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Ephemra - NEW YORK Lyons

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:25.00 CAD Estimated At:50.00 - 70.00 CAD
Ephemra - NEW YORK Lyons
SOLD
25.00CAD+ buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2016 Nov 26 @ 19:22UTC-4 : AST/EDT

Buyer’s Premiums will be added on all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale. Invoices will be emailed out following the Coin Cabinet Collector Show.
Ephemra - NEW YORK Lyons - HG Hotchkiss Essential Oils International Prize Medal
American Bank Note Company
sheet of 6 labels
Size: 11" x 12.1/8"

Hiram Gilbert Hotchkiss was born in Oneida County, New York, on June 19, 1810. In 1817, his father, Leman Hotchkiss, removed his family to Phelps, Ontario Co., NY, where he engaged extensively in farming, milling and general merchandising. He died in 1828 leaving his large business interests to his sons Hiram and Leman. At the age of 18, Hiram managed a small country store, to which later he attached a flouring mill, thereby becoming a general furnisher of food material. About 1837 he began to receive peppermint oil from the farmers about Lyons in exchange for goods. He also got into the business of buying the raw material as it would be offered to him in connection with wheat taken to his mill, and distilling the oil himself. He presently saw a future for Wayne County peppermint, and disposing of his business in Phelps, removed in 1841 to Lyons where he gradually asserted dominion over the peppermint oil business of the world. There were 2 or 3 other dealers in the country but the bulk of the crop went to market through the hands of Mr. Hotchkiss.
The Hotchkiss Company dealt with other essential oils such as wintergreen, spearmint, sassafras, pennyroyal, tansy and wormwood, but peppermint was its largest commodity. It cost $5 for 21 ounces, and one bottle was said to flavor a ton of candy. Hiram became a powerful businessman, controlling prices of western peppermint crops and successfully marketing his product in the United States and Europe.
The H.G. Hotchkiss Essential Oil Company became the largest supplier of mint essential oils in the world during the mid-1800s.
The Hotchkiss Company won the first-prize medal at an 1851 international exhibition in London and went on to garner many awards, including first prize medals at world's fairs and exhibitions held in England, Germany, America, France and Austria.
Hiram Hotchkiss died October 27, 1897 at the age of 87, and his sons Calvin and Hiram Jr., took over the business.
In the 1980s, the Hotchkiss company was sold to the Wm. Leman Company of Indiana, and the Hotchkiss building, known as the "Peppermint Office," was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Mint is no longer grown commercially in New York, but important landmarks remain in Lyons that tell of its mint history. Over one hundred and fifty years ago, the world's highest-quality peppermint and spearmint oils were distilled, bottled and crated in Lyons, carried to waiting boats on the Erie Canal, and shipped to European locations.
The Hotchkiss company is believed to be the oldest family-owned business in Wayne County and the oldest house in American dealing in American Essential Oil of Peppermint. The company won 17 first prize medals of silver and bronze awarded for the purity and excellence of its American Oil of Peppermint at World's Fairs in America, Europe and Great Britain beginning in 1851 at London, the first World's Fair ever held. Diplomas awarded the company at various World Fairs, some of which were signed by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort and Napoleon Bonaparte. Hiram was known as 'the peppermint king of the world'.