THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

I was searching through ebay uk yesterday and typed in the search term "invoice". When searching on any ebay or google be sure to use other terms than billhead like "invoice," "receipt" and "statement." I have had lots of look buying cheap billheads under these terms. Anyway, my invoice search turned up some interesting billheads. Ever wonder how billheads were mailed. Well, in the UK here are some pictures - the billhead was either wrapped in cover paper or folded like a stampless letter would be. Really very neat. These billheads were listed under the Stamps category on ebay uk. Postal covers are a huge collectible area and I recently started researching. In the US a lot of billheads were mailed in graphic advertising envelopes. I will post examples and more info on these tomorrow. Above is what the folded billhead would look like when mailed. Below is the billhead after being opened. Two more folded examples and fold outs.

Here are some examples of billheads with factories.

As promised, here are some nice examples of animals on billheads. A 90 day terapeak search turned up a lot of horse and cow/bull examples. However, overall animal graphics are uncommon on billheads. First example is the veterinary billhead for the Duke of Buccleuch for vet services for horse (castration being one of the services - yikes!). Nice graphic of a healthy and strong horse. Next up a nice billhead with a wonderfully adorable dog. Now how about a bull. Finally, let's not forget the eagle from the Wetherill billhead. Next up - graphic billheads with factories.

Here are some nice examples of store front graphic billheads. Typically shops are overstated and grandiose in order to instill in the customer the importance of the shop in question and to illicit more business. Think of it in the context of many billheads being printed in the Gilded Age - the age of wealth, big business and robber barons. The stores and shops had were competing for business and the bigger the store the more important. The first example I have, doesn’t fit into the Gilded Age time frame, but it is interesting as it is the earliest billhead in my collection that has a shop / store front on it. I have shown it before in a previous post, but here is a close-up of the store for Christopher Binks. Next up in the time line is the Henry Nazro & Co. billhead from the 1850s. Notice the large opulent store in downtown Milwaukee. With passerbys and carriages out front. Next up is an 1870s billhead for John Nazro & Co. Henry Nazro got out of the business and his bro...

This is a sort chart of basic graphic categories. There are lots of billheads out there that don't fit these categories so, this is only a quick referenced. I will show some examples in the next few post. Categories of Graphics: Exteriors = storefronts, factories, hotels & farms, trade signs, and harbor Interiors = store interiors, hotel interiors Animals = livestock, horses, whales, eagles, lions, deer, fowl, Machines = trains ,carriages, agricultural equipment, engines Products = cutlery, groceries, gravestones, coffins, guns, goods, teeth, clothing, beer, china, lumber, tobacco, tools, coffee, Signboards = squares, ovals, circles People = tradesmen, Indians, Cameos

Another way to narrow done your collecting areas is to collect billheads based on the graphics (or lack thereof) on the document. In the early 19th century, few billheads had graphics and most were in manuscript form (i.e. handwriting only no printing). However, keep in mind that UK billheads did have graphics. As printers became more sophisticated and more printing houses opened, graphics made there way onto billheads. From DeSimone’s article on Rhode Island billheads, early graphics typically fell into three categories: products, services and views. DeSimone notes that the most popular products shown were stoves, ranges and furniture. The most popular services shown were undertakers, blacksmiths and coal dealers. As far as views, the most popular depiction was of the business premises. This is a great area to collect. I will have some examples in the next post of places of business. Another view involved the company showing off their factories. These are a little harder to ...

I highly recommend searching through the ebay buy it now items as most of them do not show up in a search. Some do, but 80% do not. I was combing through them the other day and ran across a neat billhead for Joseph L. Henshaw dated July 23, 1860. What initially caught my eye was the item purchased - 2 Shares of Mass Cotton Mills. Hmmmm - could this be stock shares? A closer look at the header of the billhead at the small writing and sure enough that must be what the shares are. Specifically the header of this billhead states as follows: Joseph L. Henshaw Auctioneer No. 6. Merchant Exchange . . . . . State Street, Boston Stocks, Bonds, and Other Securities, sold by Public Auction every Saturday. Stocks and Bonds bought and sold on Commission. While this billhead is very plain, it is a great part of stock auction history. I went on google books (my favorites researching tool) and here is what I found out about stock auctions. From The Art of Speculation by Philip L. Claret : Stoc...