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Currier Ives Antique Firefighter Fireman Gift Fire Department Membership Certificate

Currier Ives Antique Firefighter Fireman Gift Fire Department Membership Certificate
Item# 1047fire
$9.99

Product Description

The2FunAdGuyz offer a new print of a spectacular, antique Currier & Ives Fire Department Membership Certificate from the 1800s that will make an ideal gift for a firefighter.



Very simply, this is the single finest artistic representation of the dangers faced by those who fight fires. Currier & Ives created this Fire Department Membership Certificate with blank spaces where the fireman’s name and fire department could be inserted. What makes this a perfect firefighter gift is that the spaces on the membership certificate you will receive are still blank, waiting for the name of your favorite firefighter and his or her fire department.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: In the 1800s, fire was always a major danger in both large cities and small villages. A fire in a single wood building could spread and destroy a block or an entire section of a city or town, as happened in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The local firefighters and fire departments were all that stood against an unmitigated disaster that could destroy lives and property. As a result, then, as now, men sought membership in a fire department, whose firehouses frequently became the hub of the fireman’s lives. Some even had saloons, libraries and furnishings to rival the best of homes.

DESCRIPTION: This is a classic, Early American style that Currier & Ives helped to foster and create with deep, rich colors. The top center illustration features a fireman handing a small baby to a grateful mother while a building burns in the background. Underneath is a banner with the three words: Courage, Fidelity, Protection. A dramatic scene with dozens of firemen fighting a fire is at the bottom center. A series of smaller images show two firemen aiming a hose (upper left), a nurse bandaging an injured fire fighter (upper right), a fireman pulling a wagon from a building (center left) and a fire chief with trumpet in hand (center right). Around the edges of the certificate is an array of various fire fighting equipment and paraphernalia including a hand-drawn fire wagon, fireman’s hats, Fire chief’s trumpet, ladders, fire hydrants and the earliest of all fire fighting tools—the bucket.

CENTER CERTIFICATE COPY: This Certifies That (Blank Line for firefighter’s name) Is A Member of (Blank Line for Fire Department Company’s Name) Company; No. (Blank Line for Fire Company Number), Fire Department. There is then a blank line for a signature and a line for the date.

ORIGINAL DATE OF CREATION: The stone lithograph on which this print is based was originally done in 1837.

ARTIST: The artist of this piece, as with most Currier & Ives prints, is not known.

CURRIER & IVES: While most Americans have heard of Currier & Ives, most do not know that both of them were members of their local fire department. Nat Currier and Jim Ives printed the original lithograph on which this new print is based. From their business on Spruce Street in Brooklyn, New York, Currier and Ives printed over 1 million prints covering over 7500 different titles from 1834 to 1907. Their work chronicles an era in America before the printing press could produce colored prints and stone lithography was the only method for doing color prints in quantity. Though their lithographs are in high demand today, they once described their business as Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures.

DECORATING USES: Of course a certificate that you have given to a firefighter as a gift would be welcome in almost any room in their house. However, because of its antique early American style, many of our customers find this poster useful for a home den, recreation or family room. Of course it would look grand on the walls of any firehouse, anywhere in the world.

PAPER QUALITY: This new print is on a highest quality, acid-free, 100-pound glossy premium text paper that allows for maximum color brilliance and fidelity for older images.

AVAILABILITY: In Stock! – Usually Ships Within 2 Business Days.


Image Size: 10.5 inches wide by 14.25 inches high.

Paper Size: 11 inches wide by 17 inches high. This allows for a small border around the image for matting and framing. When matted, this format is perfect for a standard 16-inch x 20-inch frame, a manageable size for a wide variety of decorating purposes.

We have many more firefighter posters, prints, photos and ads. To view them Click Here.

PLEASE NOTE, The watermark (The2FunAdGuyz) across the thumbnail does NOT appear on the item you will receive.

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