David,

It's likely that the U.S. government first got peeved at Aunt Hannah's 
because large quantities of the stuff was being sold for use on military 
installations during WWI and found to be totally ineffective. Complaints 
from military commanders was the likely conduit to the Secretary of 
Agriculture and his complaint against the "mislabeling" (deceptive 
labeling). If the formula was anything like that of the contemporary Dr. 
Baker's Liquid Death Drops (which was determined through multiple 
analyses by U.S. government chemists to be 100% gasoline), then THAT 
(danger of fires from shipping highly flammable liquids in breakable 
glass bottles, thus higher insurance claims, and consequently higher 
shipping rates) was the likely reason for shifting to cans /in lieu /of 
bottles for out-of-state (interstate) shipping.

Bob Skiles


On 2/12/2014 12:44 PM, Bob Skiles wrote:
> David,
>
> You can view an advertising sign for AHLDD (from the National Bottle 
> Museum in Ballston Spa, New York) here:
>
> http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4037/4548417698_94f7a671e1.jpg
>
> that confirms the address for the Aunt Hannah "firm" on Pulaski Street 
> in Brooklyn.
>
> From reading bottle collectors' blogs, I believe that before AHLDD 
> became a "nationally distributed" product (ca. late 1880s-1990s ... 
> probably during the time it was operated as/by the founder "Aunt 
> Hannah"), it was sold in bottles; later, after her death/retirement??? 
> her nephews operated the business perpetuating her name, but shifting 
> from small-scale retail/local wholesale (in bottles) to 
> bulk-production/national-distribution (in cans, that would withstand 
> the rigors of shipping better).
>
> So, my belief is that your bottle is probably the same multi-purpose 
> "insecticide" remedy (snake-oil) originally sold as "Aunt Hannah's" in 
> bottles, meant primarily for bed bug control, later adding cans for 
> bulk sales (thru such national chemical distributors such as McKesson 
> & Robbins, whom I believe are still to this very day one of the biggies).
>
> Bob Skiles
>
>
> On 2/12/2014 12:18 PM, David L Cook wrote:
>> Thank you!
>>   I found this reference, but as I said before, it seems to be a 
>> different product, although certainly from the same Jenkins Bros that 
>> produced AH Pile Salve and AH Hair Tonic, but AHLDD came in cans, not 
>> bottles. From your post: "...borne on the labels affixed to the cans 
>> containing the article..."
>>
>> My main goal at the moment is simply to confirm that the contents of 
>> this bottle were medicinal(not rat poison or pepper sauce). From 
>> there it is certainly interesting that the same firm might be 
>> producing pesticide, salves, and hair products.
>> This bottle is the only one out of nearly a hundred separate products 
>> that I have not been able to confirm.
>>
>> Thanks to everyone for all of the suggestions!
>>
>> Best,
>> David L Cook
>>
>>> On Feb 12, 2014, at 12:55 PM, Bob Skiles <[log in to unmask]> 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> borne on the labels affixed to the cans containing the article,
>