NEW INFORMATION ON THE COREY'S OINTMENT COUNTERSTAMP

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V14 2011 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 14, Number 22, May 29, 2011, Article 16

Bob Merchant submitted this new information on an old counterstamp, "Try Corey's Ointment". -Editor

Recently (4/2011), two different references to "Corey's Ointment" have appeared online in Google Books. The countermark "TRY / COREY'S / OINTMENT" has been a numismatic mystery for a long time, and it still is, so it is nice to see digitized references to it finally appearing online. In the journal "Once a Week - New Series" (published in London), dated July - December 1872, there is mention of "Corey's Ointment" advertisements being seen painted everywhere along railway lines. The article is titled "QUACKS AND QUACKERY IN AMERICA", by John C. Dent. Corey's Ointment is mentioned on page 236, as follows:

In traveling by rail through the United States or Canada, it is next to impossible to look out of the window of the carriage without being enjoined to "Try Corey's Ointment". This injunction, or some other of a like nature, is rudely but distinctly painted on every fence, bridge, and large stone along the line of every trans-Atlantic railway on which it has been my destiny to travel.

Another reference appears in an advertisement published in the Canadian pharmaceutical journal, Volume 17, by the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association, 1883-1884. On page 20, the company Northrop & Lyman, Toronto, General Agents for and Dealers in PATENT MEDICINES, advertised their extensive list of patent medicines. The names of the various patent medicines are a fun read, and are sure to make you either laugh or cringe (or both). They include "Corey's Ointment" as one of their offerings. Some others are: "Dr. Thomas' Eclectric Oil", "Canadian Pain Destroyer", "Corey's Dysentery Remedy" (same issuer ???), "Elixir of Beef, Iron, and Wine", and many others.

In summary, we now know that Corey's Ointment was being advertised in print prior to 1872 (and probably earlier), and was still being sold as late as 1884 (and probably later). Earlier it had been assumed that this was a Civil War era token, since the latest dated coin with this countermark is 1861.

Wayne Homren, Editor