Wednesday, July 5, 2017

We used to make things in this country. #266: J.H. Morin & Co., Toronto, Ontario



A couple of weekends ago, someone had a nice steel workbench for free at the end of their driveway.  It turned out to be made by Beach Industries!  The paint is a little rough, so I want to repaint it. The original paint is a hammered silver, so I got looking to see if I had anything similar.  I found this old can of paint among my supplies.  The paint inside is still good.

There's very little online about the J.H. Morin Company.  In a 1909 issue of  Hardware Merchandising,  they're listed as distributors for the Montreal-based P.D. Dods & Co. "Drednaught Finish" varnish. That's another vanished Canadian firm, dating back to the 1890's and makers of "Island City" paints and varnishes. (The city of Montreal is built on an island.)  "Drednaught" or "Dreadnaught" was a popular brand name back then.

Source:  Token Catalogue

The Toronto public library has a copy of the J.H. Morin 1920 catalogue. That's about it on the Internet.

Hard to believe they'd name a paint brand "Unxlo."  It doesn't exactly trip off of the tongue.

2 comments:

  1. I think it's "UNXLD" -- 'UNEXCELLED'.

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  2. By George, I think you're right! Still, confusing at first (and second) glance.

    ReplyDelete