FIRE CHIEF, Unusual and Excellent Old Brass Stencil with Aptly Black Patina vintage glove stretchers to slide them open is

to slide them open is simply to reveal a void

carved with a notch for pulling

Some rippling to the paper from the pasting

The top fits snugly over the bottom

Perry (American 1929-2011)

FIRE CHIEF, Unusual and Excellent Old Brass Stencil with Aptly Black Patina vintage glove stretchers to slide them open isI love old brass stencils bearing evocative words and phrases and am always looking for them, good for hanging like signs and fun to situate. This one I was delighted to find this week in Manchester, NH. I have 100% never come across a stencil reading FIRE CHIEF before, and curious that hyphen, too. As these were typically used for stenciling crates, and most often apple crates, it occurred to me that perhaps Fire Chief was the name of an apple