wind.
The Frog Pond Chill & Fever Cure and the later tonic also came in amber bottles. It was first advertised in the local newspaper in 1887 and was developed by Augusta druggists F.A. Beall and J.B. Davenport.
The small size occasionally shows up in auctions and sells for more than $2,500. The last large size was sold in one of Jim Hagenbuch’s Glass Works Auctions and brought $15,000. It was in super mint condition with a heavy strike.
Bill Baab & Bottle
River Swamp Chill & Fever Cure Example
River Swamp Chill & Fever Cure Detail
River Swamp Chill & Fever Cure
Frog Pond Chill & Fever Cure
