RS263P3 Wells, Richardson & Co. Medicine Stamp Plate Proof Pair

Wells, Richardson & Co. was established as a wholesale drug firm in Burlington, Vermont in 1871. The firm was founded by Edward Wells, A. E. Richardson, W. J. Van Patten and Henry Wells. Their chief proprietary medicine was Kidney – Wort packaged in two forms: the dry preparation was a mixture of dandelion, hydrangea, roasted beans and other herbs. The liquid form contained similar drugs, and each retailed at $1.00 a package. The firm advertised heavily in Harper’s Weekly in 1880-1881 noting that “Kidney-Wort is a purely vegetable compound. The safest, the surest and the best ever discovered for kidney diseases…” Wells, Richardson and Co. were also agents for a number of other nostrums in­cluding Paine’s Green Mountain Balm of Gilead and Cedar Plaster. The firm subsequently specialized in the manufacture of Diamond Dyes known widely throughout the world.

(Holcombe, Henry W., Weekly Philatelic Gossip, 24: 478, June 19, 1937)