AMERICAN FIRE MARK - HISTORY TREE - MUTUAL ASSURANCE

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This insurance fire mark is a repro of the: The Mutual Assurance Company For Insuring Houses From Loss By Fire.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1784-Issue of 1810 Mutual Assurance Company for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire, Philadelphia: (1) Design of the "Green Tree"-dated 1784 shows a leaden tree on a bevelled-edge shield of wood. (2) Absence of bevelled edge, issue of 1797. (3) First of the elliptical wooden shields, issued in 1799. (4) Issue of 1803, shield much smaller than the first oval-last wooden mark issued by the company. (5) The first all-iron mark of the "Green Tree" and largest of its iron varieties-this one measures thirteen inches from top to bottom. Known as the "large flat back," issue of 1805. (6) Issue of 1806-known as "small flat back"-the second iron mark issued by this company. (7) Not more than three dozen of this squatty iron variety are known to have been issued, dates from 1827Made by Virginia Metalcrafters - This reproduction of the Tree Weights 7 pounds Measures 11.5 inches long, and 8 inches in width MARKED ON THE BACK WITH : V M 22-5 Virginia Metalcrafters was founded on October 6th, 1890, as the W.J. Loth Stove Company. Located in Waynesboro, Virginia, on the western slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, the company manufactured cast iron stoves and wood and coal heaters. The company's motto at the time was, "Loth Stoves Make Happy Homes". Loth, together with his son Percy, made the decision in the late 1890's to add frying pans, waffle irons, tea kettles and other cookware to the company's product line. Some of the tools used to make those original cooking products are still in the company's archives. When Mr. Loth died in 1904, Percy ran the company until failing health caused him to seek help. At the end of World War I, he invited his paternal cousin, retired Army Captain Richard Clemmer, to take control of the business. Clemmer realized that the future was not in wood and coal heating and in 1922 hired a Canadian electrical engineer, Mr. Fred Cuffe. Together they designed an electric stove and by the mid 1920's the company was marketing what Clemmer named the Hotpoint Range.In promoting the cast iron stove business, "Captain Dick," as he was known, used a small cast iron frying pan as his calling card. Upon presenting his "card" at a local resort hotel, Clemmer was asked if he would make a quantity customized for the hotel. It is said that this marked the beginning of the company's gift sales. In 1938, the company installed equipment for melting brass and other non-ferrous metals and began to markets products under the name Virginia Metalcrafters. Although World War II halted the casting of brass products, immediately after the war, Clemmer continued developing the gift line. In 1946 he met and retained the services of artist Calvin Roy Kinstler and commissioned him to do a carving of the great horse Citation. Kinstler completed his work in 1949, shortly after Citation had won the Triple Crown. That carving, along with other pieces carved by Kinstler are still actively sold by the company. Similarly, Clemmer worked with an internationally known sculptor, Oskar Hansen, whose works included the huge angels seen today at either end of the Hoover Dam. Hansen settled in Nelson County, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and carved may patterns for Captain Dick, among them, dozens of leaf shapes. Modeled directly from nature, these leaves range in size from 3 inches to 40 inches and many are actively sold today.Continuing the development of the gift line, Clemmer signed a license with Colonial Williamsburg in 1951 to produce brass and iron reproductions. The company's hand casting and finishing methods are the same as those used to form the original antiques. Williamsburg was just the first of many museum licenses. Today, Virginia Metalcrafters manufactures licensed products for Colonial Williamsburg, The Smithsonian Institution, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Historic Cha... read more

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