Early 1900s Amber Apothecary Bottle THE N.D. CO National Drug Company Philadelphia Square Wide Mouth - Measures 6.5" height x 3" width ... Includes FREE SHIPPING. Note the projected collectibles, vintage, antiques, and memorabilia, U.S. market shows substantial growth on-average 6.5% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) to reach $280 Billion revenue by 2033.
The Manufacturer: The National Drug Company
The "N.D. CO" mark stands for The National Drug Company, a large pharmaceutical manufacturer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Unlike small local pharmacies that ordered customized bottles for their specific shop, The National Drug Company was a major supplier that manufactured medicines on a larger scale for distribution to doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies across the country.
They were most active in the early-to-mid 20th century. They produced a wide variety of standard medical compounds, vaccines, and tablets. Historical catalogs from the 1930s show them selling items like "Bismuth Zinc Phenolsulfonate" (for digestion) and various iodine tinctures.
The company was eventually acquired in the latter half of the 20th century (part of the wave of pharmaceutical mergers that created modern giants like Sanofi and Pfizer).
Dating the Bottle (1915–1935)
The bottle sits in a specific transition period in glass manufacturing. Here is how we can narrow down the date:
The "Finish" (Lip): The top of your bottle (shown in the third photo) has a wide, flat, ring-shaped lip. This is a cork finish, meaning it was designed to be closed with a cork stopper rather than a screw cap. While screw caps became the standard in the 1930s, many chemical and tablet bottles retained cork closures slightly longer.
Manufacturing Style: The bottle appears to be machine-made rather than mouth-blown. You can tell this by the crispness of the embossing and the smooth, consistent base (older, mouth-blown bottles often have a rough scar or a circle indent called a "pontil mark" on the bottom).
The Mark: Collectors differentiate between a later "monogram" logo (intertwined letters) used in the 1940s/50s and this clear "THE N.D. CO" text, which is generally associated with their earlier 20th-century packaging (1910s-1930s).
What Did It Contain?
Because this is a wide-mouth square bottle, it most likely held pills, tablets, or powders.
Liquid medicines usually came in narrow-neck bottles to make pouring easier.
Wide-neck bottles like yours were designed so a pharmacist or doctor could easily reach in with a spatula or tweezers to remove tablets.
The amber color was functional, not just decorative; it protected light-sensitive chemicals from degrading in sunlight.
Summary for Your Collection
This is a classic "industrial" pharmaceutical bottle. While it doesn't have the high monetary value of 1800s "snake oil" or "bitters" bottles (which are often crude, colorful, and mouth-blown), it is a solid piece of medical history from the era when medicine was moving from the local apothecary shop to large-scale industrial manufacturing.