Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Unusual potential chemical source - antique stores

Unusual potential chemical source - antique stores

warteo - 2-3-2014 at 05:05

Just thought I'd briefly document this experience and put it out there as I found it rather surprising and it might even lead someone to finding something interesting.

Today I was wandering among the accumulation of junk in a small town antique store when I spotted a number of very old glass apothecary jars. Mostly they were labelled but otherwise clean and empty or with just a dust layer of the former contents coating the inside. However, three of the jars held more. A bottle of Sod. Salicylate (Sodium salicylate) was around 1/2 full of white powder, the large amber jar of Hyd. Subchlor (Mercury(I) chloride) was almost full and certainly the real thing as evidenced by its amazingly high density. Lastly, the one labelled Strychnine

!, although nearly empty, still held what must amount to 10 or so grams of crystals of a sugary appearance. I didn't purchase anything as I had no ideas for what I could use any of these for and was running too short of time to attempt digging through the chaotic jumble in the shop in search of anything else more worthwhile.

Has anyone else ever thought of looking in these places? If so, did you return with anything useful? Any great uses I've overlooked for the above items that would make it worth going back?

bfesser - 2-3-2014 at 05:30

I recently found a <a href="viewthread.php?tid=14644&goto=search&pid=295371">can of CCl<sub>4</sub></a> intended for use as a fire extinguisher. The same antique shop also had many jars of boric acid, sodium tetraborate, etc.. I spotted some empty jars in a cabinet in the basement, and recall seeing a label for quinine and related pharmaceuticals. I'll see if I can find the other photos I took.

bigmol - 2-3-2014 at 09:43

I have been running my own commercial lab for over 20 years and have always found that antique shops and shows are well worth checking out. Often the items are not old and the sellers seldom have any idea of actual value. eg a markham still $90 on another ocassion one shop had a string of old pharmaceuticals one was labelled Hydrag. Perch. there were also a few others also just sitting on an open shelf. In the interests of public safety I purchased some of them
Yes the Hydrag. Perch. was true to label 750gms of pure Mercuric Chloride. On another occasion a dealer asked me to check his stock and remove any thing hazardous. There was a pretty little bottle with about 2 gms of crystals I thought might be a problem so removed it. According to Merck later it was mildly poisonous 20mg a fatal dose although a death had been recorded with a 1/2 mg. Lovely stuff to have sitting on an open shelf for kids to get hold of

The_Davster - 2-3-2014 at 12:40

This was one of my earliest chemical sources in my home chemistry adventures. Sulfur, potassium nitrate, arsenic oxide. I was likely around 12 or so when I picked these things up, but I remember not buying all the organics that were around in an old pharmacy antique display. I am sure there would have been lots of now-regulated things, as I remember one being a codeine salt. However my thought process skipped it as I was looking for blackpowder ingredients. I remember a large bottle of DDT for sale as well.

Should check out some again sometime, I like the old style bottles, even though I do not have a home lab any more.

[Edited on 2-3-14 by The_Davster]

cyanureeves - 2-3-2014 at 13:04

my first glassware was from old antique shops and so was my first silver metal and hot plate.i used antique coffee making glass and oil lamp tubes for distilling and even found an erlenmeyer flask that was used for making coffee.i have seen wwll cans of powdered eggs and so somewhere i bet there is still morphine to be found.old ointments and discontinued meds are found sometimes in old timer's medecine cabinets too but we gotta wait til the fogies pass on.

Zephyr - 2-3-2014 at 13:16

I was recently browsing CL for organic glass ware and a little antique shop in south Seattle had a listing. i went to check it out and mos of the warehouse was full of scavenged building supplies but they had some nice 14/20 distillation equipment. Unfortunately it was over priced and being sold for art/decorative purposes. They said they salvaged it from an old laboratory that was going to be demolished. They also had this strange piece of equipment that looks like is would be used for gas generation, does anyone know what it is used for?

Here is the website of the salvage company
PS How do I rotate this image? They had it upside down in the store.

Hexavalent - 2-3-2014 at 13:24

Just last week, I paid £9 for a very large fritted-glass Dreschel bottle in an antiques shop: the glassware looks new and is in superb condition.

Zyklon-A - 2-3-2014 at 13:33

Quote:

PS How do I rotate this image? They had it upside down in the store.

Open it in "Paint", in the top left corner, click "rotate", then click "180°''. After that, delete the old image, and edit in the new one.

I went ahead and did it. It looks like the picture is upside-right, but the set-up is upside-down.

[Edited on 2-3-2014 by Zyklonb]

bfesser - 2-3-2014 at 13:57

Quote: Originally posted by Pinkhippo11

I was recently browsing CL for organic glass ware and a little antique shop in south Seattle had a listing. They also had this strange piece of equipment that looks like is would be used for gas generation, does anyone know what it is used for?

