Description:
English whiteware flat rectangular pill slab or pill tile with rounded corners made by Wedgwood, which started making these pill slabs to satisfy the American market about 1800. Pill slabs were used by doctors and apothecaries to roll out and measure quantities of pills and remedies. The top front has a black printed measurement scale with quarter inch increments, and the numbers 0/ 6/ 12/ 18/ 2[4]. The scale was used to cut a long cylinder of a mixture into equal parts before rolling the parts into spheres. The bottom front has a black printed spread eagle, over a scroll with the printed inscription: "REAL/ WARRANTED/ WEDGWOOD." The surfaces of the pill slab are extremely scratched, and there is a small chip on upper right side of rim. The Connecticut Historical Society has a ceramic pill rolling slab used by Dr. Cyrus Pendleton (1830-1919) of Hebron, CT. An identically printed pill slab, which was part of the Wilfred B. Osgood Pharmacy Collection, consisting of the 1870s - 1950s contents of the Knox Pharmacy and the Roberts Rexall Store in Farmington, NH, is owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society [1992.063.563].
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2001.62 |
