Arnott & Co. Dublin Limited.

Since its establishment in 1843, Arnotts has been a Dublin landmark for generations of Irish people and visitors to the capital city. The largest department store in the country, it is regarded with much affection by those who have grown up with it at the centre of their shopping experiences. With a selling area of more than 300,000 square feet, it is ranked in the top five stores in Britain and Ireland, alongside such icons as Harrods and Selfridges.

In 1843 George Cannock and Andrew White established a small business at number 14, Henry Street in Dublin 1. In 1845, bankers Andrew and Patrick Reid loaned them £6,000 to extend the business. After White’s death in 1848, the Reids were joined by a successful Victorian entrepreneur named John Arnott. When Cannock departed the company in 1865, the Reids allowed Arnott to give his name to the company.


Arnotts endured the economic and logistical repercussions of both World Wars. The end of World War II in Europe in May 1945 brought with it an outbreak of euphoria. Trading between countries became more fluid and stores were enticing customers with luxurious fabrics and textiles from overseas. Arnotts reacted to the increased demand for product by adding new departments such as The Beauty Shop, Novelties, and Separates.

Arnotts celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1993 with significant redevelopment and the construction of an octagonal dome, which fills the floors below with light. Since then, the store has continued with an extensive modernization programme. In October 2009, Arnotts unveiled its new look ground floor, with double the floor space devoted to the beauty, jewelery and accessories departments.

By Paul Green

Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris

The Comptoir National Bank of Paris, or PSC, is one of four banks that became BNP Paribas. The PSC was created by decree on 7 March 1848 by the Provisional Government of the Second Republic.

In 1860, the PSC opened its first foreign agency in Shanghai. In subsequent years, new offices opened in Calcutta, Bombay, Hong Kong, and Saigon; and then London, Yokohama, and Alexandria.

1867 saw the opening of the first provincial agency in France, in Nantes, followed by Lyon and Marseille. The same year established the National Counter discount Mulhouse capital of one million francs.


The PSC is a company with a capital of 20 million francs, made up of one third in cash by the subscribing shareholders, one third in bonds by the City of Paris, and one third in treasury bills by the state.

By Paul Green

Comptoir d'Escompte de Paris appears to have used the C. d'E. de P. overprint in the early 1880s, then the full COMPTOIR D'ESCOMPTE DE PARIS wording at least as early as 1884. By 1899, they seem to have given up on overprints.

Wiggins, Teape & Alex. Pirie Ltd.

Wiggins, Teape & Alex. Pirie Limited was one of the oldest paper manufacturing companies in Britain.

The origins of the company can be traced to 1761 when Henry Teape established a printing company in Tower Hill, London. Edward Wiggins became a partner in the business in 1828 and so Wiggins & Teape was formed. In 1890 the company bought the Withnell Fold paper mill in Chorley and began to manufacture paper. Wiggins & Teape continued to expand, acquiring another paper mill in Devon Valley near Exeter in 1920.


In 1922 Wiggins & Teape merged with another well established paper maker called Alexander Pirie. Alexander Pirie had been manufacturing paper since the late 18th Century in Aberdeenshire, where the company owned the Stoneywood paper mill. The amalgamation of these two old firms, now called Wiggins, Teape & Alex. Pirie Limited, set the new company on the road to expansion and the development of new paper. The company established its new headquarters at Aldgate House. In addition to letter paper the firm began to manufacture coated papers, gummed papers for stamp base, card material, abrasive base for sand paper and carton boards for food and milk containers. By 1956 the business was producing 150,000 tons of paper annually.

In 1991 Wiggins, Teape & Alex. Pirie Limited merged with Appleton Papers and then with Arjomani Piroux in 1999, creating ArjoWiggins Appleton. In 2000 a £2.2 billion takeover bid was accepted from Worms of France, forming ArjoWiggins. The company currently employs 8000 people in 35 mills around the world, with four paper mills in the UK.

Wiggins, Teape & Alex. Pirie Ltd. used their address "Aldgate House, London E.1" as the overprint on their stamps. At least three other companies who resided in the Aldgate House office building also used this overprint. The companies (also paper makers) were F. Keay & Co. Ltd., and Portals and Allied Paper Merchants Ltd. The overprints are most common on the George VI 2d stamps but are also known on SG 573. There are varieties in the style and font of the overprint.

By Mark Matlach

Miller and Sons Limited

Miller and Sons were manufacturers and retailers of lamps and candles. They also imported and sold clocks and chandeliers.

The company was established by George Alexander Miller in 1851. A shop was opened at 178 Piccadilly in London's West End and separate manufacturing facilities were established nearby in Shaftesbury Avenue in the 1890s.

George Alexander's brother, Taverner Miller, had a whaling business and spermaceti refinery at Dorset Wharf by the River Thames. Spermaceti is a wax present in the head cavities of the sperm whale. Once refined it could be used to make candles. This enabled George Alexander to have an easy access to and ready supply of the wax, which he used to make high quality candles.


