1920’s – 1940’s Lydia Pinkham Advertising Travel Sewing Kit

Measures:  2.25” long

Lydia Estes Pinkham was born in 1819, the same year as Queen Victoria.  She started making and marketing her “Vegetable Compound” in 1875 after her family lost their fortune in the Panic of 1873.  It contained unicorn root, life root, black cohosh, pleurisy root and seed of fenugreek preserved in 19% alcohol.  It was touted as “A Sure Cure for Prolapsus Uteri or falling of the Womb, and all Female Weaknesses, including Leucorrhea, Painful Menstruation, Inflammation, and Ulceration of the Womb, Irregularities, Floodings, etc.”.  And apparently it must have worked as it was very popular for over 100 years! 

This sewing kit would have been an advertising premium.  It reads: “Lydia E Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound”.  The bottom is stamped “Made in U.S.A.”.   There is some discoloration of the metal case, this is not unusual for the age of the piece.  The kit is complete with thimble, needle, and thread.  It doesn’t appear to have been used much if at all.