3484

Steinhart Bros. Colorado Brand Overalls, c1875-1880 [186637]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:1,500.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
Steinhart Bros. Colorado Brand Overalls, c1875-1880 [186637]
SOLD
3,000.00USD+ (750.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2024 Aug 24 @ 18:57UTC-7 : PDT/MST
UNCLAIMED MERCHANDISE: In the event that a successful bidder has paid in full for their merchandise but fails to settle outstanding shipping invoices or make arrangements for merchandise pickup within 60 days, HWAC reserves the right to declare the merchandise forfeited. This forfeiture will result in the merchandise becoming the property of HWAC and the successful bidder shall have no claim to or rights over the forfeited merchandise.
Steinhart Brand Colorado overalls, with points stitching and re-enforced pockets. Right rear pocket removed and patched. Lower left leg removed, re-enforced crotched, buckle intact. Two missing waist buttons, 32"W/30L. The fly button holes appear hand-stitched. The thread for the upper reinforcements is a red shade, unusual. Tan colored "canvas."
Steinhart, as written previously, was another New York wholesale clothing firm. They were late to the game in California, not starting business in San Francisco until 1867 next door to Levi Strauss & Co. Steinhart hired the bookkeeper of Strauss & Co. Charles Adler to run Steinhart & Co.
Steinhart apparently used a very clever marketing method. He began marketing different overalls with state names, such as here, where he used "Colorado.". Another pair marked "California" on the label in basically the same format, except without Steinhart's name bears the very same stitch construction. A pair bearing the "Montana" name is found on page 175 of the Harris (2010) book, which may be related. Did Steinhart make and market similar pants for Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, etc? Did Steinhart sell or make a financial arrangement with another clothing manufacturer for the state brands? His advertisements in newspapers are few and far between, so we may never know.
In the 1870s, it was commonplace for dealers such as Steinhart and Strauss to get paid in gold dust, the common currency of the 1850s that lasted through the 1870s. In July, 1877, Steinhart deposited $1,140 in gold dust, but was surprisingly paid $2,140 in coin/currency. The mistake was quickly rectified, and the reputation of the Company was strengthened.
Steinhart struggled to collect from dry goods dealers all over the West, as did Neustadter, and probably others. The firm brought suit in places such as Pioche, Nevada, Santa Cruz, Visalia, Los Angeles to collect for goods delivered and presumably sold.
Steinhart operated in much the same way as Strauss, sending agents all over the West to sell goods. In Salt Lake City, a note was published in October, 1883 in the Salt Lake Herald that their agent J. H. Wise was in town (ready for business.) Wise may have been the agent that sold some of these pants in this sale!
The Company was "forced" to close on November 1, 1892. The depressed state of economics in the early 1890s was exacerbated by the McKinley Tarriff Act combined with what the Company felt were "extortionate" freight rates. In short, eastern competition from New York paid the same freight for their goods coming all the way to San Francisco as the railroad charged the Company for short hauls to their western customers, something the Company felt was costing them twice or more as much as their eastern competitors. The only was to get rid of it was to build competing rail lines.
A note is in order here for the fabric, which we called canvas. Canvas is a material composed of cotton, confirmed here by microscopic analysis. Some forms of canvas were made with linen. There are a variety of fabric terms that all mean the same thing. Some folks use the term "duck" for canvas. It is completely correct, but has nothing whatsoever to do with the birds. The term "duck" when referring to canvas comes from the Dutch word "doek", which was originally just a linen canvas, but over the years, the name stuck. Duck canvas and duck cloth are also the same as canvas, or just plain 'ol "duck." Special thanks to Dr. Catherine Magee, PhD, for her fiber analyses and inspection of this early clothing collection.