3/9/22 Report - New Finds From the Banks of the Indian River. Hicks Capudine. Glazed Clay Marbles.

 

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Hicks Capudine Bottle.

I decided to go for a walk this morning.  Low tide at the beach was a little too early for me and I was not expecting conditions there to be great anyhow.  The tide is a couple hours later on parts of the Indian River lagoon, so that worked out.

The tide was still pretty high when I started my walk, and the visibility was terrible.  I walked a good distance before I saw the smallest piece of glass.  At that point, it didn't look like I would find anything.  I wasn't expecting anything when finally a whole Ball Perfect Mason jar showed up on the bank.  I was thinking just yesterday that it had been a long time since I found one of those, and I was really surprised to find one in such good condition when I hadn't seen any glass at all up until then.

Ball Perfect Mason Jar.

By the time I turned around and started back, the tide had gone down some and the visibility was better.  Then I saw the Hicks Capudine bottle outlined in the sand like it was being presented on a platter.  I couldn't believe it.  I assume the sand had just uncovered it.  I don't think I could have missed it on the way up if it was not covered.    

The Hicks Capudine bottle is a common bottle, and although nice, not worth a lot.  I like it more as an piece of local history.  History on Hicks and his capudine can be found below.

I also found another glass insulator- a Hemingray No. 9.  I don't remember just when I found it.  Sometime after the Ball Mason.

So on a day when I saw very little glass, the few bottles I found were very nice.  

Hemingray No. 9 Glass Insulator.

Henry Hicks had two drug stores in Raleigh, North Carolina.  He invented Capudine around 1900.  It became very popular and he became wealthy.

Henry Hicks’ mansion still stands on Hillsboro Street, though, sadly, its grandiose porticoes have been long lost.

Interestingly, just as Hicks was achieving wealth and renown, the American Medical Association commenced a crackdown on patent cure-all medicines.

The Association analyzed Hicks’ Capudine and found the concoction to be “a brown, rather syrupy liquid, slightly alkaline to litmus, with an aromatic odor and a salty taste. Besides 8 percent alcohol, Capudine was found to contain sugar, aromatics, chlorides, caffeine, antipyrin and salicylates.” Yikes!

In a 1912 scathing report titled “Nostrums and Quackery: Articles on the Nostrum Evil and Quackery” the AMA declared that Hicks’ Capudine was “a barefaced attempt to exploit . . . both the medical profession and the public, [and that] this nostrum is probably preeminent in the annals of the ‘patent medicine’ business.”

Nonetheless, although Mr. Hicks died in 1940, the Capudine Chemical Co. continued to manufacture ‘medicinal cures’ in Raleigh into the early 1960s.

Source: Goodnight Raleigh | a look at the art, architecture, history, and people of the city at night

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Conerning what looked like a very small marble that I found yesterday, Russ P. had the following comments.

I'm almost certain your find is a Bennington glazed clay marble.  I've read that they were produced in the 1930's but not sure if that was a good source.  They primarily came in blue cobalt or brown.

Neat find!  I'll send you a picture of some I've found.  The first few I came across I did not keep because I thought they were some sort of decorative ceramic for plants or ceramic bead from a necklace, which, of course, is a mistake/lesson you've mentioned several times.

Russ

Glazed Clay Marbles
Found by Russ P.

Thanks Russ

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Surf Predictions.
Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

The surf predictions aren't exciting, and the tides are pretty small now.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net