This fire mark was made for the Mutual Assistance Company of Philadelphia (See Publications).

In 1752, the Philadelphia Contributionship Insurance Company was founded by a group that counted Benjamin Franklin among its members. The Contributionship ordered 100 of these fire marks from John Stow, who recast the Liberty Bell in 1753. (See Publications)

The initials "U F" probably stand for the United Firemen's Insurance Company, which originated in Philadelphia in 1860.

The initials "U F" probably stand for the United Firemen's Insurance Company, which originated in Philadelphia in 1860.

The initials "U F" probably stand for the United Firemen's Insurance Company, which originated in Philadelphia in 1860.

The cast date of 1794 could relate to the year that the Baltimore Equitable Society was founded (See Publications).

According to accession records, this plaque was the insignia of the Sun Insurance Office, Ltd., London, which originated in 1710 and was still active in 1924. Each plaque was inscribed with a number to designate an insured house.

Featuring a banner in the beak of an American eagle with the words "to the memory of departed worth," this condenser case commemorates the life of President Andrew Jackson, who died on June 8, 1845. The image suggests that a great leader has fallen, conveyed by the presence of a broken column, a popular grave marker in the 18th and 19th centuries and particularly prevalent in the iconography of Freemasonry (in which Jackson was involved). The urn on the pedestal at right further contributes to the funerary mood of the scene. The condenser case would have belonged to New York City's Jackson, No. 24, which was founded in 1798 and was reorganized once in 1813 and again on January 29, 1836, with a station at Seventeenth Street west of Ninth Avenue. The company went out of service in 1865.

This condenser case belonged to New York City's Clinton, No. 41 Engine Company, as indicated by the bust of DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York, and the depiction of Albany (the seat of the state government) in the background. An allegorical figure known as the "Genius of Agriculture" crowns the bust of Clinton with a laurel wreath, while an eagle (another emblem of the American Republic) looks on from the lower left. This case is mentioned in an account of a parade during the Croton Aqueduct celebration of October 14, 1842 where No. 41 was the largest company represented, numbering about 80 members. There, a yellow-painted engine with red and gilt stripes featured a painting on its condenser cover with "a pedestal on which is a bust of DeWitt Clinton, with the Genius of Agriculture crowning him with a wreath of flowers. At the base of the pedestal is an American eagle; on the right, a view of the City of Albany; on the left, a distant view of the Erie Canal" (Sheldon, The Story of the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York, 1882, p. 505). DeWitt Clinton, engine no. 41's namesake, was considered to be a father of the Croton Aqueduct and the Croton Reservoir of New York City.