Conover & Emmons Inc Princeton Junction NJ Blotter c1930s-50s Lumber & Paint
$ 6.86
Description
Conover & Emmons Inc Princeton Junction NJ Blotter c1930s-50s Lumber & Paint. The blotter’s condition shows minor wear consistent with age, including slight edge rounding, a faint vertical crease near the top-right corner, and small specks of discoloration on the yellow background. This is a vintage advertising blotter from the lumber and building materials firm Conover & Emmons, Inc., located in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. The blotter is composed of a light yellow, absorbent paper stock, a material purposefully chosen for its functional use in absorbing excess ink from fountain pens before the widespread adoption of quick-drying inks and ballpoint pens. The printed advertisement, rendered in black ink, presents the company’s name in a prominent, bold serif typeface, with the words “LUMBER AND BUILDING MATERIALS” arranged across the top of the piece. Below the company name, the text “PAINTS AND HARDWARE” indicates the full scope of the business’s inventory, revealing that Conover & Emmons served as a general supplier for construction and home improvement needs. The bottom of the blotter provides the contact information, “PHONE PLAINSBORO 2950” on the left and “PRINCETON JUNCTION, N. J.” on the right. The phone number format, an exchange name followed by a four-digit number, is a key historical marker that strongly suggests a date of production between the 1930s and early 1950s, a period before the standardization of seven-digit dialing. The design also features small line illustrations of a house and stacked lumber, which visually reinforce the company’s core business in building materials. The blotter’s condition shows minor wear consistent with age, including slight edge rounding, a faint vertical crease near the top-right corner, and small specks of discoloration on the yellow background. As a piece of commercial ephemera, this blotter documents the marketing practices of a mid-20th-century hardware and lumber dealer in Middlesex County, New Jersey, and serves as a tangible artifact of the business communication and daily office life of that era.
