FIRE CHIEF, Unusual and Excellent Old Brass Stencil with Aptly Black Patina vintage glove stretchers As I tried to do

As I tried to do some research into the history of railroad signals in order to date--and to fully understand

Both are initialed and dated 1882

In any case I think it's fabulous

to slide them open is simply to reveal a void

FIRE CHIEF, Unusual and Excellent Old Brass Stencil with Aptly Black Patina vintage glove stretchers As I tried to doI love old brass stencils bearing evocative words and phrases and am always looking for them, good for hanging like signs and fun to situate. This one I was delighted to find this week in Manchester, NH. I have 100% never come across a stencil reading FIRE CHIEF before, and curious that hyphen, too. As these were typically used for stenciling crates, and most often apple crates, it occurred to me that perhaps Fire Chief was the name of an apple