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I have missed a few Throw Back Thursday's simply because I didn't have anything that I had picked up lately with enough information to share with you all. But today I have a little information to share with you about a product you may use and if you don't, you may want to consider it. Shellac. As I am sure most of you know Shellac has been around and used by ancient Chinese and Indian civilizations for a long time. They used the dye extracted from lac fro dyeing silk and leather and as a cosmetic rouge and a coloring for head ornaments. In the 13th century, following the historical journey of Marco Polo ot the Orient, Shellac and its by products began making its way into European commerce and industry. Dating back as far as 1534 there are accounts that describe the cultivation, harvesting, processing and use of lac in extraordinary detail. Shellac resin, shellac dye and shellac wax we used with increasing frequency by the mid 17th century by painters to provide a protective finish. It wasn't until the mid 19th century that shellac was commonly used as a clear finish. The rich reddish purple colorant was highly prized and much sought after by the textile trade in both Europe and America since is was an excellent substitute for Cochineal, a dye imported from Spanish Colonies in Mexico. Henry Perkins, an English Chemist, in 1856 succeeded in synthesizing a mauve-colored dye from an aniline derivative of coal tar. This discovery changed the future of the Shellac industry forever. Production plants began springing up throughout Europe and Germany. They soon developed a reputation for the finest shellac manufactured in the world. Efforts were also underway to produce a colorless shellac William Zinsser, a bleaching foreman in Germany, confident of his technological skills and convinced that a good market for bleached shellac either existed or could be created in the United States, moved his family to New York in 1849. He settled in Manhattan on West 59th Street and setup a workshop in a building next to his home and began to bleach small quantities of shellac and sold it to fellow immigrants. From this humble beginning arose the first Shellac Bleachery in the United States. The production grew from a few pounds per day to thousands of gallons by the turn of the century. At this point Zinsser shellac was sold to vendors who packaged the product under their own label and name. In 1908 one of Zinssers' sons took over the company and began packaging their shellac under the Bulls Eye label. By 1920 there were several other manufactures of shellac in the U.S. The next eighty years witnessed a veritable explosion in the commercial applications of shellac. It was used extensively as a binder in the manufacturing of gramophone records, shoe polish, felt sizing for men's hats, hair spray, floor wax, pharmaceutical, candy (shiny coating on M&M's), printing inks, adhesives, grinding wheels, paper and foil coatings and electrical insulators. From the mid 1960's to the early 1990's shellac seemed forgotten by everyone except those who manufactured it and the contractors, hobbyists, and knowledgeable devotees who used it. All of the makers of shellac were out of business or existed as subsidiaries of the one remaining manufacture: William Zinsser & Co. While out doing a little Patriot Picking, I found this gallon can of Bulls Eye "Z" Shellac that is full and unopened. This is a vintage Zinsser can as it was before UPC codes were put on products. The "Z Bulls Eye Brand" Trademark was first used in 1/1/1913. Zinseer filed and registered the trademark 3/23/1965 and it expired 6/23/1985. The first UPC marked item ever scanned at a retail checkout was at Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio at 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974 and was a 10-pack (50 sticks) of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum. The shopper was Clyde Dawson and the cashier Sharon Buckanan made the first UPC Scan. Patriot Picking on Throw Back Thursday!
