Firemen's Insurance Company Fire Mark
date: label: date made
content: ca 1875
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 Firemen’s Insurance Company of New Orleans, Louisiana issued this fire mark around 1875. The Firemen’s Insurance fire mark consisted of a raised image of an early fire hydrant with hose attached, surrounded by the letters F.I. Co. in the center of a cast iron oval. This fire mark has been painted: the plug is red with gold stripes, the hose is black, the grass is green, and the letters are gold. This fire mark’s symbol is taken from the imagery associated with the Fire Association of Philadelphia. The Firemen’s Insurance Company of New Orleans operated from 1875 until 1898.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: classified
content: Fire Fighting
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: 2005.0233.0473
label: accession number
content: 2005.0233
label: catalog number
content: 2005.0233.0473
objectType: label: Object Name
content: fire mark
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: cast iron (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 1/2 in x 7 3/4 in; 29.21 cm x 19.685 cm