History

These match plates made from a wooded pattern were used to cast multiple weights at once.

These early newspaper weights made of cast iron were brightly painted to grab the attention of passersby.

• Radio News magazine was geared toward all things electronic.
• The Red Jacket Street Guide covered the Buffalo area of New York State and was produced for most of the first half of the 20th century. 
• The New York Advance was a weekly newspaper published in the Yorkville section of Manhattan. The publisher claimed a circulation of around 20,500 when they closed, due to a labor dispute, in 1938.

Many cast iron weights produced before WWII were turned in for the scrap drives. Creating double-sided weights helped optimize the use of available materials. 

This six-sided triangular shaped newspaper weight advertised four different publications – the New York Journal, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and the New York American.

A creation of the Spiller company, these ca. 1950 newspaper weights had changeable labels that utilized pressure sensitive tape or Mystik adhesive labels. Made exclusively for the New York Herald Tribune, the advertisement labels were designed to be changed out monthly. 

Multilingual newspapers are also available at newsstands in New York. According to the donor, the Segye Times newspaper weight was acquired on “Sam Ship Ega” (32nd Street), the densely-Korean strip in midtown Manhattan between Broadway and Fifth Avenue.” The once-prevalent Spanish-language daily newspaper, "Hoy (Today)," was also acquired in New York City.