It's a "Continuous Water Still." (Duh.) But what the hell's "CL?"

[Edited on 2.3.14 by bfesser]

Dr.Bob - 2-3-2014 at 14:02

It says "Continuous Water Still" on it - it is for purifying water.

I have bought several interesting things, including bottles of old drugs, at a few salvage stores. Years ago I bought some DDT at a yard sale, and have since found a few other odds and ends like that. I also found some sealed cans of ether years ago which had to be years old then, not sure how safe they would be, but I would guess that they were fine. I used them up for various experiments. Much harder to find chemicals now, but still find glassware at thrift stores and other places every so often. University surplus sales are also great places to buy stuff, I got a bunch of stuff years ago that way, but many don't sell science stuff now.

warteo - 2-3-2014 at 15:20

From the experiences of others it looks like I'll need to explore these places some more. Could be time consuming as the area I live in is scattered with small towns that, although once thriving, have now declined to the point where it appears the only business is selling off the remains of the past. Have on occasion seen glassware at some of these stores but was always extremely expensive, damaged or both.

Last night I thought quite a bit about the public safety aspect of the items I discovered. Will be calling the shop today to mention that it would be a good idea to limit access by locking the strychnine and Hg2Cl2 away in one of their display cabinets. Considering purchasing the Hg2Cl2 as I'd love a sample of elemental Mercury for my collection and figure this may be the only chance of getting something from which I might (very carefully!) prepare it.

Zephyr - 2-3-2014 at 15:20

Cl=Craigslist
What is the glass encased metal rod on the left of the case used for, and would it have been worth buying the still? The price was $140 IIRC.

[Edited on 2-3-2014 by Pinkhippo11]

bfesser - 2-3-2014 at 16:44

Heating element. For that price and given the condition, maybe. Depends on how much distilled water costs in your area.

Töilet Plünger - 2-3-2014 at 19:14

There's a chemistry set at a thrift shop where I live. It's pretty old and contains chemicals unthinkable for today's sets. Like nickel sulfate and calcium chloride.

prof_genius - 3-3-2014 at 00:58

If I remember my town has a shop that sells some antiques and old toys, I wonder if it has anything of interest.

Hockeydemon - 3-3-2014 at 01:35

Quote: Originally posted by Pinkhippo11

Cl=Craigslist
What is the glass encased metal rod on the left of the case used for, and would it have been worth buying the still? The price was $140 IIRC.

[Edited on 2-3-2014 by Pinkhippo11]

I pulled up that CL listing there are a lot of worth while things on that posting. Was it all over priced and any 24/40 stuff? Specifically the friedrich condenser and the allihn condenser? There were a few adapter joints from the looks of it too. I could really use a friedrich condenser - I might have to check them out.

jock88 - 3-3-2014 at 18:45

Antique shop in Canterbury had lots of glasswear for sale some years back. Stuff from a retired Uni Professer I believe.
I once obtained a large bottle (about half liter) of 'KillCrow'. It's good stuff as it contains 10% strychnine. The great news was that the other 90% was ethanol!!!!!!!! (Hic)

thesmug - 3-3-2014 at 21:18

A local antique shop in my area had some oil of Tansy for sale. It was historically used in abortions but is just way too toxic to be useful at all anymore, except in the extraction of camphor! It's not dangerous to work with as long as you don't eat any!

bismuthate - 4-3-2014 at 04:09

Oh great. This thread appears two weeks after the only antique store in my area burns down.

On the bright side everything is half off.
EDIT: wait nevermind it's closed :mad:

[Edited on 4-3-2014 by bismuthate]

jock88 - 4-3-2014 at 15:55

I guess it was the two pounds of armstrongs mixure they had in the bottle finally ignited....

DraconicAcid - 4-3-2014 at 17:40

Quote: Originally posted by jock88

I guess it was the two pounds of armstrongs mixure they had in the bottle finally ignited....

Or their bottle of white phosphorus finally dried out.

subsecret - 4-3-2014 at 18:56

I've found various pieces of equipment in antique shops, the best of which was a (presumably) 45/50 Friedrichs condenser. It was pretty well-damaged, and they wanted 75 USD, so I left it. I've seen lots of empty reagent bottles...

I wonder what they would do if they smashed a 1 kilo bottle of mercury (I) chloride...

mr.crow - 5-3-2014 at 16:15

Its funny you mention antique shops, I went to a market antique show last year and found an ancient bottle of formaldehyde!

1/3 of the volume had evaporated through the crusty old cork and and another 1/3 polymerized into a solid chunk of paraformaldehyde. So cool!

If antique glass bottles give you a boner you should check out Heritage Village in Calgary. They have a replica old-style apothecary with an endless assortment of old chemical bottles. Apparently hypophosphite was a quack remedy.