Two methods were used for amputation. Knives from the Revolutionary War period and before were curved like a big sickle and used in circular amputations. An original knife of this time period should go for $400-plus as seen at Civil War shows, however rarely. Straight knives were used in the flap method, which is fast and safer for the patient and used today. Dr. Liston and Dr. Syme, circa 1825, encouraged the use of this method and Liston developed large straight knives the style of which bears his name. A third knife, the double-edged Catlin knife, was used for cutting between bones.

The handles of amputation knives were wood, ivory and, rarely, horn or gutta percha—a tropical wood native to Southeast Asia—with checkered or smooth grips. In the 1870s, manufacturers began making these instruments with metal handles for ease of sterilization; however wood-handled instruments were still sold in catalogues early into the 20th century. I sold a set of two amputation knives in their own chamois-lined box by Charrier, circa 1860, for $350 a few years ago. Auction house prices, over the years, are comparable.

These amputation knives by Favre have ebony checkered handles with the maker’s name on the knife near the handle. A set like this should sell for around $300.

Scalpels have a long history and have remained remarkably similar down through the ages: The ancient Egyptians used sharpened obsidian; there is a bas-relief of a set of scalpels on the Temple of Asclepius at Athens in Greece (the temple was founded in 420 BC); and the Romans used a bronze scalpellus, a small light knife, in several blade forms—leaf (which was double edged), straight, bellied, and curved. The Romans also had some double-ended scalpels that must have taken a careful surgeon to use. All the single-ended forms have survived until today except the leaf shape. Roman scalpels have gone for $90 to $400 in online-auctions.

The blades of these two scalpels demonstrate the leaf shape of ancient (circa 300 B.C.) scalpels. Their wood or bone handles have long since disappeared.

The fixed-blad scalpels had handles of bone, ivory, horn or wood until the 1870s, when all-metal medical instruments began to be made. Today, only the blade of the scalpel is metal; the handles now are plastic and are made to be thrown away. Antique fixed-blade scalpels are very low priced in online auctions at $5 to $15 each, but occasionally a popular maker’s name will drive up the price nearer $40.

These four fixed-blade scalpels all have wood handles. The scalpel at the top has a blunt metal end used for blunt tissue dissection.

The folding or pocket scalpel came into its own in the 15th century. It fit in the pocket and because it folded, it stayed sharp and didn’t tear up the physicians’ clothes. These blades fold into tortoise or horn handles. 19th century scalpels have blade stops at 180 degrees and many lock open. They were very finely made.

Folding or roll-up leather wallets were created to carry a number of these and other instruments in the 17th to the 19th century. Early leather wallets are not common and go for $400 or more. And, of course, many surgical sets, including amputation sets, carried folding as well as fixed-blade scalpels. Nineteenth century folding scalpels fetch $45 to $80 each in online auctions. Folding scalpels disappeared at the end of the 19th century.

This style of folding scalpel was in use throughout the 19th century. The curved one at the top is an earlier curved-style with horn handle, while the tortoiseshell-handled scalpels are of a later, straight design. The double scalpel at the bottom is actually two bistouries. Bistouries are scalpels with longer, thinner blades that can be curved or straight.

With these loose instruments, you can fill out an amputation set, a surgical wallet or create a display of “scalpels down through the ages.” Have fun.

Laura Collum is a Worthologist who specializes in decoys, nautical and scientific instruments.

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Finding a display case that meets these concerns is not impossible. One collector friend has a mid Victorian shop display cabinet he uses. It is later than most of his antiques but is very effective for protection and good looks. Ultra-modern cabinets such as Danish modern are effective since their simple lines do not distract from the antiques and many have built-in lighting. I have several old college chemical cabinets I use, as well as a 1940s medical dispensing cabinet for my instruments in my shop. Cabinets will keep out the dust and fingers, so part of the problem is solved.

Leaving this Civil War era amputation kit open all the time will not affect the metal instruments but will impact the fabric lining. But if the fabric lining of the kit is exposured to light for any extended period of time, the fabric can fade and become brittle.

Many medical instruments of the past came in beautiful, fine-wood boxes with fabric linings. Leaving the box open all the time will not affect the metal instruments but will impact the fabric lining. For example, purple velveteen linings in many amputation sets have faded to a pale green where the inside was constantly exposed to light. To avoid this, keep the box closed most of the time and showcase some of the more interesting instruments beside the box or keep lights low most of the time in the room your display inhabits. A closed cabinet, such as an armoire, is a good solution when you only want to display your treasures when guests are over.

