1. Various bottles from 19th century Horncastle, Louth, Lincoln and Market Rasen veterinary practices. The dark salt glazed champagne shape bottle in the centre is one of my favourites. This one, and the square shouldered example on the right, are shapes more usually associated with ale and porter bottles. The small flask is a shape more commonly used for spirits. The two short necked bottles on the left are, in contrast, a shape that was almost (but not quite) exclusively used by veterinarians.

Most of these are identifiable as veterinary bottles by lettering ranging from the full "Veterinary Surgeon" (on the bottle second from the left) to the brief abbreviation "V. S." The small pot is known to be a veterinary bottle only because of background research which reveals that W. Kemp was a vet.

The tallest of these is just under 8" (20cm) tall.

2. A group of bottles all used by Joseph Clark of Horncastle between the 1830s and 1860s (Clark appears to have gone out of business, after more than 40 years in practice, in 1869 or 1870). These include an unusual bottle with an applied sprig in the shape of a cow. Clark was one of about a dozen veterinarians around the country who are known to have used bottles with elaborate sprigs, although most of the known examples are of horses rather than cows. These must have been expensive bottles to make, and their use seems to have been clustered in rural Lincolnshire (primarily the Horncastle area) and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire such as Oldham and Halifax.

Horncastle was until the mid 20th century the site of the largest horse fair in Europe (so much so that a large part of the local economy was geared towards horse breeding), and this might explain the use of the horse sprigs that are the more common type in that area.

3. A group of bottles of similar form and all with typical 'Chesterfield' type slip glaze, but of different sizes and used by different veterinary practices.

4. A beautiful little salt glazed bottle used by Hodgson of Market Rasen. It was dug on the Scrapyard site in an area dating to the mid to late 1870s, but the bottle is probably between 10 and 30 years older than that. I have not so far been able to find reference to Hodgson in trade directories or census returns.

5. This is a bottle that might excite specialist veterinary collectors.

The slab seal is impressed 'F. CLATER / RETFORD'. Francis Clater of Retford (1756 - 1823) is a famous figure in the history of veterinary medicine, having been the successful author of two important books: 'Every Man his own Cattle Doctor' and 'Every Man his own Farrier'. Both were standard reference works and were in print for over 100 years. The style of the bottle indicates a date in the range from the 1820s - 1860s, and so it is just possible that this was used by Francis Clater's veterinary or chemists and druggists business at the end of his life.

However, it is more likely that this bottle belonged to his grandson, also called Francis Clater, and also a veterinarian and chemist and druggist in Retford, who was in business in the mid to late 19th century.

6. A large bottle used by Darby & Son of Louth. This bottle is approximately one pint capacity, and is identical in size, shape and glaze to bottles used for ale, porter and beer. I also have a much smaller bottle (on the right in picture 3) from the Darby practice, but lacking the "& Son" wording. The smaller one is probably the earlier of the two, but more research is needed.

7. A pair of salt glazed bottles in slightly different sizes, used by Gresswell of Louth. These are earlier than the underglaze printed version below, and probably date to the 1880s - 90s.

8. In contrast to the two salt glazed bottles above, which are also from Gresswell but which have impressed writing, this one is underglaze printed. It is also slightly unusual because, like the 'OLDHAM'S SKIT DRINKS' bottle (12, below), the writing includes the name of the medicine. Shaped like a miniature ginger beer bottle, this dates to about 1900 and has a small "Bourne / Denby" pottery mark.

9. Three 1850s - 1870s period bottles used by W. Richardson of Lincoln. The large one in the centre was dug on the Scrapyard site in 1993 by Brian and Robin Patterson, only 20 feet from the spot where I found the pictorial sprigged Clark and [Market] Rasen bottles. It made it's way to my collection about ten years later. Richardson's was a long-lived business, and at various times he was in partnership with others including Sant (see the bottle below) and Carter.

10. A bottle used by Richardson when he was in partnership with John Sant. There's a nice mis-spelling on this bottle, which is of a shape often associated with early (roughly 1820s - 1840s) beer bottles. I have not yet done the research to date the Richardson & Sant partnership.

11. A slab sealed bottle used by John Sant of Lincoln, probably after he left the partnership with Richardson. The photo isn't great, and this bottle is no longer in my collection so I can't provide a better one at the moment (it was 'sacrificed' as part of a swap deal which added a 'Dr Norris's Drops for Fevers' bottle to my patent medicines collection). The seal reads 'JOHN . SANT / VETERINARY SURGEON / LINCOLN. This is one of only two examples like this known from Sant.

12. An unusual bottle for "J * OLDHAMS / SKIT * DRINKS". Skit is an obsolete word for scour (severe and often fatal diarrhoea) in sheep and cattle. From its style this is likely to date to approximately 1850 - 1880, but I have been unable to find out where J. Oldham was in practice. It's a typical Derbyshire - Notts pottery product.

14. Three glass veterinary bottles from the Lincoln practice of C. Hartley, all dating to approximately 1900. The largest is just over 6.5" tall. These are identical in form to standard medicine bottles and other utility bottles, and are only identifiable as veterinary bottles by the embossing : "C. HARTLEY / VETERINARY SURGEON / LINCOLN". There are slightly different bottles from Hartley which include the acronym M. R. C. V. S. (Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons).