My understanding is that they were sold all over the place and had no relation whatsoever to ace hardware.What they are saying is BS. I looked up the Ace Hanson trademark, and it last belonged to Irwin before they let the trademark die and not Ace Hardware. (Although it may have been sold exclusively at Ace.)
Well, my experience is, they are not particularly good quality. But at least they are not like the cheap sets you find on eBay or at swap meets. Some of them actually will bend, which I guess in some ways is good when it gets stuck because it's so dull. The Irwin taps are at least hardened heat treated steel of some sort. They don't hold their edge well, and they don't work well and they wear out quickly, but at least they DO work. If you need to drill out a hole to the next large size and thread it, it will work unlike the ebay sets that are good for chasing threads but that's about it.From http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2014/01/vanished-tool-makers-henry-l-hanson.html
In 1975, the company moved to a modern facility in the same city. At some point, the company became a part of the Irwin tool empire (now a part of Newell Rubbermaid), where the name is still used as a brand. Unfortunately, according to comments I've read on various web forums, the taps and dies under this brand name are now made in China and are considered to be of very poor quality.