THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

Charles P. Moser was born in 1837 at Carbondale PA. He began work at the age of 17 in the drug and grocery business of Samuel E. Norton. After 3 years, Norton retired and the firm became Root & Moser, with William T. Root as Moser’s partner. After another 3 years, Root retired and Moser became the sole proprietor for ten years. In 1873, he moved to Syracuse, and with Henry Lyon, as Moser & Lyon, purchased the wholesale and retail stationery establishment of J. W. Yale, on Salina street, removing it a few years later to Clinton street. They discontinued the retail department and soon added a job printing office and book bindery. In 1889 Mr. Lyon sold his interest to R. A. Truax and Irving L. De Golia, and the firm became Moser, Truax & De Golia. In 1892 this firm and the firm of Lyon, Millard & Co. were consolidated into a stock corporation under the name of the Moser & Lyon Co., with Mr. Moser, president; George W. Millard, vice-president; Henry Lyon, ...

About a year ago I bought my first ledger of pasted in billheads. I wanted to try soaking out the billheads and reselling them like I had been doing with scrapbooks full of trade cards. The ledger contained invoices for items purchased by a Dr. Van Horn in New York. To my delight there were a few billheads for Edward Hen tobacco dealer in New York City. The billhead was very decorative and Hen made a point to list all the items he carried in his store on the billhead. Some of the tobacco products Hen sold included: Blackwell's Bull Durham, Carroll's Lone Jack, Kimball, Old Judge, and Spaulding & Merrick. For you tobacco card collectors - all big names in tobacco cards. Additionally, and not listed on this particular billhead, Hen sold cigar store Indians statutues . Importantly, Hen sold the figures of Thomas Brooks, a leading carver of ship and shop figures in the 19th century. Thomas Brooks was born in New York City and apprenticed to John L. Crowell, another noted...

I haven't shown receipts in awhile so in honor of the school season upon us. Here are some examples of receipts for tuition and board for education.

Sorry for the late posting of the billhead of the month. Busy busy at work this month, then my car decided to die on me. I am what I call an unlucky lucky person. I have unlucky things happen - Gus the dog almost dying last year from diabetes, then a car accident, now the new car dies. But I am lucky in that right when Gus vet bills start soaring I get an unbelievable bonus at work, I get in a car accident but luckily get hit by a tow truck which a: tows my now mangled car for free, and b. has great insurance to boot! Then the new car dies on me last week - luckily only two miles from the Honda dealer and then I get to drive around a 2010 Honda Pilot for a few weeks while it gets fixed. See what I mean, unlucky but lucky. Good karma after bad. Back to the billhead, this is one of my favorites because it is very decorative. It is for the Enterprise Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia PA. Wonderful calligraphy printing which surrounds a graphic of the firm's factory. The ...

The Ephemera News today had a link to the collection of Robert Biggert entitled Architectual Vignettes on Commercial Stationery. Here is that link: http://biggert.cul.columbia.edu/items . I browsed through several pages during lunch at work today and it is fabulous. Lots and lots of billheads. After viewing the collection I was thinking how great it was that Columbia University Libraries scanned and loaded these images online. It seems like so many paper collections get lost in archives. Collectors who donate their collections should really consider making it a requirement that the facility that gets the collection put it online for all to see. Anyway, here are some example billheads that weren't in the Biggert image gallery.

Enjoy these lawn mower billheads as I look at my rather long lawn. I love mowing the lawn, I just hate the mosquitoes and boy are they thick right now in Wisconsin! I joke I need a bee keeper suit to mow comfortablely from July thru October.