Home Remedies

For 30 years, Earl Mindell has collected antique apothecary paraphernalia. For almost as long--and with as much en thusiasm--this pharmacist and author, here in the office of his Beverly Hills home, has been preaching the importance of good nutrition in books such as “Vitamin Bible,” “Vitamin Bible for Kids,” “Pill Bible” and “Earl Mindell’s Shaping Up With Vitamins.”

Surveying the shelves of his oak-paneled mini-museum, Mindell points out dozens of mortar and pestle sets, some hundreds of years old; boxes and bottles of long-outdated elixirs, herbs, salves, pills; pill-making kits; small Victorian-era traveling pharmacies; portable pharmacy scales, and other related collectibles--mostly American and British.

“I like to be surrounded by history and by things that have stories behind them,” Mindell says, as he removes a Civil War doctor’s bag from a display case. Another prized possession is a ship’s pharmacy from a turn-of-the-century vessel.

Mindell admits to a favorite piece--a large three-drawer oak box made by Parke-Davis in 1916 for medical and pharmacology students. Purchased from a pharmacist, the container and contents are in perfect condition, its 72 boxes of drugs (each either vegetable or vegetable extract) still intact.

Mindell hopes to donate his collection to a museum.