Left to right: Labeled XXX E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE WAHOO BITTERS, DR. WALKINSHAW’S CURATIVE BITTERS and a STEELE’S NIAGARA STAR BITTERS – Stecher Collection
“Drink as a Beverage”
XXX E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE WAHOO BITTERS
19 October 2012 (R•031215)
“The compound was procured in part from the most eminent Indian physicians known among our northwestern tribes”
The Jack Stecher post of the three labeled upstate New York Bitters bottles (Read: Some of Jacks labeled Upstate New York Bitters) on Peachridge Glass recently prompted me to go back and look at further information for each bottle in the picture. In this post we will specifically be looking at the great semi-cabin form for the E. Dexter Loveridge Wahoo Bitters which is one of my favorites!
This is a wonderful bottle from Buffalo, New York, that unlike the Dr. Walkinshaw’s Curative Bitters or Steele’s Niagara Star Bitters, which come in primarily amber, comes in some drop-dead gorgeous colors as you will see in some of the pictures below.
I thought it is also interesting that a piano sectional was written call The Wahoo Polka (see below).
I hope this post prompts a couple of my mysteries being solved that include, what does the ‘XXX’ stand for in the brand name, what does the ‘E’ stand for in E. Dexter Loveridge name and where the bottle was made (see below). I am also curious about the ‘D.W.D. – 1863 – X.X.X.’ on the bottom label area. The ‘E’ is referenced many times as either Edwin or Edson. He obviously was shying away from this initial in his advertising.
Read: Jacob Pinkerton’s Wahoo & Calisaya Bitters
Read: The extremely rare, triangular Wahoo Chamomile Bitters
Read: Dr. Shepard’s Compound Wahoo Bitters – Grand Rapids
Read: C. K. Wilson’s Original Compound Wa-Hoo Bitters
1863 is the year Loveridge (supposedly) got his letter patent. XXX is of course the alcohol purity 3 Xs means run through the still three times. I can only speculate that the D.W.D. is for Dexter’s Wahoo Drink. (just a guess) – Brian Wolff
Some brief family information references that Dr. Loveridge was married to Susannah Bodine Pierson (daughter of Paul Pierson and Temperance Woodruff from Buffalo, N.Y.) and had a daughter Mary (or May) Louisa Loveridge who married Judge Lawrence Woodruff Halsey, Jr from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They had a daughter named Louisa Ketcham Halsey.
“He gets all the glass they can furnish him from Lockport and Clyde, N.Y., and for the balance he sends to Pittsburgh”
Lots of great information in this passage from The Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo: Including Sketches of the History of Buffalo – 1866
Buffalo, NY- Loveridge Wahoo Bitters $100 Advertising Note 1863. This is a rare advertising note. Mr. Loveridge proclaims that his Wahoo Bitters may be drank as a beverage or taken as a medicine. – Heritage Auctions
3c Rose (postage stamp) tied by segmented cork, “Buffalo N.Y. Jul. 13” circular datestamp on cover to Albany with Loveridge’s Wahoo Bitters advertisement with manufacturer’s portrait. – Robert A. Siegel
The Carlyn Ring and W.C. Ham listing in Bitters Bottles is as follows:
L 126 XXX/E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE WAHOO BITTERS, Circa 1860 – 1870
E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE / WAHOO BITTERS // motif eagle with an arrow // E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE / WAHOO BITTERS // sp // // s // DWD // PATD // XXX / 1863 //
10 x 2 3/4 (7)
Square, ARM, Applied mouth, 4 sp, Amber – Scarce;
Green, Apricot, Burgundy and Yellow olive Very rare.
At least two different molds were used for this brand, birds have wing and arrow variations.
E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE WAHOO BITTERS patent – Bitters Bottles
Label: The Wahoo Bitters are entirely vegetable being composed of more than twenty different roots and barks. The compound was procured in part from the most eminent Indian physicians known among our northwestern tribes; the balance from my own botanical research and is a profound secret, making the best compound ever invented for the preservation of health.
City Directories for Buffalo, New York – 1866
The Great Wahoo Polka – John N. Pattison (composer) – Sectional piano to E. Dexter Loveridge Esq., Buffalo, N.Y. – Johns Hopkins University, Levy Sheet Music Collection – 1864
Example music sheet for the The Great Wahoo Polka (see above) – John N. Pattison (composer) – Sectional piano to E. Dexter Loveridge Esq., Buffalo, N.Y. – Johns Hopkins University, Levy Sheet Music Collection – 1864
Passage from The 47th Indiana Volunteer Infantry: A Civil War History yy David Williamson
I have found numerous clipping referring to ‘Edwin’. From Memoirs of Milwaukee County: From the Earliest Historical Times …, Volume 2 edited by Jerome Anthony Watrous
Notice a Dr. Edson noted here. John Cary the Plymouth pilgrim – by Seth Cooley Cary
I found the obituary for Dr. Loveridge and it appears his name was Edwin – Brian Wolff
Advertisement Buffalo Daily Courier, Monday, November 23, 1863
Read More: Some of Jacks labeled Upstate New York Bitters
Read More: Dr. Walkinshaw’s Curative Bitters from Batavia, NY
Read More: Some of Jacks labeled Upstate New York Bitters
Read More: Surreal Loveridges!
Honey amber XXX E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE WAHOO BITTERS – Meyer Collection
Two of my new E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE WAHOO BITTERS in emerald green and lime. My amber example sits beyond. These were on display at the 2012 Houston Bottle Show – Meyer table
Dexter Loveridge Wahoo Bitters – Burkhardt Collection
172. “DWD / E. DEXTER LOVERIDGE / WAHOO BITTERS” – “PATD” / (motif of eagle with arrow) – “SWS / E/ DEXTER LOVERIDGE / WAHOO BITTERS – 1863”, (Ring/Ham, L-126), New York, ca. 1863 – 1870, medium blue green semi-cabin, 10 1/8”h, smooth base, applied ring mouth. Some light exterior stain exists, mostly on two panels. This is of the type that can easily be professionally removed, also a few light scratches. Extremely rare and highly desirable color, one of only three or four known examples! In 1974 the consignors of this bottle found it in a dirt cellar crawl space of their home in Whitehouse, New Jersey. The home was built in 1850. Since that time they moved five times each time taking the bottle with them, being unaware of its importance or value. The last one we auctioned in this color was in 1991, when we auctioned the collection of the late Cris Batdorff. – Glass Works Auctions | Auction 106
I have been trying to find information about this bottle. It is embosed on two sides with E. Dexter Loveridge Wahoo Bitters. Around the top on the 4 sides are XXX , PatD, DWD & 1863 . there is nothing embosed on the bottom. The bottle is 10 inches tall and in near mint condition. I have searched the internet, but found next to nothing about it. Thanks for you help! Mirja (2004 posting on Antique-Bottles.net)