When you first bring home your amputation set or dental forceps, oil the metal with a paper towel or lint less cloth to remove surface rust and keep more from forming. Make sure you remove excess oil from the instruments before returning them to their fabric-lined box. The oil will ruin the fabric. Then avoid touching the metal with bare hands, the moisture and salt on your skin is damaging.

Some collectors and dealers believe metal instruments, such as this amputation saw, should be polished back to their original “factory” finish. Others believe instruments should be kept in stasis, i.e. no more degradation but no artificial restoration.

Some collectors and dealers believe metal instruments should be polished back to their original “factory” finish. Others believe instruments should be kept in stasis, i.e. no more degradation but no artificial restoration. This goes for the polishing of brass in instruments as well. This is a matter of taste. However, brass polish is corrosive, and needs to be completely cleaned off!

If the fabric lining is dusty, brushing with a clean artist brush will help. (Artist brushes are good for dusting many different kinds of antiques in your collection). And if the fabric looks sturdy enough, and the dust or debris is difficult to remove, very carefully tap small areas with a piece of tape.

Many fabric-lined instrument boxes have makers labels attached to the fabric. If the label is loose, a good-quality fabric glue in very small amounts applied with a toothpick or other small instrument will solve that problem.

The boxes themselves can be polished with a good quality furniture wax. If it is a spray product, spray the cloth not the box. Some boxes have brass strapping and escutcheons. Leaving the original varnished finish on these is preferred. If the varnish has been completely removed, you can polish the brass, but remember, brass polish can be very destructive to wood surfaces, so be very careful.

There is one part of medical instruments that invariably degrades and is rarely found whole. That is old rubber. I have not heard of a solution to keep rubber from degrading except by keeping it out of the light.

Now that you have a cabinet, solved the lighting problem and cleaned your collection, the next step—the fun part—begins: how to arrange your treasures. A display that showcases the use of your instruments, with old pictures or engravings, would be interesting and educational to your visitors. If you don’t collect or have access to pictures and engravings, good copies can be effective. (Remember to respect copyrights when making copies). Showing the evolution of a particular type of instrument—such as the scalpel—through time is another way to display. Just remember not to display your full-size wax models of organ pathologies in the dining room! And as always, have fun.

Laura Collum is a Worthologist who specializes in decoys, nautical and scientific instruments.

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For example, mortar and pestles ground up herbs and other dry chemicals that made up medicine. Mortar and pestles were made from iron, glass, brass or bronze, porcelain or ceramic, marble and wood. The wood used was usually dense, such as maple, walnut and lignum vitae. Large iron or bronze mortar and pestles were seen in the shop on the counter and many apothecary chests used by a doctor had small, glass mortar and pestles nestled in a drawer.

The large, iron pedestal mortar and pestle on the left was one used on the counter of an apothecary. Current auction prices range from (left to right) $95 for large cast iron pedestal, $50-100 for the small brass, $20 for the tiny 18th-century glass, $50 for the medium cast iron, $175 for the brass, and $85 for the lignum vitae.

Pill tiles and shapers, rollers and silverers were used in the making of pills. Pill tiles are what they sound like, ceramic or stoneware glazed tile shapes for forming pills on. Sometimes they had blue under-glaze scales for sizing hand-made pills; some even had decorative motifs. Shapers were used on the tile to shape the pills, one at a time to keep them round. Rollers were an update on the tile and used to shape the pill mass to size and make more than one pill at a time. Silverers were used to coat the pills with powdered silver. It was believed that precious metals were medically beneficial, and so both silver- and gold-covered pills were available to the wealthy. I sold a manor house chest mentioned in a previous article, with bottles filled with silver-coated pills.

The pill shaper is the 3-inch wooden disc like object on the white pill tile. Antique tiles priced at $85 to $120 in on-line auctions depend on age and condition. I found no shapers; mine is priced with the tile at $250. The pill silverer is the boxwood treen on the left. One pill silverer sold recently for $340.The pill roller is leaning up in the back of the photo. Pill rollers sell from $155 on-line to $900 for a marked American one on GoAntiques.

Medicines were also dispensed in powder form. The medicine was folded into an envelope-shaped paper with the medicine type and dosage directions written on the outside. Since the chemist’s helper might make up many medicines in a day and placed them in drawers for storage, uniformity of the envelope size was desired. The powder paper folders helped create many folded envelops of medicine all the same size by providing edges to crease the papers. The folders were usually brass of different forms, some fixed and some movable. The fixed ones creased paper all the same size and the movable ones allowed papers of different sizes to be made. A pharmacist recently came in the shop and said one of his tests at college was to fold powdered charcoal into a paper and seal it up without any black smudges on the outside of the paper folder. He said it was quite difficult.

