John Hetherington moved from Ohio to New York in the late 1870's and went into patent medicines. Tropic Fruit Laxative required a two-cent stamp, and one was designed for him and first delivered in 1879. Only one delivery was made, of 55,000 stamps on old paper.

When it was decided to offer Tropic Fruit Laxative in larger boxes a three-cent stamp was issued. It was similar to the two-cent design, but the panel to the left was different. 183,212 of these stamps were issued on watermarked paper between 1880 and June 14, 1881.

A bit later yet, it was decided to offer the Hetherington product in smaller boxes, so a one-cent stamp was produced that was identical in design to the three-cent but smaller. 548,100 of these were issued between December 15, 1880 and June 21, 1882, all on watermarked paper.