Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Dr. Henley's Regulator
The Dr. Henley's Regulator is one of the most rare and sought after of all the Henley's products. This "Liver Regulator" was produced from 1867-1876 yet there are few ads featuring this medicine. These are impressive pieces of glass at 8 1/2" tall and square in form. I can account for seven examples of the Regulator in collections and most were found in and around Portland, Oregon. I know of one example dug in Sacramento. Wilson listed it as "very rare" but I would consider it extremely rare. Each Regulator I have handled was different in characteristics from green aqua, regular aqua to a deep blue aqua in color, and from quite plain, to hammer whittled. I consider this to be one of the most desired western medicines with a lot going for them...Age, size, applied top, the Henley name, stylized "R"s, nice color and character, and of course scarcity. For a bottle supposedly made for nine years, I wonder where they all are? Portland had no organized recycling program, and therefore "dipped" holes are rare. It is amazing that these are not more common given the thousands of holes dug there over the decades. I have not heard of a Regulator being dug in Nevada ( the land of the good stuff), which is funny as I know of one "heavy" Oregon Unkweed Cure dug there. About every Henley product has been found in Nevada but no Regulator? The entire Dr.Henley product line is a real challenge to collect and as soon as the "Dew of the Alps" start coming out, I will have them all....except the Tamarack...and the Excellent....well, I will likely never have them all, but I surely hope someone will! DM
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And don't forget Dr. HENLEY'S WILD CHERRY TONIC. I haven't seen it yet but Henley reportedly displayed this product at the fair in September 1872. Hopefully, some digger will knock our socks off some day.
ReplyDeleteThe Henley line sure makes a fun collection, with so many different bottles, varients, and colors to assemble ! The only Regulator that I am aware of being found in the SF Bay Area, is the example a buddy of mine found under water in a slough near the site of an old "landing". It had been laying there pristine mint for over 120 yrs !! I bought it from him several months later and had it in my collection for a number of years.
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