2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Passing old buildings, we often do not notice the unusual objects of that time. Sometimes they are 100-200 years old. Take a closer look. On some sites, tokens of insurance companies have been preserved. Why were distinctive plaques attached to buildings?
History of creation
For the first time, insurance boards have been used in England since 1680. They were called "Fire plate", which literally means "board of fire". The innovation soon spread widely in other European countries.
By the early 19th century, it became commonplace in institutions of this profile around the world. In the first half of the 19th century, it entered the practice of Russia. Over the years, more than 80 varieties of insurance boards have been produced.
It is noteworthy that societies spent their own impressive funds on the manufacture of tokens, which was reflected in a separate line in the balance sheet. The insured received them free of charge. These conditions were spelled out in the charters of the respective companies, approved by the Supreme Management.
Form and symbolism
Each insurance company had its own stamped metal badge. They differed in shape and size. Large specimens were attached outside the house, small ones - inside buildings, on cargo or ships.
The most widespread is the oval shape. Sometimes there are more interesting specimens. The Kaluga society used a horseshoe-shaped base. The symbol of the burning kupena (two squares superimposed on each other with an offset, form an eight-pointed star) duplicates the icon of the same name. In the old days, it was hung in the house to protect it from fires. This form was used by the Rossiya company.
The Second Russian Insurance Company used the Phoenix bird in its images. According to an ancient legend, the feathered creature before death was engaged in self-immolation at the stake in order to rise again young and healthy.
In the beginning, the embossing was carried out on brass and zinc. Then many companies switched to tin. To increase durability, the iron was coated with a zinc layer.
Appointment of boards
Insurance boards were a specific form of document. In a fire, written copies could be damaged by fire, the tin remained unchanged. The owner of the house presented a token for payment of insurance for the loss of property.
Attached to the outer wall of the building, the tags served as a kind of advertisement. The more copies of a particular organization there were in the city, the higher the insurance rates were quoted. The prestige and consistency of the owner were assessed according to the corresponding attributes.
Northern Insurance Company
Plates of this organization are found in all Russian cities. Founded on May 31, 1872 in St. Petersburg by merchant Vasily Aleksandrovich Kokorev, it had branches in almost all large district settlements of that time.
In 1880 the head office moved to Moscow. Initially located in a building on Nikolskaya previously owned by Orlov-Davydov. In early 1900, Kokorev buys out land plots near the Wall of Kitay Gorod, at the intersection of Novaya Ploshchad and Ilyinka. A group of architects under the leadership of I Rerberg is erecting a complex of buildings, including: warehouses, trading halls, offices.
The most beautiful ensemble of several buildings, connected by passages, a tower with a clockwork, organically fit into the existing architecture of that era. Until now, the majestic buildings are admired by modern residents.
The company was engaged in fire insurance of movable and immovable property, vehicles (river, land), ship hulls.
The token of this organization looked like an octahedron with the inscription “insured in the Northern Society” inside. It closed in November 1918 after the October Revolution.
Unfortunately, historical marks remain in practice in single copies on old houses. When cladding buildings with modern materials, the owners remove obsolete boards as unnecessary. It is difficult to appreciate the importance of this element. Perhaps, as a talisman, he still protects the house from terrible fires.
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