"Gold is the Zenith of Embelishment" Read the company's motto, around the image of an embosser... and the factory certainly yielded some 'gold' for us!!
Boot's were embossers, founded in 1925. Their works were in the heart of the jewelry quarter in Birmingham, I assume they were working along side the jewelers making ring boxes and so forth, along with menu covers, desk blotters and calenders.
The works was under demolition, and most of the windows had been removed, it did not look hopeful. However Raddog and I leave no stone unturned nowadays, having learned many times before the most fetted hovel can yield epicness.... and yield epicness it did!
The shop floor was stripped, but a flight of steps down revealed an untouched cellar, complete with "Robin Hood" boiler. The card envelopes that we had trapsed across on the way into the cellar caught our eye, and upon opening them revealed someting strangley farmiliar... the leather for one of these...
For those readers who have not come across one of these, it is a leather bound money box, fashioned to look like a book. These were given to children by banks and post offices in the 1950's to encourage saving. I have a few in my posession, and are quite sought after items. Being stunned at such a find we continued upstairs... and amazingly in one corner of an otherwise stripped office lay hundreds of the leathers, from all manner of banks, post offices, electric companys etc etc!! The 'books' were embossed with a title on the spine related to saving, and some were fantastic!
Sadly the offices were stripped, which is a pity because from what was left they looked retrotastic! Just a few weeks too late...
So remember, the most stripped looking building can always have amazingness just around the door... thats pretty much what exploring is all about for me.
This pile of crap was full of 1950's paperwork, leathers and all manner of goodies!
View out the fire escape towards the BT tower
Some of the leathers
Boot's were embossers, founded in 1925. Their works were in the heart of the jewelry quarter in Birmingham, I assume they were working along side the jewelers making ring boxes and so forth, along with menu covers, desk blotters and calenders.
The works was under demolition, and most of the windows had been removed, it did not look hopeful. However Raddog and I leave no stone unturned nowadays, having learned many times before the most fetted hovel can yield epicness.... and yield epicness it did!
The shop floor was stripped, but a flight of steps down revealed an untouched cellar, complete with "Robin Hood" boiler. The card envelopes that we had trapsed across on the way into the cellar caught our eye, and upon opening them revealed someting strangley farmiliar... the leather for one of these...
For those readers who have not come across one of these, it is a leather bound money box, fashioned to look like a book. These were given to children by banks and post offices in the 1950's to encourage saving. I have a few in my posession, and are quite sought after items. Being stunned at such a find we continued upstairs... and amazingly in one corner of an otherwise stripped office lay hundreds of the leathers, from all manner of banks, post offices, electric companys etc etc!! The 'books' were embossed with a title on the spine related to saving, and some were fantastic!
Sadly the offices were stripped, which is a pity because from what was left they looked retrotastic! Just a few weeks too late...
So remember, the most stripped looking building can always have amazingness just around the door... thats pretty much what exploring is all about for me.
This pile of crap was full of 1950's paperwork, leathers and all manner of goodies!
View out the fire escape towards the BT tower
Some of the leathers
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