Vintage Sign – Agent for Northern Chromium & Electroplating Co.

Description

Vintage ‘Agent for Northern Chromium & Electroplating Co. Sign’.  Circa 1930’s – 1940’s.  Measures 61cm x 76cm.  As found condition.  Note paint wear in a few spots on sign front and small amount of damage to bottom right hand corner.

Newcastle city centre still has a chrome plating business, Hamilton Chrome, located in Denison Street, Newcastle West.  This sign is a little piece of local history for those who reside in Newcastle, Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia.  Others may be interested in the telephone history.

Until 1960, Australian telephone dials had a centre label, or in very early ones, the number ring, marked with letters representing individual numbers.  The Australian letter-to-number mapping was A = 1, B = 2, F = 3, J = 4, L = 5, M = 6, U = 7, W = 8, X = 9, Y = 0, so the phone number B3407 was in fact 23407.  The letters were a memory aid for users and had no technical role.  It was thought that the general public would find it very difficult to memorize a five digit number, but the alphabetic letter made it easier to remember.  Australia dropped its alphanumeric telephone number scheme by the start of 1960.  The idea about number sequences had been proven wrong.  The public were able to remember a five digit number after all.