Slightly off-topic but kind of related, these are some of my Dad’s treasures. He wasn’t a sentimental kind of guy and kept no letters or correspondence but did stash away his old things from “the business”, as he called it. Telling actually, for a man who went to business college specifically for that purpose and did nothing but for the rest of his working life. It was entirely who he was, I guess.
Anyway, we used to play with this stuff when we were growing up, especially the rubber stamps which would keep us occupied for hours (especially if we spilled the box of the small set). I think they’re from his first “businesses” in Grande Prairie and later Dawson so would be from the late 1940’s into the early ‘50’s.
The big set was the most popular and The Hand stamp one of our favourites. I thought they may have been all wood (hence my notion to look at them again today) but they do have a rubber layer that is the imprint part. A little hard by now but they still print about as well as they ever did if there’s a somewhat soft backing under the paper.
The small set required more patience but you can actually build words using the teeny rubber letters and stacking them into the special holders backwards and upside down, I think. Yup, and then we’d upset the box and the little rubber bits would go flying. Heck, even the plastic bag has got to be an heirloom by now!
I’m the keeper of them now along with a box of really cool old gold water transfer letters that you’d use to put your name on a glass door or something. I’m thinking these hail from the last “business” in Dawson mid-1960’s. I’m pretty sure he had ones like this on his office door. I’ve got a glass door to my house but can’t really think of what to put on it — maybe just “The Business” and leave it at that?
Thanks for indulging me.
@David_R8 maybe this explains my continued history with letters and sign making, eh?
