Q: What can you tell me about this paper bag for X-Ray Stove Polish?

A: X-ray Stove Polish was made by the J.L. Prescott Company of Passaic, New Jersey. The company was founded by James L. Prescott in 1870 in North Berwick, Maine. A factory was built in Passaic in 1896 and the North Berwick building was closed. The company made polish, the tins the polish was sold in, and the shipping boxes. The company filed a patent for the image of the stove with dancing devils on top on May 8, 1905. They claimed its stove polish “cannot explode.” In the early 1900s, several deaths were caused each year by “explosion of stove polish” when the polish, which contained highly flammable ingredients, was applied to a warm stove. Paper bags marked with the stove and devils mark and pictures of the tin are being sold on eBay for $1 to $19.