Antique Fire Insurance Marks Collection

A collection of six cast iron and pressed metal fire insurance marks, 19th/20th century, the largest 28 cm high. Note: Fire insurance companies began operating in the Australian colonies in the early part of the 19th century. They were both Australian and foreign, principally British, owned. The Union Assurance Company of Sydney and The Australasian Fire and Life Assurance Company are both recorded as having offices in George Street, Sydney in 1836. The Collingwood Fire Insurance Company (with a paid up capital of 200 000 pounds) was operating in Gertrude Street, Collingwood, Victoria in 1854., Fire brigades in metropolitan areas were organised much along the same lines as in the United Kingdom and the United States and were funded by the insurance companies. Likewise the companies issued fire marks to be affixed to buildings to indicate where there were risks for which they had underwritten policies. Such fire marks were commonly made of tinplate, cast iron and lead