Fire Bucket, "5"
date: label: date made
content: 19th century
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description
content: This nineteenth-century hand-sewn bucket, marked only with the number 5, most likely belonged to an early engine. Most fire companies were formed around small hand-pumped engines, the first of which were imported from England in the late seventeenth century. As towns grew and new companies sprang up, additional engines were purchased. Each machine came equipped with four to six buckets, which were painted to match the color scheme of the engine and numbered to correspond with the machine. This bucket belonged to Engine #5, the fifth machine to be acquired by this particular town. Engine #5 was most likely painted red, gold, and black, like this bucket. Companies took great pride in their engines, and they were usually elaborated decorated, such as with painted panels depicting Liberty, Guardian Angels, or other allegorical female figures. Because of their association with engines, the design of a company’s buckets would have been equally important.
label: Description
content: Note: Buckets G145 (hand-sewn leather; marked “1”) and G176 (rubberized canvas; marked “1”) are also examples of engine buckets numbered to correspond with their respective machines.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: classified
content: Fire Fighting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Fire Fighting and Law Enforcement
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: 2005.0233.0257
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0257
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bucket, fire
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 3/4 in; 32.385 cm