News : Vinton man discovers 130-year-old piece of advertising history

As Rick Lazenby remodeled his Vinton home, which was originally built in 1880, he discovered within the walls, a unique piece of advertising and American history: A palm-sized rectangular printing block used for making a newspaper advertisement. "The side of the block says '1887', and my house was first built in 1880," says Rick. Readers of the ad would see the following message: "Button's Raven Gloss Shoe Dressing... Makes Shoes look new. Softens Leather. We recommend it." Because it is a printing block, the images were reversed, which resulted in a correct orientation when the ink was applied to the paper. We checked into the history of Button's, and discovered that the printer's block was part of a massive advertising campaign for the Button & Ottley Manufacturers company, which was located at 56 Warren Street, and later at 71 Barclay Street, both of which are in what is now called the TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal) neighborhood in New York City. In the shadow of some of NYC's most famous landmarks, including the World Trade Center, the two buildings are now mostly used ground-floor retail stores and the upper levels, for Big Apple living space. A 1,500-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath apartment at 56 Warren Street recently sold for more than $1.2 million. The company was in business from around 1880 to approximately 1910. The Button & Ottley company advertised through a variety of means which were common in that era: decorative fans, Victorian trade cards, some of which contained poems about how the raven gets its beautiful black coat from using that product. The Museum of the City of New York City also includes severalButton & Ottley advertisements in its NYC history section. Rick did not say what he plans to do with the historic artifact he found.