Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baking Powder Billheads

In 1843 the first modern version of baking powder was discovered and manufactured by Alfred Bird, a British chemist. In 1846, Justus Von Liebig in Germany experiments with yeast made from sodium bicarbonate and hydrochloric acid with explosive results. In 1885, Eben Horsford and George Wilson manufacture chemicals which eventually became the Rumford Chemical Works. Horsford formulated and patented Rumford Baking Powder, the first calcium phopshate baking powder. In 1889, William Wright and chemist George Rew developed a double-action baking powder marketed under the name Calumet Baking Powder. Below find some examples of baking powder billheads.
Post a Comment
Read more

Rubber Goods

The rubber industry in the United States can hardly be said to have had any real and tangible existence until the discovery of the process of vulcanization in 1844 by Charles Goodyear. The first rubber ever imported into this country was brought into Boston in the year 1800 and came in In that same year a patent was granted to one Jacob Hummel, of Philadelphia, for a gum-elastic varnish; of which, however, there seems to have been no further mention. Some ten years later, in 1823, a Boston sea-captain, coming from South American ports, brought with him a pair of gilded rubber shoes which excited the greatest interest. Two years later, 500 pairs of rubber shoes, made by the natives along the Amazon, were brought into Boston, this time without the fantastical refinement of gilding. They were exceedingly thick, clumsy, and unshapely shoes, and yet they sold readily, bringing from $3 to $5 per pair as they were found that they were a secure protection against dampness. This was the e
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more