Doctor Joseph Walker devised his fermented Vinegar Bitters in San Francisco in 1849. Richard H. McDonald, a San Francisco druggist, promoted the medicine nationally, and went into partnership with John Campbell Spence to form R.H. McDonald & Company to produce and market it. This company had a New York office with branches in California.

A private die stamp for Walker's Vinegar Bitters was first issued in July of 1870 and last delivered on February 23, 1883. 1,149,024 were produced on old paper, 5,088,677 on silk paper and 492,760 on watermarked paper. This example is on watermarked paper.

A check used by R.H. McDonald & Company in 1871. It has a Type C22a imprinted revenue inverted on the back, making it an example of one of the rare types of revenue stamped paper.

A Walker Almanac of 1872.

The back cover of the 1872 almanac showing a reproduction of the Walker private die stamp. This was against government rules.

A clipping from the Adrian, Michigan Times of December 21, 1872.

An 1885 McDonald & Company cover showing the Walker logo. Joseph Walker probably died in 1877.