Insurance Company of North America Fire Mark
date: label: date made
content: ca. 1796
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Beginning in the 1750s, some American insurance companies issued metal fire marks to policyholders to signify that their property was insured against fire damage. The fire marks bore the name and/or symbol of the insurer, and some included the customer’s policy number. The company or agent would then affix the mark to the policyholder’s home or business. For owners the mark served as proof of insurance and a deterrent against arson. For insurance companies the mark served as a form of advertising, and alerted volunteer firefighters that the property was insured.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Insurance Company of North America issued an eagle fire mark from 1796 until 1800. The INA commissioned these marks from sculptor Claudius Francis LeGrand, and paid him $512 for 256 fire marks. Starting in 1796, INA offered their policyholders a choice between their previous star-shaped mark (which cost $1.33) and the eagle mark (which cost $2.00). This fire mark consisted of a leaden image of a spread-winged eagle arising from a cloud, affixed to a wooden oval. A group of influential citizens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania founded the Insurance Company of North America in 1792. The INA was the first joint stock insurance company in the United States, and focused its business on marine and fire insurance. The Insurance Company of North America and related companies merged with the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in 1982 to become the CIGNA Corporation. A later sale made INA a part of ACE Holdings, where it still operates today.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Insurance
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
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content: Cultures & Communities
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content: Advertising
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content: Work
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content: Firefighting Collection
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content: Fire Marks
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of CIGNA Museum and Art Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2005.0233.0384
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0384
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fire mark
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: lead (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: board: 14 in x 10 5/8 in; 35.56 cm x 26.9875 cm
label: Measurements
content: eagle: 10 1/4 in x 8 1/4 in; 26.035 cm x 20.955 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: wt 2.4375 lb