✅ SOLVED Advertising plate

[Alan Payne]

I found yesterday and after cleaning realized it was in reverse. I can make out the first letters in the top right. They are Mich and from there it looked like the letters A l l S. Next some word then bottom line looks like Washeries and then Clothes. The picture depicts a man in a barrel reaching for what looks like a towel. Does anyone recognize this advertisement and what brand of products were they selling? Also it looks like it had Five rivets or screws or some kind of attachment to maybe a handle for a manual stamping device. Thanks for looking.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Looks like he's reaching for his pants to me......

Also first word could be Michael's, hard to tell since I'm using my cellphone.

 

[A2coins]

Slap some ink on it and do a print

 

[Retired Sarge]

The other word might be washateria versus washeries. A washateria is a older term for laundromat, which makes sense seeing he's reaching for his pants.......

Take a piece of paper and pencil or crayon and do a rubbing of it and reverse the image using a photo editor.

 

[Alan Payne]

You are right he is reaching for his pants. I will try the experiments and see if it helps read the words. Thanks for the ideas.

 

[Hawks88]

Very interesting find.

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Great find Alan!
I'd be inclined to get some Play Doh or Plasticine, then gently press the plate into the Play Doh and see what you get.
Mike's suggestion of using "a piece of paper and pencil or crayon and do a rubbing of it" would work well too".

Dave

 

[cw0909]

cool find i flipped the img

 

[cw0909]

forgot something

Do you wash your clothes at a Laundromat or a washateria? A chain of Laundromats in Texas that dated from 1930 to 1950 had the name Washateria, and it took hold as a general term, especially in Texas. This is part of a complete episode.
https://www.waywordradio.org/laundromat-washateria/

 

[Yak1366]

Very cool find, Congrats!!!

 

[Bramblefind]

I think it might be an ad for Michaels-Stern Value First Clothes. They advertised in newspapers across the country but I haven't found that ad yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaels,_Stern,_and_Company

The newspaper ad is from 1920.

 

[jewelerguy]

the five holes would have been where it was nailed or tacked to a wooden block. Print blocks of this era were typically made of lead with a very thin copper coating on the face for durability during the printing process, and tacked to a block of wood. Multiple blocks of advertisements or letters that made up a news story were placed together side by side to create a single page of the newspaper. Type setting was no doubt a huge chore back in the day

 

[villagenut]

Bramblefind to the rescue again, super ID once again

 

[Alan Payne]

Thank everyone for helping solve this mystery. Special cudos to Bramblefind, as soon as you have us the answer, it was easy to see on the flipped photo by CW. This is definitively solved. Thank you all again. Happy New Year of hunting and discovery and bucket listers.