Billheads and Postal History

Billheads and Postal History - the US

I promised when I posted about UK billheads and postal history, I would follow-up with the US version. US billheads usually are not folded and mailed like the UK ones. Instead, they are mailed in envelopes (or covers in postal history terms). Some covers have a simple return address like today and other are elaborately illustrated. The more elaborate envelopes are avidly collected by postal history collectors. A great reference source, and one that I own, is The American Illustrated Cover Catalog which documents the collection of John Biddle. Almost all photos are in color and it is an awesome source for cover collectors. Here are some examples of the cover and the billhead together.

Next week signboard graphics - some examples. In the next couple of weeks I hope to post some spots on revenue stamps and billheads (both US and UK), more on the Youle 1822 NY billhead and the mysterious antique mall (I am heading there again tomorrow - I can't help myself!).

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Australian Billheads

As promised from by last post, here are some examples of Australian billheads I found on the website Print and Printmaking Australia Asia Pacific . Based on the Australian print collection at the National Gallery of Australia there is free online access to over 22,000 images. The databases can be searched by artist, subject or print techniques such as etching, woodcut, wood-engraving, linocut, lithograph, screenprint, monotype and other print related processes such as posters and artists books. Index to online information on printmakers, print workshops, print publishers, print galleries and public and private collections.

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.

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...

THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

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