The Four Tops and 11/11/11

 

I had meant to make this a Veterans Day post - for a very good reason. During my research for Veterans Day information a year ago, I found out that Montana led the nation in Selective Service draftees for military service during The Great War. An error in census data accounted for a disproportionate number of young men being drafted from Montana. For those who don't know, The Great War was the First World War, or WWI.

Montana is rural state with a population density of wildlife per square mile that exceeds the number of human inhabitants. I don't know what it is now, but you can bet than even back in 1917, the critters outnumbered us.

Because this piece of paper listed TOPS as the top line item, I got to thinking about who these tops would have been purchased for - probably as Christmas presents, since this is indeed THE holiday order (at least from Zernitz) for C. W. Rank & Company in Virginia City, Montana. If a young boy born in Virginia City in the early 1890's would have received a top, could he have gone on to serve in WWI? Perhaps. I haven't gotten skilled enough at searching the military records available through the Montana Historical Society, but I will - sooner or later.

I'd also like to point out that Teresa N. Fischer, whose work I truly admire, was kind enough to supply me with the most excellent photographs of three antique tops that she holds in her collection of old toys. Although the red one at the top is the only example in the color of the ones she has, the lighting was such that I could use whatever color I wanted to use for my tops. So, thank you, Teresa.

I also want to say a little something about the title - The Four Tops were at the heart of what came to be called the Motown Sound. I listened to them - on Armed Forces Radio while parked in the jungle of South Vietnam. I'm still here to talk about it, too. So Veterans Day is to honor all those who are veterans of our military, all branches. I greet all Marine Veterans that I meet with this: Semper Fi. For those who know, the greeting means everything. For those who don't, it is short for ALWAYS Faithful.

I will not be able to post on Veterans Day this coming Friday, so I'm posting today. God Bless. 

TOPS - The Spinning Wooden Kind 4

 

This is the fourth and last of the series of tops for the billhead.

Is there more to the story? Yes, there is, but I now have to go find a scanner that's large enough to scan the complete document. I'll keep you posted!

TOPS - The Spinning Wooden Kind 3

 

This is the third in my series of tops on a turn of the century billhead.

When I first started doing the research for the John D. Zernitz & Company, I had no idea where the trail would lead. There is scant information to be gleaned from public records available on the web. I do know however that a Mr. Charles M. Henn was in the employee of the Zernitz Company as a cashier in 1884.  Mr. Henn filed a patent for a mechanical bank on September 29, 1882 and it was issued January 23, 1883.

The name of the bank was "Eagle Feeding Her Young". I find it extremely interesting that Mr. Henn would work at a place that sold toys, but so he did.

There's always more to the story.   

TOPS - The Spinning Wooden Kind 2

The story continues. This is the second of four tops that I'm putting on this billhead.

This was a Holiday Season order back when you weren't shopping for Christmas until you should be shopping for Christmas. Among the items ordered were Watches, Sad Irons, Dishes, Paints, Candles (by the box), Kitchen Sets and other items I'll cover in subsequent posts. I found it interesting that Tops were at the top of the list. These are the kind that you wrapped a cord around, and "threw" at the ground. There was a knack to launching them so that they would properly spin. Mine are suspended in motion.

TOPS - The Spinning Wooden Kind 1

I've been busy making art that involves a story. This is the first of four tops that I've placed on a billhead from the John D. Zernitz & Company, dealer in Toys Fancy Goods and Druggists' Sundries,  210 & 212 East Madison Street, Chicago, Illinois..  It's addressed to C. W. Rank & Co., Virginia City, Montana, and dated November 3, 1900. The Turn of the Century had just occurred eleven months earlier.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Vintage Marbles

Some explanation is necessary for this piece of old paper.

Let's begin with some information I gleaned from that fabulous resource tool, the web. The following portion is from the Newberry Library in Chicago, and is a synopsis of the business that generated this piece of paper. Although formatted as if it were a ledger, it is actually a billhead that measures eight and one half inches wide by twelve inches high. I have more than one piece of this old paper that contain line items sold by them to C. W. Rank & Company Drug Store and Mercantile in Virginia City, Montana.

History of the A.C. McClurg & Co.

Chicago publishing house and wholesaler and retailer of books and merchandise.

