Old Bottle of Picric Acid and Antimonium Sulphuratum Pulled From Detroit's John King Books

A staff member cleaning shelves at John King Used and Rare Books in Detroit came across an old glass bottle tucked among the antiques the store keeps alongside its books. She had studied chemistry at Wayne State University, and something about the bottle's label gave her pause. Rather than set it back on the shelf, she carried it outside and called for help.

That decision, on Aug. 31, led to a partial shutdown of streets around the store on Lafayette Boulevard while the Detroit Fire Department worked to remove the bottle safely. No one was hurt.

According to the Detroit Fire Department, the bottle held two substances: picric acid and Antimonium Sulphuratum. Picric acid is a colorless to yellow crystalline compound once common in labs and used in photographic development and some medical treatments. It only becomes a serious explosive hazard as it ages and dries out, when crystals can form around the cap or threads of the container and turn sensitive to friction or shock. Because nobody could say how long the bottle had been sitting untouched, or in what condition, the department treated it as a possible hazard rather than take a chance. Antimonium Sulphuratum, the second chemical in the bottle, is used in heavily diluted form in some homeopathic remedies for skin and respiratory conditions and poses far less risk on its own.

John King Books said the bottle was part of a broader collection of antiques the store keeps in addition to its inventory of used and rare books. Old chemical bottles, along with other scientific and medical antiques, sometimes turn up in estate sales and collections that make their way into secondhand shops before anyone checks what is inside or how stable it might still be.

Once the bottle was outside, the Detroit Fire Department closed off streets near the store as a precaution while personnel assessed and removed it. The closures lasted while crews worked through the process of safely transporting the material away from the area.

John King Books, known for its size and its ranking among the world's largest used bookstores, thanked first responders afterward in a social media post, saying their work kept the shop "from being violently disassembled." The store credited the responding crews with clear communication throughout the process.

Cases like this are not unheard of. Old chemical stock, particularly picric acid, has turned up in school labs, hospitals and private collections around the country for decades, sometimes sitting undisturbed for years before someone notices a label or a crystallized cap and calls it in. Fire departments generally treat any aged picric acid as a potential hazard until it can be examined and handled by trained personnel, since visual inspection alone cannot confirm how unstable a particular bottle has become.

The Detroit Fire Department did not report any additional discoveries at the bookstore following the removal. John King Books has not said whether it plans to review the rest of its antique collection for similar items.