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White Bronze Markers
by Barbara Rotundo
Hollow-metal markers in a bluish-gray color, white
bronze gravestones are cast zinc. If you are not sure
whether you have iron or zinc, try a magnet, because
zinc is not magnetic like iron. All zinc cemetery
monuments came one way or another from Bridgeport,
Connecticut. These markers, made in the same shapes and
styles as marble and granite monuments, appear in
cemeteries from Hawaii to Maine to Texas and from
Vancouver to Halifax in Canada. Each of the four sides
was separately cast, and in the case of very tall
monuments there would be several castings to each side.
The cheapest (about $6 in the 1890s) was a single cast
tablet.
Bridgeport started manufacturing them in the mid 1870s
and discontinued production in 1912. The company
continued to make zinc and other nonferrous castings for
automobile and radio parts until the owner dissolved it
in 1939. In 1881 Bridgeport set up its first subsidiary,
in Detroit. After that it established plants in
Philadelphia, New Orleans, St. Thomas, Ontario, and the
two longest-lasting plants, Western Bronze in Des Moines
and American Bronze in Chicago
The accounts are not clear as to whether the parts were
all cast in Bridgeport and shipped to the subsidiaries
for fusing or whether the actual casting was done in the
various cities. The patented process, that has held up
very well, was the scheme of heating molten zinc much
higher than its melting point and pouring it into the
joint between the cast pieces. This melted the surface
of the cast pieces and fused them more solidly than
soldering would have done.
The markers were all custom-made. That is, none were
made ahead of time but were ordered by the customer from
a catalog. (The Winterthur and Metropolitan Museums are
two places holding these catalogs.*) The customer
ordered from a local agent. Rarely did marble and
granite monument dealers also sell white bronze, and
contrary to folk belief, Sears Roebuck never sold white
bronze monuments. Often cemeteries have only one marker
or one plot with zinc for every family member. Another
folk belief is that these were put up as demonstrations.
There is no evidence for this. At the end of every
catalog was an entreaty urging people to become agents.
"No capital investment needed." I believe the single
markers represent an agent who met with little success
and soon gave up. Where you find a dozen or more white
bronze, you are looking at some agent's success story.
Having chosen the style and size, a customer could order
as many images for decoration as he wanted. Since price
was not related to the number, some customers chose
several for each side. The individual epitaphs were
usually cast on separate plates-some of the four plates
having only images at first. These were fixed to the
marker by screws with an ornamental head. They could
then be replaced when additional family members died.
Vandals also learned how to remove the screws and
sometimes walked off leaving holes in the sides of the
markers. These gave rise to two folk tales. The first is
that smugglers used the markers to hide their bottles
during prohibition. The second says the tall monuments
with holes were for storing rakes and brooms. There may
have been such uses after the plates vanished, but the
insides are not really that roomy or convenient.
Zinc resists corrosion, and modern industrial processes
still take advantage of its anti-corrosive properties.
Thus the castings are still sharp and clear. However,
zinc has two unfortunate characteristics. It is quite
brittle and may break if hit--by a falling branch, for
instance. The other is that over many years unsupported
weight will cause it to creep. Many statues of Civil War
soldiers with no inner armature to support the weight
have crept so that the soldiers now lean and look tipsy
or half asleep. Architectural Iron in Milford,
Pennsylvania, is willing to undertake repairs of zinc
and does a fine restoration job, but the cost will take
your breath away. Keep your fingers crossed and enjoy
what you have!
For more details, read Barbara Rotundo's article in Dick
Meyer's "Cemeteries and Gravemarkers: Voices of American
Culture".
*And many research libraries have the microfilm
collection "Decorative Arts Catalogs from the Winterthur
Museum |
