Fire Mark, "Union Assurance Society"
date: label: date made
content: ca 1865
name: label: maker
content: unknown
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Beginning in the 1750s, American insurance companies issued fire marks to policyholders to signify that their property was insured against fire damage. The fire marks bore the name and logo of the insurer, and often included the customer’s policy number. The policyholders would then affix the mark to their 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 some companies used the mark to alert volunteer firefighters that their efforts to save the property would be rewarded.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England
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: 2005.0233.0559
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0559
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fire mark
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 in x 9 5/8 in; 17.78 cm x 24.4475 cm