Chemist’s needed to keep a wide range of raw drugs for compounding into mixtures, powders, cachets, tablets and ointments. Dry drugs were commonly in sets of draws and replenished from large sacks and barrels. Glass specie jars were also used and were painted on the inside with elaborate decorations, often with a coat of arms and the name of the contents. They were often displayed in shop windows to advertise to customers. Smaller quantities of solids were kept in glass bottles called shop rounds, these dry drug bottles had wide necks. Liquids which were used in quantity were stored in carboys and large glass bottles, whilst smaller amounts were stored in shop rounds with glass ground stoppers. There were also some specialised types of stoppers, for instance syrups had loose peg type stoppers with wide flanges to stop them sticking when the syrup crystalized. Oils were often stored in bottles with special removable stopper with a lip for pouring and a reservoir around the neck to stop drips being lost.

Over time more and more different drugs were kept, and so smaller quantities were replenished more regularly by the chemist. Larger carboys, specie jars and larger chemist bottles became some what redundant and were more commonly used purely for window displays. Most of the smaller bottles were made of colourless glass, however cobalt glass was often used for syrups, and green glass was popular for storing poisons. With the advent of moulded bottles ribs were often added to poison shop rounds to make them distinguishable to the touch.

Dating shop rounds can be difficult as often glass makers used the same technique over a long period of time. Early bottles usually have a rough pontil and a high kick up. Later handmade bottles often have the pontil ground out to make it smooth. Early labels were usually painted or less commonly engraved. Paper labels were also commonly used and were often varnished. Later as moulded bottles became more common, they were made with recessed panels and glass labels, which were commonly stuck on with melted bees wax.

Creams and ointments were stored in earthenware or salt-glazed jars. Again coat of arms were commonly used on these early salt-glazed jars and they commonly had tin lids. The earthenware jars had matching lids and these were also used in storing dry drugs. They had painted labels or later used recessed glass labels similar to those used on moulded chemist rounds.

The variety of these bottles and jars lends itself to collecting, and just as they made impressive displays in the chemist shop, they also make for an attractive display when collected.