What's it say?

December 7, 2013 3:13 PM

Please help me date and translate this lowball glass. I can't tell if the characters are from another language, or if they're symbols, or both. One looks like a music note, one is the Rx symbol, and others are familiar too, but I can't put my finger on them. What does it say?

My ultimate goal is to find out how old it is; if it's old enough, it's going in an Etsy vintage shop.

Anyone recognize it or know who made it? Is it a promo for a liquor company? (No maker's mark, by the way.)

Thanks!

posted by mudpuppie to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

Best answer: Looks like a string of slightly stylized apothecaries' symbols, though the H-looking thing and the musical note aren't identifiable within the link.
posted by jet_silver at 3:19 PM on December 7, 2013

Best answer: The "m" looking thing looks a bit like the symbol for Virgo.
posted by GrumpyDan at 3:22 PM on December 7, 2013

Response by poster: Oh yeah, the apothecary symbols look right. Is it a rebus of some sort, maybe?
posted by mudpuppie at 3:22 PM on December 7, 2013

Best answer: Minim, drachm for the first two symbols; scruple, pound for the last two symbols.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:54 PM on December 7, 2013

Best answer: As for dating it: from that shape, I'd say it's from the mid-to-late 1960s/very early 1970s.
posted by easily confused at 4:16 PM on December 7, 2013

Best answer: The music-note symbol might be a mortar and pestle?
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:22 PM on December 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Good call, The Elusive Architeuthis.

Apothecary barware seems to have been a thing a while back, so I'm going to assume that's what these are. Thanks, folks!
posted by mudpuppie at 4:37 PM on December 7, 2013