Unusual Polaroid Salesman Sample Photograph

Unusual Polaroid Salesman Sample Photograph c. 1947 - 1950 Collection Jim Linderman

Dull Tool Dim Bulb Colors of the Month Lettuce Green and Princess Blue Artnamel

There is no date on this Cochran Artnamel salesman sample, but one source indicates 1930s, more or less.  Hmm. A shame, as this seemingly defunct brand had a good name.  Artnamel!  I like it.  I would use a product called Artnamel to paint my little models(if I had any) and what-have-you(s?) and I used a trademark search to see if it is available. It is!  My scan was brief and I am no lawyer, but it seems to be another trade name in the graveyard of color.

What Does a Window Screen Have to do with Climate Change ? Duh.

First of all, you ignorant Republican climate change deniers should think a bit about tropical diseases.  Decades ago, environmentalists were reporting increasing spread of tropical disease north of the equator would be one of the early serious tip-offs of ocean warming.  Since you haven't had enough flash floods and deluge rain spots yet, consider the Zika, which spreads anywhere it is warm and there are mosquitoes.  I guess you have all been too busy limiting women's reproductive rights to notice.  There is NO IQ test for an elected official, and the dumbest I know ride elephants and force their stupidity agenda on everyone else.

Second, while I am in a good mood…Stop it with the "vaccination could be bad for you" shit.  That's right.  The notion is shit.  How about doing some research before letting the kids here who didn't get vaccinated spread disease to other kids, okay?  Ever hear of "Herd Effect?"  It means the more who are vaccinated, the better off even the non-vaccinated are.  Get the shots, clowns.

Flu Shot?  Duh.  No, it doesn't "make you feel like you have the flu."  It keeps you and your loved ones from getting the flu.  Again?  Get your ignorant nose and ears off the Rush Limbaugh show and take advantage of whatever scientists, REAL scientists, suggest.  Respiratory disease caused by the flu is capable of killing you and everyone you touch.  Now magnify that by 100 and you have the start of an epidemic.  I'm not kidding.  Remember the "Great" Flu Pandemic of 1918?  It wasn't so great.  As in it killed nearly 5% of the world's population...and 600,000 Americans, which seems to be the only people you care about.  Furthermore, because big agriculture puts antibiotics in our food, the tools we have for curing the flu are reducing every day. 

By the way, there IS no "clean coal" and the reason the EPA is closing some power plants around you isn't a Government take-over either…it's as much to keep your kids from getting asthma and poisoned as it is reducing our gigantic footprint.

Now…what does a screen have to do with Climate Change?  If you don't have them, and don't empty the water from the tires abandoned in your backyard…you might find out.

Burrowes Rustless Copbronze Salesman Sample Screen Netting pack Circa 1910 Collection Jim Linderman.  The screens were 93% bronze.  I guess that is a good thing.

Antique Colors of the West Coast Turn of the Century NITROKOTE

Don't paint it, NITROKOTE it!  W.P. Fuller put out Nitrokote in the early 1900s.  Fuller was the largest paint supplier on the West Coast.  I guess you could say he was the Fuller Brush Man with a painting brush.  Today when you see old paint on furniture and objects from the Pacific coast, it might have been Nitrokoted!

Salesman Sample color brochure Nitrokote Paint Collection Jim Linderman

Pure Color Jap-A-Lac Paint from Glidden circa 1920 Salesman Sample

Jap-a-Lac has been a "household word" since 1898, but I don't recall hearing it around my house.  Glidden might have been heard, but only on the television. Glidden was founded in Columbus, OH in 1875.  It is yet another company which has gone through buyouts and mergers so as to be unrecognizable, but it still exists. Today it is part of a conglomerate.  When the founder Mr. Glidden retired at age 85, his son took over and gobbled up competitors. Today, Glidden is but a "division" of something even larger.  Third largest paint company in the country, but the parent company is even larger.  One PPG now owns the drips of paint in 70 countries.  They even own "Transition Lens" which darken with the sun.

Glidden Jap-o-Lac enamel paint folding paint salesman sample circa 1920  Collection Jim Linderman 

Mid-Century Colors in Viinyl Masland Duran Yearling Duraleather

Mid-Century Colors in Viinyl  Masland Duran Yearling Duraleather circa 1960?  No date shown.  Salesman Sample Sheet collection Jim Linderman

Folk Art Hooked Rugs Painted in Enamel A Handmade Salesman Sample Book

A beautiful salesman sample book with twenty hooked rug designs, each hand-painted in miniature by a Massachusetts woman by the name of J. A. Harlow.  Not only are the samples beautiful and creative, they are rendered here in remarkable detail.  Note prices!   One of my favorite book titles is Anonymous was a Woman which detailed the extraordinary "women's work" created by artists who never signed their needlepoint, quilts, rugs and such.  In this case, there is a name.  The paintings are so beautiful, each could stand alone as a piece of wall art.  The salesman sample book also has numerous descriptions, instructions to order, and not surprisingly a note to return the book in good condition!  "Please be careful of it" reads one.  I will.

