Witte Hardware Co. Sporting Goods

[mikesglove]

Otto Witte entered the hardware business under the employ of the St. Louis firm, F.E. Schieding &Co. in 1862, Otto and his brother Frederick bought out the interests of Schieding & Co. in 1874 and renamed the business F.A. Witte Co. and in 1902 Witte Hardware Co. It is one of the few early hardware businesses that is still in operation today.

Here is the original Witte Hardware brick building. Really cool company logo on the wall


Here is the same logo on one of the Witte Hardware products.


The IXL lettering is an abbreviation of "I excel". This IXL trademark was established in 1872 by the British firm of Wostenholm & Sons., makers of high quality knives of all sorts. The trademark became popular in the United States in the 1880's and was used for anything and everything from wood flooring, dairy creameries and canvas tent manufactures. As long as the IXL lettering was not used specifically on knives, Wostenholm & Sons could not bring legal action. The IXL term became generic, meaning "highest quality". Architects would often use it when listing construction materials as "IXL or equal". Kind of an interesting little tidbit of arcane terminology.

Now to the glove. Witte Hardware brought out a line of sporting goods under their own name. The example below is really super. The stamping is crystal clear and eye catching.