Item #28070 [ Ephemera, Trade Cards ] Advertising Card for Mathematical Instruments manufactured and imported by Erasmus A. Kutz. Erasmus A. Kutz, Sr.
[ Ephemera, Trade Cards ] Advertising Card for Mathematical Instruments manufactured and imported by Erasmus A. Kutz
Rare American Scientific Instrument trade card

[ Ephemera, Trade Cards ] Advertising Card for Mathematical Instruments manufactured and imported by Erasmus A. Kutz

New York: [ Erasmus A. Kutz Sr. ] between 1842-1849. first Edition. 90 x 63 cm. Engraved trade-card on white glossy coated stock. Surface wear to lettering. Penciled on rear is the following: "May it be preserved | through life | Presented as a token of | remembrance to Josephine | Tyler by her friend Aidolaid[?] | H. Thimble, July 26th 1849 | by me. J Tyler." Very Good. [28070]


Erasmus A. Kutz Sr. was a New York City instrument maker. Born in England in 1778, he came to America after 1812. He is first listed in the New York City directories in 1818-1820 as a rule maker at 343 Water St. In 1842-1850 he is listed as a nautical and mathematical instrument maker, at 180 Water h Newark (we think this is the same as Burling Slip & Water). By 1850 the New Jersey census notes the 72 year old Kutz, Sr. with no occupation. His son, Erasmus A. Kutz, Jr. was first listed in the New York City directories from 1839-40 as a rule maker at 2 Stanton, from 1850-51 as an instrument maker at 117 Madison and in 1856 as an instrument maker at 91 Monroe.

This trade card describes Erasmus A. Kutz as "Manufacturer & Importer of Mathematical Instruments, Corner of Burling Slip & Water St, New York." The card is printed on glossy stock with the note "Kelham Sc Fenchurch St. London" lower right indicating it was printed in London. While the trade card shows a multitude of instruments around the border, instruments signed by either Kutz are rare - Webster notes one example, Smart adds six additional items. The border shows not only mathematical instruments, but nautical instruments, charts & pilots, sextants and octants, confirming that this is Kutz, Sr.

Trade cards by American scientific instrument manufacturers from this period are rare in our experience. We are aware of one other example of this trade card, on blue paper sold with a letterhead dated 1846.

For more information see Charles E. Smart, "The Makers of Surveying Instruments in America since 1700", Vol 1, pp 99-100 and the Webster Scientific Instrument Database Online. Nothing in OCLC by this maker/importer. No catalogs or other information in Davis and Dreyfuss.

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