Miller and Sons stayed in Piccadilly until about 1908, when presumably their fortunes changed for the worse, and they moved to 55 Conduit Street for a few years, before finally moving to 5A Burlington Street. They stayed there until their demise in the 1940s.

By Mark Matlach

Displaying commercial overprints

How do you display your commercial overprints?

I use something similar to the blog postings on this site. Each page has the company name, their type of business, the period of their use of commercial overprints, the period the company was in operation, a brief description of the company, and a representation of the overprint.

I keep overprints on receipts on separate pages from overprints on loose stamps mainly because the receipt generally fills the page.

I create the pages using Microsoft Publisher and mount the receipts using Lighthouse self-adhesive photo corners.

By Michael Behm

Bainbridge & Co. Limited

Emerson Bainbridge, together with his partner William Dunn, opened a drapers' shop in Market Street, Newcastle in 1838. From the beginning the two men stressed that all prices in the shop were fixed, which was a novelty at this time. They prided themselves on offering a wide assortment of products and good value for money. Sales were for cash only, and stocks were replenished by sea from London. Despite the success of the store, the partners fell out and Dunn left the business. In terms of retailing history, one of the most significant facts about Bainbridge's shop is that as early as 1849 weekly takings were recorded by department, making it one of the earliest of all department stores.

Emerson Bainbridge died in 1892 and control of the business passed to his sons. In 1897 the firm became a private, limited company.

In 1923 Bainbridge & Co. Limited opened a marble-lined food hall, which offered such delicacies as speciality sausages, galantines and haggis. There was also a thriving trade in unusual services such as the production of trade union banners.

In the 1930s the Depression in the North East of England caused business to suffer badly. During The Second World War part of the Bainbridge store was requisitioned. A large air-raid shelter was built and observation turrets on the roof provided lookout posts for air-raid wardens.

At the end of the war, George Bainbridge, who was the great-grandson of Emerson Bainbridge, was eager to revive the business and he set up the "Bainbridge Renaissance" project. However, financial resources were short and by 1952 it had become clear that if the business was to continue to expand, it needed to ally itself with a larger organisation and so an offer from the John Lewis Partnership was accepted. In 1953 Bainbridge formally joined the Partnership.

In 1976 Bainbridges was relocated to a new shopping centre in Eldon Square. In 2002 the Bainbridge name was finally dropped and the store became John Lewis, though many locals continue to call the store by its original name.

By Mark Matlach

Bainbridge's retail operation used commercial overprints into the 1970s; their wholesale division used overprints at least in the early 1950s. If you look closely, you'll notice that the font used on the SG 488 overprint above is different from the one used on the SG 465 overprint at the top of this post.

Barry, Ostlere and Shepherd

Linoleum flooring has been with us for a century and a half. It was invented by Englishman Frederick Walton in 1860. The flooring is made from solidified linseed oil, pulverized limestone, wood flour and cork dust; backings are made from burlap, hemp or other fibers. Linoleum is considered "green" because of its natural makeup and its durability. Over the years linoleum has moved in and out of popularity, with a recent revival starting in the mid 2000s.

In 1863, an Englishman - Frederick Walton - applied successfully for a patent for the exclusive manufacture of a new floor covering material, which he called 'linoleum', his company, Walton's Linoleum Manufacturing Company, was founded during 1864 to start production of this product.

After 1877, when Walton's patent expired, production became more widespread in Britain and abroad, spreading in particular to Scotland and to the town of Kirkcaldy in West Fife.

By 1877, Kirkcaldy had established itself as the world's largest centre for the manufacture of wax floor-cloth, and was in an ideal position to exploit a rapidly growing national and international market for linoleum. Within a few decades over a dozen linoleum manufacturing companies had taken root and flourished, helping to transform Kirkcaldy into the Linoleum Capital of the world.

The first producer in Kirkcaldy was the Scottish Linoleum Company which was registered on 29th September 1899, taking over the businesses of floorcloth and linoleum manufacturers John Barry, Ostlere and Co., the Kirkcaldy Linoleum Co., and Messrs. Shepherd and Beveridge.

In February 1930 a company called Linoleum Manufacturing Co Ltd with works at Staines, Middlesex, and offices at 6 Old Bailey, London EC4, (which had been registered 3rd June 1864), changed its name to Barry and Staines Linoleum Ltd.

In December 1930, Barry, Ostlere & Shepherd Ltd converted into a private company and Barry and Staines Linoleum Ltd then acquired all its assets. Although Barry and Staines Linoleum Ltd was the parent company, the two companies continued to trade under their original names, at its height, they employed around 350 people in Staines, making it the towns largest employer, churning out by 1956 3,200 sq. yards of 'Staines Lino' each week.

Sadly, during 1963/4 the flooring company Barry, Ostlere and Shepherd succumbed to a downturn in the linoleum business and folded, causing the loss of around 1,500 jobs.

By Paul Green