on stone surfaces or against brick walls for long periods of time. A perfect bottle is rarely an old one.

* Some bottles have labels indicating maker or supplying chemist which also benefits the authenticating process. Check the names for authenticity, ask local historians, search online, look in local Kelly's and other trade directories from decades ago. Look in history books, check old postcards, look for chemists actually existing in towns and villages whose names coincide with those on your bottles.

* Among the rarest poison bottles are those featuring the skull and crossbones or just a skull which were popular from the mid-18

Chemists' bottles are very collectable, especially any that once contained poison which really can go for hundreds or thousands of pounds. By nature, they're not pretty, just unusual, and appeal to those who collect bottles in general or apothecary bottles in particular.

Something that stands out like a sore thumb on eBay when searching for 'poison bottle' is the fact that few specimens go unsold on eBay, except for any that are over-priced or carry a hefty reserve.

Take a look at popular selling poison bottles on eBay and check out similar specimens selling at flea markets where you'll often find one or two dealers selling nothing but bottles, mainly beer, more often anything bottle shaped. No one can know all there is to know about prices and few offline sellers use eBay anyway, so there's scope here to buy poison bottles for a few pounds in expectation of prices one hundred times higher on eBay.

Let these recent eBay realisations whet your appetite:

* Described simply as an 'antique poison bottle', a nicely illustrated purple bottle fetched $631.

* An amber coloured poison bottle 'from a tip near NORTH WALES' made ?216

* A 'Rare Petite Owl Drug Co. Cobalt Poison Bottle' made $102.50.

* A 'Beautiful Cobalt Poison Medicine Style Bottle' listed as ' This bottle was found in a creek bed up around Marietta, Ga. Still has some dirt inside that I left for authenticity. I have seen lots of fake imports' went for $81.00.

Other Things to Know About Poison Bottles

* Colour is important to some collectors, especially cobalt (blue), amber (golden brown), green. Lots of poison bottles feature on eBay and poorly described items get lost in the crowd, so add interest to your listings, instead of describing your stock as blue / orange / green, say Cobalt / Amber / Bottle Green.

* Avoid setting a reserve price on high quality bottles. Look at the mass of sold over failed to sell items at completed auctions and you'll see good items always sell and at high prices. Reserves are largely unnecessary, they add to your listing fees, and can deter bidders who, seeing two similar items, one with reserve, one without, will invariably opt for the latter.

* Notice how some listings indicate where bottles were found, often on tips or from retired chemists and apothecaries. This adds authenticity - provenance - and helps reduce concern over a proliferation of fake poison bottles entering the market today. Check bottles very carefully, look for signs of age, look for scratches and dents, rough edges where bottles may have existed on stone surfaces or against brick walls for long periods of time. A perfect bottle is rarely an old one.

* Some bottles have labels indicating maker or supplying chemist which also benefits the authenticating process. Check the names for authenticity, ask local historians, search online, look in local Kelly's and other trade directories from decades ago. Look in history books, check old postcards, look for chemists actually existing in towns and villages whose names coincide with those on your bottles.

* Among the rarest poison bottles are those featuring the skull and crossbones or just a skull which were popular from the mid-180

bottles, mainly beer, more often anything bottle shaped. No one can know all there is to know about prices and few offline sellers use eBay anyway, so there's scope here to buy poison bottles for a few pounds in expectation of prices one hundred times higher on eBay.

Let these recent eBay realisations whet your appetite:

* Described simply as an 'antique poison bottle', a nicely illustrated purple bottle fetched $631.

* An amber coloured poison bottle 'from a tip near NORTH WALES' made ?216

* A 'Rare Petite Owl Drug Co. Cobalt Poison Bottle' made $102.50.

* A 'Beautiful Cobalt Poison Medicine Style Bottle' listed as ' This bottle was found in a creek bed up around Marietta, Ga. Still has some dirt inside that I left for authenticity. I have seen lots of fake imports' went for $81.00.

Other Things to Know About Poison Bottles

* Colour is important to some collectors, especially cobalt (blue), amber (golden brown), green. Lots of poison bottles feature on eBay and poorly described items get lost in the crowd, so add interest to your listings, instead of describing your stock as blue / orange / green, say Cobalt / Amber / Bottle Green.

* Avoid setting a reserve price on high quality bottles. Look at the mass of sold over failed to sell items at completed auctions and you'll see good items always sell and at high prices. Reserves are largely unnecessary, they add to your listing fees, and can deter bidders who, seeing two similar items, one with reserve, one without, will invariably opt for the latter.