A.C. McClurg & Co. traces its origins to Chicago’s oldest book and stationery store which was founded in 1844. The young Alexander C. McClurg went to work for the company, then known as S. C. Griggs, in 1859. McClurg resumed working for Griggs after returning from the Civil War with the rank of general. S.C. Griggs lost all its contents in a fire in 1868. But when the store was completely destroyed by the great Chicago Fire of 1871, Griggs decided to sell his share of the company to E. L. Jansen, A. C. McClurg and F. B. Smith. Jansen, McClurg & Co. was established in 1872. The business flourished and in 1873 published its first title, Landscape Architecture by H. W. S. Cleveland. By 1880 McClurg’s ranked as one of the country’s largest book distributors. In addition to its wholesale book business, McClurg supplied to small-town retailers throughout the West and Midwest a variety of merchandise, including “blank books and tablets, stationery, typewriter paper and supplies, hair and tooth brushes, druggists’ sundries, pocketbooks, pipes, pocket cutlery, etc.”

Although the book distribution component of the company was more successful than its publishing side, General McClurg felt secure enough to start publishing the monthly literary magazine the Dial in 1880 and continued to do so until 1892. It was during this period that George Millard created the rare book section that became known as the “Saints and Sinners Corner.” In 1886 the company changed its name to A.C. McClurg & Co.

When the firm’s premises were destroyed by fire in 1899, General McClurg decided to reorganize as a corporation with shares sold to employees. He died soon thereafter in 1901. Little publishing took place until 1914 when the firm negotiated what turned out to be its most profitable publication, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. McClurg & Co. went on to publish 10 more Tarzan titles. Eventually Burroughs set up his own company to deal with all iterations of his famous character.

In 1923 A. C. McClurg chose to focus its entire efforts on wholesale work by selling its bookstore located at 218 South Wabash Street in Chicago to Brentano’s. The remainder of the company was finally liquidated in 1962.

Strangely enough, toys (rubber balls, dolls, iron toys, Sad Irons, games, and in this case MARBLES) are not mentioned among the number of items that they provided to C. W. Rank.

History of the C. W. Rank & Company, Drug Store and Mercantile

 I don't believe you can purchase any marbles in this business today, but oddly enough - it's still a going concern. The building was purchased from the original owner in 1889, the year Montana became a state, and it still in business today. For a little more history of the business, you can visit their web site HERE.

The Marbles

When I first decided to put marbles on this piece of paper, I began looking for marble images on the web - by name, since I knew that McClurg would have to have imported the marbles they sold, and most probably from Germany. Although clay marbles were first produced in the United States around 1890, it wasn't until Martin Frederick Christensen of Akron, Ohio, perfected, patented and produced glass marbles by machine. Up to that time, most glass marbles were produced using a long cylinder of hot glass, cut by a metal 'scissors' which had a cup of the proper size as part of the blade for the marble to be produced. The clay marbles as well as the older glass marbles are highly collectible. The Christensen company began producing glass marbles in 1903, and produced them through 1917.

In early May I contacted Joe Street from JoeMarbles about using some of the images on his site for models for this paper. He agreed to allow me to use any of his photographs, provided that I link to his site and send him a link to the finished image. Although I didn't use any of his photographs and finally learned how to outsmart my digital camera, I'm providing the link to his site because you can easily get lost if you're interested in finding some of your own lost marbles. Over the past twenty years or so, I've gathered some marbles that I enjoy looking at while they sit on the window ledge in natural sunlight. Indeed, to me some of them look like little planets. Some of the cobalt blue ones are very old and have been used repeatedly to the point that they look like a cratered moon. Even battered and pitted, they never lose their appeal - at least to me they don't.

Marbles Day 3

My son got married. He may have lost his marbles - but I seriously doubt it.

I'm back at my drawing table, and it's looking like I've at least another day of serious work left to do on my marbles - which I found. The photograph is one of three I'm using as models. Your views of my marbles may vary.

Marbles Day 2

After two days of trial and error, and a successful photo shoot, I'm going to post this now, because Day 3 is at least four days out. I've a wedding to attend.

This piece of old billhead paper is dated March 17, 1892. From A. C. McClurg & Company of Chicago, Illinois. It is an order for the C. W. Rank & Company Mercantile in Virginia City, Montana.

