Early trade label of Hagger & Brother of No 59 Pratt, and 63 South Streets, Baltimore, Manufacturers and Importers of Mathematical, Optical & Philosophical Instruments
Baltimore [ Maryland ]: Hagger & Brother c1842-1859. Approximately 4 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches on wove paper. Letterpress trade label with woodblock illustration of scientific instruments. "Mathematical & Optical" by Hurton? at top center, a barometer top right, and a thermometer top left. Trimmed to the decorative border. Minor residue on the back. Very Good. [24070]
"The Hagger family was active in the American instrument enterprise for over 100 years. William Guyse Hagger (1748-1832) worked in Newport, R.I., specializing in navigational instruments. ... By 1789 he had moved to Boston. Benjamin King Hagger (1769-1834) is listed in Boston city directories from 1789 to 1800. After a period of whereabouts unknown he opened a business 'At the Sign of Hadley's Quadrant' in Baltimore in 1817. By 1827 Benjamin King had gone into business with John W., trading as Benjamin K. Hagger & Son, under 'The Sign of Dr. Franklin.' While continuing to sell navigational instruments they opened 'an extra establishment for the purpose of manufacturing surveyor's compasses and levelling instruments.' After Benjamin King Hagger's death [1834] John W. and WIlliam G. continued in business, trading as Hagger & Bro. After John W.s death the business was continued by the next generation, Samuel J. and James S. Hagger." (Rittenhouse Vol 1,#4, p121).
Smart (The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America since 1700) notes that Hagger & Bro were in operation from 1842-1859 in Baltimore, Maryland without noting a specific street address.
The trade label notes many navigational items on offer - ship's compasses, spyglasses, seaman's friends, Blunt and Bowditch navigators [books], log books, nautical almanacs, etc. It also notes that they sell a variety of surveying instruments. We've seen other examples of this label affixed to instrument cases, but this is our first "in the wild"
Labels by definition have a low survival rate - perhaps best when protected inside an instrument case, but in nautical applications often lost to the onslaught of nature. They are worthwhile when studying makers, to determine what they were trading in, and where.
ITEM SOLD