* Notice how some listings indicate where bottles were found, often on tips or from retired chemists and apothecaries. This adds authenticity - provenance - and helps reduce concern over a proliferation of fake poison bottles entering the market today. Check bottles very carefully, look for signs of age, look for scratches and dents, rough edges where bottles may have existed on stone surfaces or against brick walls for long periods of time. A perfect bottle is rarely an old one.

* Some bottles have labels indicating maker or supplying chemist which also benefits the authenticating process. Check the names for authenticity, ask local historians, search online, look in local Kelly's and other trade directories from decades ago. Look in history books, check old postcards, look for chemists actually existing in towns and villages whose names coincide with those on your bottles.

* Among the rarest poison bottles are those featuring the skull and crossbones or just a skull which were popular from the mid-18

s ' This bottle was found in a creek bed up around Marietta, Ga. Still has some dirt inside that I left for authenticity. I have seen lots of fake imports' went for $81.00.

Other Things to Know About Poison Bottles

* Colour is important to some collectors, especially cobalt (blue), amber (golden brown), green. Lots of poison bottles feature on eBay and poorly described items get lost in the crowd, so add interest to your listings, instead of describing your stock as blue / orange / green, say Cobalt / Amber / Bottle Green.

* Avoid setting a reserve price on high quality bottles. Look at the mass of sold over failed to sell items at completed auctions and you'll see good items always sell and at high prices. Reserves are largely unnecessary, they add to your listing fees, and can deter bidders who, seeing two similar items, one with reserve, one without, will invariably opt for the latter.

* Notice how some listings indicate where bottles were found, often on tips or from retired chemists and apothecaries. This adds authenticity - provenance - and helps reduce concern over a proliferation of fake poison bottles entering the market today. Check bottles very carefully, look for signs of age, look for scratches and dents, rough edges where bottles may have existed on stone surfaces or against brick walls for long periods of time. A perfect bottle is rarely an old one.

* Some bottles have labels indicating maker or supplying chemist which also benefits the authenticating process. Check the names for authenticity, ask local historians, search online, look in local Kelly's and other trade directories from decades ago. Look in history books, check old postcards, look for chemists actually existing in towns and villages whose names coincide with those on your bottles.

* Among the rarest poison bottles are those featuring the skull and crossbones or just a skull which were popular from the mid-18

ems at completed auctions and you'll see good items always sell and at high prices. Reserves are largely unnecessary, they add to your listing fees, and can deter bidders who, seeing two similar items, one with reserve, one without, will invariably opt for the latter.

* Notice how some listings indicate where bottles were found, often on tips or from retired chemists and apothecaries. This adds authenticity - provenance - and helps reduce concern over a proliferation of fake poison bottles entering the market today. Check bottles very carefully, look for signs of age, look for scratches and dents, rough edges where bottles may have existed on stone surfaces or against brick walls for long periods of time. A perfect bottle is rarely an old one.

* Some bottles have labels indicating maker or supplying chemist which also benefits the authenticating process. Check the names for authenticity, ask local historians, search online, look in local Kelly's and other trade directories from decades ago. Look in history books, check old postcards, look for chemists actually existing in towns and villages whose names coincide with those on your bottles.

* Among the rarest poison bottles are those featuring the skull and crossbones or just a skull which were popular from the mid-18

on stone surfaces or against brick walls for long periods of time. A perfect bottle is rarely an old one.

* Some bottles have labels indicating maker or supplying chemist which also benefits the authenticating process. Check the names for authenticity, ask local historians, search online, look in local Kelly's and other trade directories from decades ago. Look in history books, check old postcards, look for chemists actually existing in towns and villages whose names coincide with those on your bottles.

* Among the rarest poison bottles are those featuring the skull and crossbones or just a skull which were popular from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. Few people could read in those days, so the wording 'Poison' on a bottle might go unchecked and actually led to numerous accidental deaths at the time, unlike a skull and crossbones which most people associate with DEATH! Other methods designed to distinguish poison from reliable medicines for people who could not read included colouring (most poison bottles were cobalt blue, amber, green), or making them coffin or skull shaped.

* A poison bottle in the shape of a skull was patented in 1894 by Carlton Lewe and became one of the rarest and most expensive bottles, worth between ?1,000 and ?3,000.