Elco Revisited

Since last writing about vintage Elco stationery I’ve obtained another set of it. Unlike the Paris Linen and Royal Linen boxes I previously acquired, this set doesn’t have any kind of descriptive name, packaged instead in a folder with a pictorial cover featuring a design of horses-and-carriages outside a palatial building. Within there are twenty envelopes, fifteen double (i.e. pre-folded) sheets of paper and five notecards. All are pale grey with the tissue lining the envelopes a darker blue-grey shade like that on the inside of folder’s spine. The paper and envelopes have the usual Elco watermark. The sheets are A4-sized when unfolded.

On the green Garantie slip there’s mention of over seventy years of corporate experience. Wikipedia gives a foundation date for Elco of 1884, while the company’s own website suggests 1891. Depending on when the 70 years were counted from, that could mean post-1954 or ‘61. A ’60s origin seems plausible. The equivalent slip in the Paris Linen set (as seen in my previous post) boasts of only sixty-plus years’ experience, so evidently that is the older product of the two.