When medicine was dispensed in bottles, cork presses were used to size the corks to fit the bottle. They were usually made of iron and were often painted or gilded and pressed three or four sizes of cork. They could be plain while others were very decorative, with some even shaped like animals. Obviously, the more decorative the press, the more valuable it is.

This cork press had gilding on the floral decoration and sold for $200 in 1999. Recent examples in on-line auctions sell for considerably less. The brass paper folder sold for $90.

Bottles in the apothecary ranged in size from the huge show globes and carboys to the small dispensing bottle. Apothecary chests full of bottles all fitted to their individual cubbyhole are a sight to see. It is also an incredible feat of accomplishment when you consider that until the mid 19th-century, bottles were still mouth-blown. Shelves in the apothecary were lined with rows and rows of bottles labeled with medicines, liquid and powder. Labels consisted of paint on glass, reverse paint on glass and paper. Apothecaries also had highly decorated porcelain and ceramic jars for medicine storage, as well. Bottles and jars of the apothecary are complex subjects too detailed to cover in this one article.

This is a sample of apothecary glass bottles and porcelain jars. Prices range from $25 to $750, with dates ranging from the 1720s to the 1930s.

There are many other collectibles of the apothecary; small utensils, large furniture and advertising, just to name a few. Then, when the apothecary evolved into the drug store—with the soda fountain attached to it—the number of collectibles became almost infinite.

Laura Collum is a Worthologist who specializes in decoys, nautical and scientific instruments.

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The apothecary chests discussed in this article, from the 18th and 19th century, range from small boxes with a lift-lid and a few bottles, to large cases with doors, drawers and lidded compartments. They were made out of pine and painted, oak, mahogany, burled woods and constructed by carpenters and cabinetmakers. Doctors dispensed medicine from them either in their offices or in the patient’s home.

Brown-painted, carpenter-made apothecary chest with hand labeled bottles, which sold for $1,100 in 1999.

One of the largest apothecary chests I had was a pine dovetailed case painted brown that opened side-to-side, filled with bottles on each side. It had a brass handle on the top and two simple hooks for closure. All the bottles were hand-labeled, and some still had contents. I estimated the chest was from the 1870’s. One potential customer was fascinated and said he was a bottle collector. He said he wanted to buy just the heroin bottle (it was empty!). I told him I wouldn’t break up the chest, but he kept insisting. He told me he would give me $50 for the bottle so I told him he could have the bottle for $1,100 and I would throw in the chest. For some reason I didn’t make that sale.

The oldest chest I have had was a Georgian chest made in England. It had a lift-lid and two doors—one front and one back—numerous drawers and cubbyholes. It was made of mahogany and was quite lovely, with two brass handles on the sides. The bottles had printed labels from the various apothecary shops in London, but all were empty, and had all the accoutrements: pill tile, glass mortar and pestle, tins, papers for powdered medicines, scales and weights.

Georgian apothecary chest, made by a British cabinetmaker of mahogany, is filled with the tools of the doctor’s trade. It sold in 2003 for $3,500.

Powdered medicine was given to the patient in doses folded into paper and labeled with the manner of taking it. The scales in an apothecary chest were hand-held and usually made of brass, but would sometimes have glass pans. The weights used in apothecaries consisted of scruples, drachms and grains; liquid measure consisted of ounces. Pill tiles and pill rollers were used in the making of pills. A future article will address these interesting items in more detail.

One of the most interesting chests I ever had was a lovely little mahogany one, filled up by the apothecary at the direction of the doctor to be used in a large English country manor house. The lady of the house could then dispense simple remedies for common ailments. Each bottle was labeled with the complaint and the dose. All the doses were the same, probably to keep from accidentally overdosing anyone. There were silver-covered pills in some bottles, and liquids in others. There was also an inoculator; in the early 19th century, the lady of the house also inoculated the household members and staff against smallpox, as was her duty. This chest was the forerunner of the homeopathic boxes.

Beautiful little apothecary or Manor House chest, designed for the head of household to dispense medicines for common ailments, sold for $2,800 at Jekyll Island in 2000.

Apothecary chests were also used by the military in field hospitals and these were usually quite utilitarian; a simple box with lift-lid filled with bottles. These could be labeled with the specific hospital, and then would be quite valuable.

Apothecary chests prove to be fascinating time capsules in respect to medicine and everyday life and so are wonderful items to collect if you love boxes and ooh-jahs.

Laura Collum is a WorthPoint Worthologist specializing in decoys, nautical and scientific instruments.

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