- Not only anonymous persons?
Not only anonymous persons, but occasionally politicians, entertainers, and other celebrities offered their endorsements to the vendors of patent medicine. The makers of Vin Mariani, a cocaine-laced patent medicine, secured one of the most valuable testimonials ever by receiving the recommendation of Pope Leo XIII. Queen Victoria also endorsed a number of patent medicines and other products, and the frequently-seen notices touting a manufacturer or a product "by appointment to" a monarch or his family continue the practice of royal endorsement in a somewhat more low-key manner.
Such coups came towards the end of the era of written testimonials. Later advertisers found that no one bothered to read the testimonials anymore; the sheer bulk of their numbers made them no more convincing or appealing. A warier public wondered whether these anecdotes really proved anything, and often doubted their genuineness.
