jar
From the collection of National Museum of American History. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
Containers with blank labels could be filled with different ingredients depending on the apothecaries needs. When the contents of the jars were replaced, apothecaries would write the appropriate name in the medallion. Urdang attributes the containers 1991.0664.0760 through 1991.0664.0825 to the town of Hanau in the late 18th century based on the floral garland surrounding the medallion and the initials HN on the bottom of many of the jars in the series. However, in a letter dated August 1983, the pharmaceutical history scholar Wolfgang-Hagen Hein believes the unmarked containers and those marked FH were made in Florsheim in the German state of Hesse jst twenty-three miles southwest of Hanau.
National Museum of American History’s own description