J. A. Harlow's  Homemade Salesman Sample of Hooked Rugs Collection Jim Linderman

Vintage Salesman Sample Ashtray

Vintage Salesman Sample Ashtray circa 1950 Collection Jim Linderman

British Made Drawing Inks from Steuber's Salesman Sample collection Jim Linderman

British Made Drawing Inks from Steuber's Salesman Sample collection Jim Linderman

Boydell Paint Salesman Sample Card

Early (and lovely) "paint chip" sample card for the Boydell Prepared Paint company.  Boydell Paints were founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1865.   Interestingly, the paints were here distributed by Crawford and Travis Druggists.  Drug stores have come full circle...the Walgreen's not far from here tries to carry everything in addition to drugs.  

Boydell Brothers Paint Salesman Sample Card.  Circa 1900?  Collection Jim Linderman

Beautiful but Deadly Mid-Century Modern Kentile Asbestos Floor Products Salesman Sample Set

Beautiful but deadly.  Mid-Century Modern colors by Kentile, a Brooklyn based company which lasted nearly 100 years before asbestos forced them into bankruptcy.  Today, a search on the company turns up far more hits for respiratory disease then floor tiles, but you'll still find a few folks trying to match colors and patch-up the floor in the ping-pong room. 

Kentile had an eight-story tall sign visible from the Gowanus.  It rusts there still, I guess,  a reminder for product safety and essentially a gigantic memorial for the workers and homemakers who lived with Kentile.

By far the most popular and familiar Kentile floors were the dapple-like pieces shown in the ad below.  They epitomize the 1950s, but don't scuff your feet too hard and stir up the fibers.  Don't grind them up when you remodel either.  I think they were trying to create a vinyl marble, or a marbling effect. To me, the patterns define the era as much as the beautiful plywood furniture…and I grew up within a few miles of the Herman Miller company and my folks dragged me along to the now famous company tag sales, so I know.  Of course, even then, Kentile was the stuff you pulled up to create an even more modern look…or covered with shag.  You can connect with other trendy retro-renovators HERE
 

The colors in this salesman sample box have names as pretty as the colors.
Sagebrush
Burnt Orange
Bangkok Pink
Hot Canary
Avocado
Bristol Blue
Terra Cotta
White
Black



Kentile Salesman Sample Set of  Solid Colors Designer Palette Vinyl Tile No Date
Collection Jim Linderman

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Want to see a "smart" woman and "wise" woman put floors down the easy Kentile way?

Widdicomb and Adams Furniture Grain Decoration in Grand Rapids Folk Art and Fine Art

CLICK TO ENLARGE Collection Jim Linderman

Salesman Sample circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman

Furniture graining has been done for centuries, it is a technique which adds fine (appearing) wood grain to lesser woods.  An embellishment and enhancement.  Until the late 19th century, this was done by hand.  Either by the hand of a trained furniture-maker in a detailed, "fool the eye" manner but as often by amateurs who frequently used a nearly inept, but often most exuberant manner.

Both are enjoyed, but for me the crazy swirls and outlandish whorls of the amateur are far most interesting than those of a trained professional.  It is that old fine vs folk argument.  Do you like pretty or primitive?  Fancy or free-hand?  Some were done with hand-held combs, some appears to have been done with whatever was at hand, or even the hand itself!
The super-primitive style shown below on a piece of furniture I own is a good example of my preference, but others certainly enjoy a more accurate representation.

Until I found this bronze salesman sample for a wood and furniture graining machine, I never even thought about it being done as part of a manufacturing process.  It was new...and as you will see below,  the company represented on this little advertising plaque was responsible for patenting a portion of the technique.

Grand Rapids has been known as Furniture City, so it makes sense the machine emerged and was produced there.  Widdicomb Furniture began as a cabinet making company in 1858.  George Widdicomb, and after the Civil War, his numerous sons and relatives,  grew the company into increasing larger facilities with a growing payroll. 

The company was not limited by style or look, eventually becoming a most well respected manufacturer of "Chamber" style, American Empire, Colonial Revival, Chippendale, and in the 1930s Art Deco.  Later products were influenced by modern Scandinavian, Japanese and Shaker design. 

Several companies over the years manufactured under the Widdicomb name, and the family had a few subsidiaries and branches operating as well.  In 2002, Whiddicomb was absorbed into Stickley, Inc. and John Whiddicomb continues to be manufactured in Manlius, New York.

