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1951
Belknap Hardware And Manufacturing Company |
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Stock Code BHM1951 |
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Certificate issued on 6th March
1951, with a cancellation date of 8th August 1956, for
5,250 shares of par value $20.00 each.
Issued to Louise S Cortesi, with
the original (not printed) signatures of the President and
Secretary of the company. Vignette of the founder, William
Burke Belknap, at the top of the certificate. Ornate brown
border.
Certificate size
if 20 cm high x 29.5 cm wide (7.5" x 12").
The certificate is
shown unframed as all items are mounted upon
order.
About the Company |
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Framed Certificate Price : £70.00
Certificate Only Price : £25.00 |
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About the Company
William Burke Belknap
founded this historic hardware company in 1840, along the
banks of the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky. It started
humbly in a small shop that produced iron products, such as
horse and mule shoes, nails, spikes and other forged items.
The first building was
a three-story brick on the corner of Third and Main with
three employees. It developed into a megastore where you
could order everything from building materials and hardware
items to furniture and toys. At one time it even carried
jewelry and furs. When Belknap celebrated its 100th
anniversary in 1940, it had grown to a complex of 37
buildings, covering 37 acres of floor space under one roof.
It had underground passageways and covered bridges. Belknap
Hardware and Manufacturing was among the nation's largest
wholesale enterprises with nationally recognized quality
brands
W.B. Belknap was an
astute businessman. He was able to quickly discern the needs
of his clients and community, focusing on what goods and
services would best serve to make his business grow. He
began his venture at a time when rivers were the
transportation freeways and horsepower was real: mules and
carts, horses and wagons. He built on this, providing
quality, affordable tools, with brand names such as 'Belknap,
King of the Bluegrass' and Thoroughbred, reflecting
Kentucky's own pride in its unique topography and its love
of fine horseflesh.
Mr. Belknap's savvy
business acumen was quite an asset. And he would need every
asset he could muster, seeing as he favored the Union during
the Civil War while living deep in Dixie. Being president of
a bank in Louisville and married to the daughter of its
former president would also prove to be another asset. This
gave him the solid financial base necessary to support the
health and growth of his business.
Being another of that
same breed of venture capitalists as E.C. Simmons and A. F.
Shapleigh, he was the right man, in the right place, at the
right time, with the right goods and services. He rode on
the dual waves of an expanding frontier and the industrial
revolution. His business philosophy was that whether his
clients needed builder's hardware, housewares, mechanic's or
farming tools, or even pocket knives, Belknap would fill
that order with quality merchandise, that came to be known
as "goods of honor".
Like these other men,
he started small. His first catalog was a 3" x 5 ½", 16 page
pamphlet. Belknap's inventory in 1880 was a mere 100 items.
In 1940, the company's catalog had grown into a 3000-page
tome, containing over 75,000 items. Still going strong! This
was quite and accomplishment seeing that the immediately
preceding years had see the disappearance of such giants of
the industry as Simmons Hardware, bankrupt in 1939. The 1957
catalog provided 90,000 items. When it closed its doors in
1986, under bankruptcy, Belknap's inventory had reached more
than 117,000 items, mostly Blue Grass tools.
The Company was W.B.
Belknap from 1840-1860; W.B. Belknap and Co. from 1860-1880;
W.B. Belknap and Co. Incorporated from 1880-1907 and Belknap
Hardware and Manufacturing Company Inc. since 1907
Belknap while
obviously a hardware and manufacturing leader, is also
remembered for its pocket knives. By the 1800's, pocket
knives were some of its primary lines of merchandise. The
company carried Russell I*XL and LF & C, then introduced its
own brands; Blue Grass, Pine Knot, Jas. W. Price and most
noteworthy, the John Primble. This trademark was used as
early as 1890, and probably before. It is also found on
cutlery. Pine Knot knives were most likely made for Belknap
by Robeson. The Primble knives (not those stamped Prussia or
Germany) were manufactured under contract by Camillus, Boker,
Schrade, Utica and Case.
Labour problems seem
to have started its downward spiral of ill business health
about 1978, with mismanagement and/or lack of good
management being blamed for its final demise in 1986.
Unfortunately for history buffs, the Belknap buildings do
not remain today, as they were demolished during a movie
stunt in 1993. For those of you who want to see what it
looked like, check out "Demolition Man', starring Wesley
Snipes and Silvester Stallone.
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