A gorgeous interwar-era hand-blown amber glass apothecary jar featuring its original paper label for Fosfato de Tricálcico (Tricalcium Phosphate). Boasting a substantial weight, this authentic piece of historic South American pharmaceutical ephemera makes a striking, museum-quality statement piece on any display shelf.
Date: c. 1927-1934
Period: Art Deco / Interwar Era
Country of Origin: Argentina
Artist/Maker/Manufacturer: Unmarked (Distributed via Buenos Aires pharmaceutical networks)
Attribution: Formatted to perfectly match the color palette and double-pinstripe border design of the Droguería Suizo Argentina pharmacy sets.
Marks/Signatures/Label: Original paper label reads: "FOSFATO DE TRICALCICO"
Size Classification: 6 5/8" Height x 3" Diameter
Dimensions: 6 5/8" tall (includes inserted stopper) x 3" base diameter (2" mouth opening diameter)
Weight: 1 lb 6 oz (Heavyweight glass gather)
Materials: Hand-blown Amber Glass, Ground Glass, Paper
Technique: Turn-molded (seamless) hand-blown glass; hand-tooled ground-glass stopper with finishing scar.
Features: Substantial weight, ground-glass airtight seal, embedded glass seeds (air bubbles), original lithographed label border.
Colors: Deep, rich amber/brown; ochre yellow border (label).
Pattern: Art Nouveau / Early Art Deco double-pinstripe border on label.
Style: Classical European-Style Apothecary / South American Medical Artifact
Theme/Symbolism: Early 20th-century mineral medicine, compounding pharmacy history, artisanal glassmaking.
Very good original antique condition with exceptional glass clarity and deep color. The amber glass body features beautiful period manufacturing flaws, including tiny trapped air bubbles (seeds) inherent to hand-melted glass. The ground-glass stopper is fully functional and removable; it shows minor, expected nicks on its outer top cap edge and a historic conchoidal chip measuring 1/4" wide on the upper shoulder of the frosted ground rim. Crucially, this chip remains entirely concealed inside the neck when the stopper is inserted, preserving a flawless display presentation. The original paper label shows an authentic vertical age-crack running through the top text and a small historic tear with minor paper loss on the upper right corner border, but remains securely adhered and fully legible. This item is in its true, unaltered antique state.
During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the wholesale pharmaceutical trade in Buenos Aires, Argentina, relied on uniform, high-quality counter bottles to distribute bulk chemical compounds to interior pharmacies. While North American glass manufacturing had completely switched to thin, automated machine-made bottles by this era, South American and European markets still favored heavy, hand-blown apothecary glass.
By using the traditional turn-mold method, glassblowers spun the molten gather inside a lubricated iron mold to perfectly smooth away any vertical mold seams. The mouth of the bottle and the peg of the stopper were then individually ground against each other using an abrasive grit to create a custom, airtight seal that prevented moisture from spoiling chemical powders like Tricalcium Phosphate. This bottle represents the final golden era of handmade, commercial medical glass before mass-production standardized the industry.
