THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

I have had a hard time deciding what to use for this month's billhead. For all those who watch American Pickers, I went to my paper "honey hole" last Thursday (flush with Christmas money - we celebrated early this year) and went wild! I hadn't been up there for awhile so I was giddy with glee at all the new paper - much of it is going to be listed in Ebay in the next couple of months mainly to support my UK billhead habit and to pay for Gus the dog's doggie daycare habit. So, this billhead of the month is from my recent trip - it is for S.F. Hess tobacco out of Rochester New York. John Disbrow started a tobacco firm in 1838. In 1867, Solomon F. Hess purchased Disbrow’s business and conducted the business alone under the name S.F. Hess until 1877 when it became S.F. Hess & Co. Hess is famous for its tobacco card inserts. Some examples of Hess letterheads: Check out these websites for tobacco card examples: Some Baseball Card examples California Leagu...

1806 billhead for Corning & Company druggists, sign of the mortar who have constantly for sale: medicine, paints, oils, varnishes, dye-stuffs, hatters’ trimmings, groceries and paper hangings located in Troy New York. Early American billhead with plate mark and graphic of a mortar and pestle – also indicates the firm had a trade sign of the same. The firm was started by Gurdon Corning. Corning was born in 1778 in Norwich CT. He began his business career as a druggist in Norwich and he moved to Troy NY in 1801 where he set up a successful drug business. His commercial interests turned to insurance and banking. He was one of the founders of the Rensselear Polytechnical Institute. He was mayor of Troy from 1843-1847. He was related to Erastus Corning.

In their modern adaptions, saws can be divided into two categories: reciprocating (handsaws) and continuous action (circular and band saws). Reciprocating are the oldest and can further be divided into rip and cross-cut saws. The beginning of modern woodcutting dates back to the introduction of the power mill. The earliest mills were driven by wind power, but by the 14the century water power was more popular. America's first sawmill was built at the Falls of Piscatauqua on the line between Maine and New Hampshire in 1634. Other mills follows in New York and in Delaware. These first mills were all the vertical reciprocating type. Increased requirements of the mill men necessitated a constant search on the saw manufacturers for improvements in design and durability. While the hand saw is old history, the reinvention of the circular saw was the next great progressive step in saw making. The earliest patent on a circular saw was granted to Samuel Miller in England in 1777. Oth...

1875 billhead for J.W. Fiske manufacturer of ornamental iron and zinc work, stable fixtures, copper weather vanes located at 21 & 23 Barclay Street and 26 & 28 Park Place in New York City. Wonderful left side graphic of what I think is a garden urn. The billhead was printed with its corner folded down so that when it is unfolded there is a separation in the graphic. Items purchased were a manger, and rack. Joseph Winn Fiske was born in 1832 at Chelmsford MA. In 1853 he traveled to Australia to make and sell hardware and tools. He returned to the U.S. in 1858 and set up shop in New York City making metal products. He opened a second outlet in Massachusetts that sam year. In 1864, he closed the store in Massachusetts, but the factory remained until 1900. The New York City retail outlet survived until 1956 when both the factory and retail outlet moved to Patterson NJ. Fiske became one of the preeminent manufacturers and retailers of ornamental iron and zi...

On Slate today there is an article about the history of the corset . Thought I would show the few corset billheads and letterheads.

I stumbled upon a notice from the University of Chicago's Special Collections Research Center blog which indicates the center is digitizing select archives . A neat one for billhead and receipt lovers i the archive of Fielding Lewis. Lewis owned a plantation on the James River, where he raised corn and wheat. Lewis was the son of Col. Warner Lewis and Eleanor Bowles of Warner Hall, Gloucester County, Virginia. He was also a great uncle of the famed Captain Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Around 1788, Lewis married Agnes Harwood, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Woddrop Harwood. With that marriage came the estate of Weyanoke on the James River. I looked through the digitized invoices and receipts and was wowed! While not a lot of printed billheads, there were a few. Lots and lots of manuscript billheads which were also very interesting. I created a cheat sheet for the printed billheads below: Box 2, Folder 6 - 1833 - pages 40 and 78 1833 – Thom...

It has been awhile since I have showed receipts on the blog. I became interested in express receipts when a few years ago I purchased a stock and bond book for Henry Clews . The first stock in the book was for Adams Express Co. I have been hooked on the history of the express business since and even bought some shares of Adams a while back - Adams Express is now a closed end fund. To read more on express history, check out AL Stinson's History of the express companies on google books. Adams & Co. American Express Eastern Express Co. Harnden Express Howard Express Lamping & Co. Express Pacific Express Co. Pioneer Express Co. Southern Express Co. Tobin & Co.'s Express Union Line Express United States Express Co. Wells Fargo & Co. Express

My personal collecting has slowed considerably due to this falls unfortunate car issue and Gus, the dog, yet again in the hospital. Regardless, I always troll ebay UK for billheads and for ones I can get on the cheap. I bought this billhead about a month ago. It has a nice plate mark and left side graphic with all kinds of tools and iron goods.

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot these last few months. Work has been incredibly busy and Gus, the dog, was very ill and in the hospital for a few days. Poor guy can't catch a break. He is on the mend and doing well. Back to the printers of billheads. Jacob H. Warner was a prolific printer of billheads, checks, trade cards and stock certificates. When looking at his billheads, you can see a style emerge. Warner printed decorative headers and graphics. After looking at so many Warner billheads, I can pick out Warner's billheads on ebay.