Pioneer WATER, Resonant and Perfectly Patinated Old Cast Iron Street Water Valve Cover brass seal occasionally I hit the shop

occasionally I hit the shop just right and come home with a small trove of good ones

and the stuff of nightmares especially for girls with very long hair (and their mothers who have to comb them out

and surely this dancer with skirt aloft must have pleased the troops

I found these this past summer at a flea market close to me and just pulled them out again--and was struck anew by the lovely and painstakingly executed passages of ornament on them

including the reverse

Pioneer WATER, Resonant and Perfectly Patinated Old Cast Iron Street Water Valve Cover brass seal occasionally I hit the shopYou know I love found language (and what a resonant phrase here), and sometimes a great old cast iron object too. And I find the the graphic punch and clarity of the lettering on this just completely satisfying. This would have functioned as a street water valve access cover for a municipal water system, I believe. I found it in mid coast Maine and have since found one other example out there of this particular Pioneer Water cover, but in nothing like