There are line items which call, by name, for at least four different varieties of MARBLES. What you see is what you're going to get. Except for Marbles #31 - #61. "We are at present out of Marbles #31 - #61".

More next week...

Drummer Boy! PFF#33

Although I'm not keeping with the theme chosen by hostess Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy, I'm putting up the First Day Cover that I did last year for my brother. Not only is he a drummer, but he just happens to collect Drummer Boys year round.

In the process of researching Drummer Boys for the art work, I discovered that there is a rich history behind the nutcrackers here in the United States. Although immigrants from Europe new them well, soldiers brought many of them back to our country after WWII.

In 2008, the USPS commissioned a fellow by the name of Glenn Crider to build four nutcrackers for the Holiday stamp issue. Although each nutcracker he builds is unique, he also builds one of each for his own collection. There's probably a lesson to be learned from that, since I've done many covers over the past twenty years, and have very few of them in my own collection.

While browsing early, I found that FunOldHag aka Carol, at  Pieces of the Past had posted a cute postcard of a young drummer under the Christmas tree, probably waking up his folks from their long Winter nap. It woke me up to my entry for today's Postcard Friendly Friday.

Hubley Indian Motocycle PFF #32

I've done a couple of posts on Indian Motocycles, including a piece of old paper that involved a lot of phone calls and a trip to the Montana Historical Society. I also included in that post the First Day Cover that I had done which depicted an Indian Scout with my brother-in-law aboard.

A site that I have been following for well over a year, Tattered and Lost Ephemera, posted a wonderful story and included a print advertisement for a Hubley Indian Motocycle yesterday. As she usually does with the ephemera that she posts, she included links to the Hubley Toy Company and the Indian Motocycle Company as well.

In 2002 when the USPS announced that they would be issuing a block of four Antique Toy stamps, I decided that I would use an antique toy motorcycle for my art work, and I knew where to go as a source for the model - my brother-in-law, Tom Benson, restores old Indian motorcycles, and his living room is a virtual museum of old Indian memorabilia. He does not have any Hubley Indian motorcycles, but he knew where to find some excellent photographs of one - and promptly sent me a couple to choose from.

The advertisement that was posted on the Tattered and Lost Ephemera site is a prime example of marketing, and you really ought to give it a read. Hubley not only knew how to make toys, but they also knew how to sell them. I've recently come across some old paper that includes the sale of Tin toys and dolls, and I'll be putting some of those pieces up as I work toward my next major show in March of next year. But for now, my memory was jogged into action (I could hear the 'realistic' motor running) when I read the advertisement for the Hubley Indian.

To get your motor running, make sure you visit Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy for more visual treats on Postcard Friendly Friday!

Old Paper - Finally!

After a couple of months of devoting desk time to First Day Covers, I decided to do a piece of OLD PAPER ART, and this is the result of a week's worth of pencil-pushing.

A little bit about both of the companies involved with this nice piece of old paper:

The South Bend Toy Company was incorporated December 22, 1882, after being established in 1874. Frederick Badet, a grocery clerk, and John Teel, a woodworker, originally started the company, making croquet sets and other wooden toys. Croquet was that the time, the only acceptable game for women and children to play. About the turn of the century they began to build children's wagons and doll carriages.

The Studebaker Company was founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the the name of Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company. The company built wagons for farmers, miners and the military. Their factory was located in in South Bend, Indiana. Studebaker asked the South Bend Toy Company to build a number of small replicas of their full-sized wagons to place in dealer showrooms. The only problem they encountered was that the dealers couldn't keep them in the showroom, and Studebaker quickly realized that a smaller wagon for children would be a sales leader. South Bend produced the smaller wagons, and Studebaker sold them through their dealers. South Bend Toy also sold the wagons through the Sears & Roebuck catalog.

Included now in this post is a scan of the Sears & Roebuck catalog page from 1924 advertising the Studebaker Junior. The advertisement was provided to me by Gordon Westover, who builds upscale wagons and restores antique wagons, doing business on eBay as WagonMasterCoaster. If you have a moment and are interested, stop by his eBay store.

I have seen a number of real photo postcards picturing this wagon being pulled by a goat, and apparently photographers used the Studebaker Junior as a standard prop for children's photos.

I recently saw one of these wagons (not restored) at auction, and it sold for $3,300.

Ride on!