Piece border ID

The Kelsey Co., in the US, sold this border as “No. 38.” I believe that it originated earlier than 1897, in other specimen books, but here is a showing from about 1904:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39182740@N04/4548577434/sizes/o/in/set-7215...
Dave Greer

Paul, stop carrying it and start printing it, no wonder why you back hurts, put it on a galley or let your wife carry it for the next 25 years.

Kelsey did not originate this design so a foundry of origin still needs to be sluethed out. What is very interesting are the three “V” shaped nicks which might help to zero-in on that foundry.

Rick

@Rick, It’s an optical delusion, the nicks are rounded.

@Dave, Kelsy bought material from a variety of sources, but always American, as far as I know. For delicacy it looks like a Geo. Bruce item, but at least it originates before the Wm. Morris influence set in.

@Dick, The border is in two small jewelry boxes. It’s not the two boxes that are so heavy, it’s the other 200 boxes I suspect. My wife says I should do something creative with my stuff, like build a reef.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Do you have the corner pieces? Those circles scream to be hand-colored. :-)

Barbara

I found it. It appears in the 1899 Handy Book of Printing Types from the Bruce Type Foundry. It is simply listed as No. 104 under Twelve Point Borders.

I then went to my 1882 catalog from Bruce’s New York Type Foundry to see if I could find an earlier specimen. This is actually a larger book, but it is not in there. So it originated somewhere between 1882 and 1899.

Rick

Thanks for the confirmation Rick. I thought it probably was a Bruce ornament because of its delicacy. Now I know what to call it, ‘Ol’ 104’. I had the Bruce 1882 specimen book once, but traded it to Theo Rehak in a weak moment. I’d like to find a Klingspor Specimen book from the 1930s to see what kind of ornaments were available before the war. Say, do you need some more Goudy Ratdolt?

Paul