[Promotional Box and Scroll] Combination of Colors of New Era High-Grade Prepared Paint

Detroit, Michigan: Acme White Lead and Color Works, 1895. , . Very Good. Rare, unusual paint company promotional and customer aid tool with 22 color plates which one can scroll up or down with two side roller handles. Houses are generally rather grand shingle houses such as one finds still in old upscale (and formerly upscale) suburban communities or old-time seaside resorts such as line the New Jersey shore. The houses today are widely known by the over-general label of Victorian, or just slightly more specificet also somewhat inaccurately, as Queen Anne-style homes, but regardless, have sprawl, a charming assymmetry, large windows promising sun-drenched rooms, and expansive porches or verandahs typically. N.d., circa 1890s. The oak box measures about 40 cm in height, 46 cm wide, and about 13 cm deep. The window, which reveals the scroll's panels in the front, is an oblong 29 by 37 cm, and of course, these are the dimensions of the individual panels. The Acme company was incorporated in 1884. The paints being promoted here became popular; they were appreciated for their fast drying properties. The company later became known as Acme Quality Paints. It was acquired, or absorbed, by Sherwin-Williams in the 1920s or 30s. This contraption is a rare survivor. The only institutional copy of which we are aware is at the Athenaeum in Philadelphia, but this copy has only 15 of the 22 plates that we have here. We believe that the same plates may have been issued in book form, and in that form may reside also at the University of Pennsylvania. Condition: some side chipping or tearing of the scroll. The scroll turning becomes somewhat sticky around plate 15 -- this we believe can be ameliorated. And any user should operate the turning with great prudence and care