Thursday, July 7, 2011

An old receipt from L.B. Hantz, contractor, of York


Here's another receipt for customer Mr. R. Wm. Ziegler1 that I picked up at The York Emporium earlier this year.

The F.W. Behler receipt that I wrote about on March 29 and April 11 was also made out Ziegler, who must have saved many of his receipts and probably never imagined they would end up for sale in a books and curiosities shop in the early 21st century.

This May 14, 19072, receipt is from L.B. Hantz, a contractor handling plumbing, heating and stove repairs. Unlike F.W. Behler, I don't believe that the L.B. Hantz business is still around today.3

In 1907, L.B. Hantz was located at 361 West Market Street, which is now the home to the Blue Moon Restaurant.

Here's my best guess at what is written in cursive on the receipt:
Covering bay window
side of stove, Penn St. (?)
6 Sheets 40 lb Zinc 27
nails solder paper.
time 4½ hr. K
The total cost was $12.45, which would have been the equivalent of $287.53 in 2010, according to The Inflation Calulator.

Here are larger versions of the two illustrations -- a furnace and a stove -- on the L.B. Hantz receipt:


Above: It looks like the word "Paragon" can be seen in the middle of the furnace.


Above: It looks like this is an Excelsior stove from I.A. Sheppard & Co.

August 8, 2011, Addendum

This is now the most-viewed blog entry in Papergreat history, thanks to its mention in a thought-provoking New York Times article by Stephanie Clifford on paperless receipts.

If you're reading this on your first visit to Papergreat and are intrigued by the idea of a blog about everyday ephemera, I recommend that you check out this entry to see a wide sampling of the blog's offerings and/or follow @Papergreat on Twitter to get a link to each day's new post.

Footnotes
1. Here, however, is where things get interesting and confusing. On the F.W. Behler receipt, it clearly looks like it's spelled Z-I-E-G-L-E-R. And on today's receipt, it looks suspiciously like it's spelled Z-E-I-G-L-E-R. Ziegler or Zeigler? Sigh.
2. This receipt is dated one day after the birth of Daphne du Maurier.
3. I did find this cool excerpt from 1920's volume 91 of "Domestic Engineering and the Journal of Mechanical Contracting":
"L.B. Hantz, 361 Market Street, York, has recently completed the installation of plumbing and heating in the York Apartments on North Duke Street, and has secured the contract to install the plumbing and heating in the E. Ramer Apartments.

"F.W. Behler, 437 [Note: That street number is probably a typo. It's 473.] West Market Street, York, is at present completing the plumbing installations in the West Side Sanitarium, and has the contract to install the plumbing in the new nurses' home that is to be erected in the city."

3 comments:

  1. I found your blog thanks to the Times article! I share your love of ephemera. I thought you might be interested in this 1866 shoe receipt from York County, PA: http://pickingforpleasure.blogspot.com/2011/02/material-culture-minute-best-things-in.html

    I look forward to reading more.

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  2. great site! i'm glad i found you, also through the Times article. i've been collecting paper ephemera for years. unfortunately though, i've been scrapbooking mine in another piece of ephemera, an antique photo album from the Western College Women's College. i suppose i should consider digitally archiving them soon. thanks for sharing your collection, looking forward to more!

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  3. I have hung onto several receipts from 9.11.2001. We were in London, scheduled to return home on September 12. We had been to Harrod's and Kensington Palace earlier in the day. When I see the receipts, details of the day come rushing back. We also have several receipts from the 1920s that we found in the walls when we remodeled our home. The previous owner was a tailor, so it's quite interesting to have some touchstones from others who inhabited the same walls (or almost the same walls).

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