Billheads and Postal History

I was searching through ebay uk yesterday and typed in the search term "invoice". When searching on any ebay or google be sure to use other terms than billhead like "invoice," "receipt" and "statement." I have had lots of look buying cheap billheads under these terms. Anyway, my invoice search turned up some interesting billheads. Ever wonder how billheads were mailed. Well, in the UK here are some pictures - the billhead was either wrapped in cover paper or folded like a stampless letter would be. Really very neat. These billheads were listed under the Stamps category on ebay uk. Postal covers are a huge collectible area and I recently started researching. In the US a lot of billheads were mailed in graphic advertising envelopes. I will post examples and more info on these tomorrow.

Above is what the folded billhead would look like when mailed. Below is the billhead after being opened.

Two more folded examples and fold outs.

Comments

CAPEWELL HORSE NAIL COMPANY

I regularly purchase goods and paper at a local online auction. In December, I noticed that a lot of random estate / household goods also had a small pile of what looked to be calendars. I won the lot and sure enough it included many advertising calendars. Many of those were for the Capewell Horse Nail Company of Hartford Connecticut. These calendars were damaged, but the color and graphics were still very bright. Last week, I happened on a lot of paper through ebay that included a billhead for the company. Attached are photos of all for your enjoyment.

Billhead of the Month: Schmit Bros trunks Oshkosh WI

I picked up this Schmit Brothers billhead recently in Eau Claire. I currently have it for sale on ebay right now. It is a nice triple graphic billhead. Here is my ebay write up: 1895 billhead for The Schmit Brothers Trunk Company manufacturers of trunks, traveling bags and valises of Oshkosh Wisconsin. Great header graphics with three images. Left side is the firm’s mill at Summit Lake, middle is the firm’s factory and left side is the firm’s warehouse. Billhead has creases. Peter Schmit was born in 1840 in Prussia. He emigrated to the U.S. in June 1854 and located inRacine WI. He was engaged in farming until 1861 when he enlisted in Company D, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He engaged in the battles at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Mine Run, Bull Run, Gettysburg, Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. He was mustered out in June 1865. He came back to Racine and kept a hotel until 1866 when he joined his brother Henry’s trunk business. Henry had established the bus...

Oswego New York Mills

Oswego is located on Lake Ontario and at the mouth of the Oswego River in north-central New York . In 1826 the first mill was built in Oswego for the manufacturer of flour. The mill was built by Alvin Bronson and TS Morgan on the east side of the river. An adjoining mill was thereafter built by Henry Fitzhugh. From that first mill onward, the flour milling business blossomed in Oswego chiefly due to it the hydraulic power of Oswego Fall and the Oswego River . On July 5, 1853, fire destroyed most of the mills and elevators on the east side of the river. All of the lost mills were rebuilt. Eventually the Oswego mills lost ground to the Western mills, but the paper mills moved took their place. A list of the mills in 1853 included: Empire - run by Doolittle, Irwin & Wright Ontario – run by GLAB Grant Atlas – run by Geo. Seeley Magnolia - run by Chas. Smyth Lake Ontario – run by Fitzhugh & Littlejohn Washington – run by Penfield, Ly...

THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

Search This Blog