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Billhead of the Month - Kyser & Rex

I recently purchased a ledger of pasted in billheads. I soak out the billheads and sell them. A part of me cringes as I do destroy the historical value of the ledger by doing this. However, I combat that with the notion that I am getting these billheads into collectors hands. The ledger I recently purchased had a ton of neat billheads. One of my favorites is the the Kyser & Rex firm of Frankfort, Philadelphia. When I researched it I realized the significance of this billhead. The firm was a manufacturer of iron toys, including mechanical banks, that generate some significant prices in the market. What I found out about the firm, I got from the Mechanical Bank Collectors of America's website.

1883 graphic billhead for Kyser & Rex manufacturers of hardware specialties, iron toys, novelties and house furnishing goods of Frankford, Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Left side signboard gives the location of the firm’s branch office and sample room. Across the top its states Variety Iron Marks and the firm partners Louis Kyser and Alfred Rex. Awesome watermark orange graphic of the iron works factory with an American Flag on its roof and advertising signage on the building. Items purchased include hatchets, hammers, ice breakers, ice picks, and chisels. Billhead has glue stains.


KYSER & REX, Frankford, Philadelphia, Pa.: Louis Kyser and Alfred C. Rex were frequent patentees of mechanical banks in the late 1870’s and early 1880’s. They were the owners of the firm of Kyser & Rex, manufacturers of iron castings and hardware, and their line of mechanical banks was one of the most important and widely sold. After 1884 the concern became Alfred C. Rex & Co., and was continued under that name for some years thereafter. Their foundry was located at the corner of Trenton Avenue and Margaretta Street, Frankford, and at times they also had an establishment in Philadelphia proper. Rudolph M. Hunter, who was associated with Kyser and Rex in patenting several banks was a mechanical engineer and patent attorney, but it is not known if he was regularly employed by the company or merely became interested in the subject of mechanical banks through serving them professionally.


Among the banks manufactured by Kyser & Rex and by Alfred C. Rex & Co. were the Bowling Alley, Uncle Tom, the various size Organ Banks, the Baby Mine Bank (Feeding The Child), Chimpanzee Bank, Confectionery Bank, Motor Bank, Dog Tray, and the Lion And Monkeys. From certain records at the Stevens factory, however, it seems that Stevens acquired the patent rights to the Motor Bank, although this bank does not appear listed as a Stevens product in any of their catalogs of the period which have been examined.

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