Hand in Hand
The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire was organized by Franklin in 1752, sixteen years after his Union Fire Company, and it is still in business — the oldest property insurer in the country. Its mark, four clasped hands, was fixed to the front of every insured house, so the company's own fire crews would know which buildings they were bound to save. The earliest square boards are nearly all gone; the shield form, adopted after 1753, is the one that survives.
This shield is dated 1773 — lead cast on a pine board, quite possibly by John Stow of Pass and Stow, who recast the State House bell — and an old label records that it was taken down from 322 Delancey Street. It came through the Celsnick collection at Penn's Landing. Franklin founded a library, a hospital, a college, a philosophical society, and a fire-insurance company; this is the only one of his institutions the collection can hold in its hands.
Philadelphia Contributionship Fire Mark
The four clasped hands of the Contributionship, the mutual fire insurance company Franklin organized in 1752 — the oldest property insurer in America. This mark, removed from 322 Delancey Street, was possibly cast by John Stow of Pass and Stow, the founders who recast the Liberty Bell. It hung on a Philadelphia house as Franklin's institutions were meant to: in plain sight, doing their work.