Vintage label for Ponds Extract Coffee Mug

In the good old fashioned days, Ponds Extract was supposed to be one of the "cure all-fix all" for every ailment known to man. Even the local frogs used it for broken arms, sore throats, and an assortment of other sicknesses! Although considered quintessentially American, patent medicines actually originated in England. The recipient of the first royal patent for a medicinal compound is unknown, but the second was granted to Richard Stoughton's Elixir in 1712. By the mid-eighteenth century an incomplete list included 202 "proprietary" medicines-those protected by patent or registration. Relatively few of the ready-made medicines were actually patented-which required disclosure of their ingredients-but rather had their brand name registered. Nevertheless, the term patent medicine has become a generic term for all self-prescribed nostrums and cure-alls. With this label on your cup-who will know what kind of snake oil you've got in there..?? :-)