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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BRandM, post: 2554591, member: 22729&quot;]Jacob Houck was a pretty interesting guy, Jack. He had a patent for his panacea issued in 1833. He claimed it cured chlorea, among other things. Up until the early 1900s &quot;medicines&quot; weren&#039;t regulated, so wild claims were made for their effectiveness.&nbsp; Most had a lot of alcohol in them...including medicine for children...so they did ease the pain many times, but of course didn&#039;t cure anything.</p><p><br /></p><p>Houck actually started out as a dry goods merchant in New York in the 1820s, but moved to Baltimore probably about 1830. He also had a dry goods business there. He sold his medicines through the store, and also through other merchants. Apparently, he manufactured the panacea himself as he had a laboratory at 10 S. Charles St., at least in 1840. BTW, the cost of a bottle was $1.50, a lot of money in the day.</p><p><br /></p><p>When Jacob died in 1850, his son Henry took over the business. The panacea was heavily marketed by both Jacob and his son after Jacob&#039;s death. I&#039;m not sure how long it was sold, but well into the 1850s at least.</p><p><br /></p><p>There are about 125 examples of &quot;Houcks Panacea&quot; counterstamps documented, so as counterstamps go, they&#039;re fairly common. I think the appeal is partially due to the quality and look of the stamp itself, but more because of the coins they&#039;re struck on. Most, over ninety of them, are on Half Dollars and a few on U.S. Silver Dollars. Counterstamps on old Dollars and halves are scarce if not rare, so there&#039;s a lot of appeal there. A small number are known on foreign coins, Spanish, Prussian and Brazilian issues. All these are impressive coins in their own right.</p><p><br /></p><p>For these reasons, and others, Houck&#039;s stamps are classics and avidly collected...and expensive.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bruce[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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