There was interest in improving the graining technique among the several Grand Rapids furniture companies.  The fine photograph below is from the Rare Victorian websitehttp://rarevictorian.com/2008/12/graining-machines-simulate-hardwood-grains.html which mentions other companies, and refers readers to the book Grand Rapids Furniture by Christian Carron.

Robert A. Adams of Grand Rapids invented and received the patent for his graining machine in 1880.  He indicates "by this method all the fine lines and fibers of the natural wood can be transferred to cheap wood, dispensing with the tedious and expensive process of veneering" which must have been of interest to the Widdicomb family. Two of the Widdicomb brothers went into business with Mr. Adams, possibly as investors?  At any rate, John and Harry are listed as officers in the short-lived company on the sample here.

The company records and archives, which are stored at the Grand Rapids Public Library contains stock receipts dated 1881 for the Adams Graining Company, and one for Widdicomb has turned up HERE shown below.
 
The Adams company (or rather division or subsidiary?) was located at 62 West Bridge Street.  Adams Graining and Decorating was absolved in 1900, so it would appear the machine founded to utilize the technique was either absorbed into Widdicomb, or abandoned.

Note the brass "card" above was "Grained and Decorated By Our Process" and you can see it ranges from fancy to primitive.  The sheet is two-sided and gives a good example of the techniques available.  It measures 4" x 6"  or so, about the size of a cabinet card photograph, which is what I assumed it was until I picked it up. The Brass or Tin is no thicker than a tintype photograph.

Adams Graining & Decorating Company Metal Salesman Sample circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman

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Graphic Design of the Awning Kind The WHEEL of AWNINGS Salesman Sample Pamphlet

There will be no yawnings when you have new awnings from MacKenzie! Magic rotating wheel allows one to select the perfect shade of shade making shades!


MacKenzie Awning Salesman Sample Booklet with wheel and die-cut window. No Date Collection Jim Linderman

See Dull Tool Dim Bulb Book Catalog HERE

Postcard Generic Stops Along the Road (Deja Vu Road Trip)

Ever get the feeling you've driven down that road before?

"Generic" Postcards "GOOD FOR ANY PART OF THE COUNTRY" Colourpicture Publishers Postcard catalog 1946 Collection Jim Linderman

"Real-Pen" Bible Calligraphy Salesman Sample

A "Specimen Page" from the Pen-Art book Bible Pearls of Promise published in 1887. I have also included the corresponding page from the actual book. Look close and you will see slight differences, most evident on the head of the top dove. I do not know if the sample page was enhanced with pen, or if the effect is achieved by the "new pen-ink" process being touted.

Salesman Sample Specimen Page from Bible Pearls of Wisdom Real-Pen Work Publishing Co. 1887 Collection Jim Linderman

See Also OLD TIME RELIGION blog

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together

The unfamiliar jargon and sheer multitude of options is overwhelming. Ombre, cordet, guimpe, organdy? Velvanna, nubby, sport fingering, wool-o-nyl? I can't tell where a trademark meets a technique.

Peter Pan Yarn Sample Card c.1955 Collection Jim Linderman

Superior Magic-Mirror acrylic Lacquer Finish

1961 Salesman Sample Color Chevrolet Color Chart Collection Jim Linderman

I C U Contact Lens Salesman Sample with Percent Light Transmission

Continents Contact Lenses Trade Card, c. 1960 Collection Jim Linderman

An American Hero, Salesman Sample, Lead Paint and MORE

Philip J. Landrigan, a fellow you won't recognize but one we should all thank. It was his research which "led" to banning "lead" from paint. The children he saved from impaired brains, kidneys, and more is countless. As if that wasn't enough, Landrigan has figured prominently in ALL of the following: Removing lead from gasoline. The banning of several lethal pesticides. Figuring out the Gulf War Veteran's Illness. Refusing to let the effect of asbestos in New Yorker's lungs following the World Trade Center attack be dismissed. (Having breathed in the burning WTC for 6 solid months, this one is of particular interest to me) The minimized and emasculated Environmental Protection Agency of George Bush attempted to say the particles were "too small" to do damage, but Landrigan showed that the smaller the asbestos particle, the more dangerous it was. He was instrumental in passing the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996. I could go on and on. This man is a hero. Needless to say, THIS is a man our children should look up to rather than some meathead beefcake baseball player on steroids.

But I digress. These see-through templates allowed one to preview house colors with the included color cards. Each set came in a leather case embossed with the Eagle Paint logo. The kids who come to my house in summer asking if I need a paint job (I do) don't bring nothing but an earnest pitch.

Set of Eagle Lead Paint "chips" with Transparent house templates Salesman Sample c. 1945. Collection Jim Linderman