Text

Text . . .  identifies, makes parts reorders easier.

even if those parts just aren’t made any more and their places of manufacture long ago obliterated.

Some remain.

Some become barely decipherable.

This would be a treasure for what the NYTimes article today called a “shard hunter.”

I like these . . . perennial ones or

advertising from long ago.

Other text–like this stone from Christ Church Burial Ground in Philly–is clearly intended to memorialize someone.

In contrast .  .  . this hardware gives no clues about its age even as it clearly outlives the deck to which it was attached.

This is where I’m headed with this post . . . a barge cleat I saw on a fireworks barge in Oswego, NY.  The name Harry Cossey led me here with some great pictures from almost a hundred years ago.  And here.    And here . . . which I need to order.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.