Very Old Opium

[Lump]

Hope someone can help me out on this, it's making me bonkers.



Live in an area where the mining industry was huge between about 1840 to 1950. Little 'patch' towns used to go up and down in a matter of days, depending on where they were mining. My brother digs old bottles out of these sites and sells them.



So my bro calls me and says he's dug up an apothocary bottle STILL SEALED (cork and wax) that he dates from between 1870-1900. It says OPIUM on it. Had a look at it this morning, and there seems to be about 4 ozs of a substance in the bottom of the bottle. Hard to judge color because of the color of the glass SO



Does this stuff degrade? Unchipped, still sealed bottles from that era go for bucks, but if he sold it, would he run into the possibility of law trouble for trafficing, even though he dug it up (in the US)? Would it be worth it to open the bottle to test the stuff? Sticky wickett, any thoughts?