Brothers Frank and Charles Duryea are frequently credited as manufacturing America's first gasoline powered commercial car, which was successfully tested in public on September 20, 1893, in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1901, Frank Duryea joined with the Stevens Company, a well-known armaments firm, to build high quality touring vehicles. Stevens-Duryea manufactured commercial vehicles until 1927, dating this radiator emblem to sometime between 1901 and 1927. The emblem has a central decoration of a red lion on gold background, set into a metal cartouche flanked by the raised text “STEVENS/DURYEA.”
Radiator emblems are small, colorful metal plates bearing an automobile manufacturer's name or logo that attached to the radiators grilles of early automobiles. Varying in shape and size, the emblems served as a small branding device, sometimes indicating the type of engine, place of manufacturing, or using an iconic image or catchy slogan to advertise their cars make and model. This emblem is part of the collection that was donated by Hubert G. Larson in 1964.
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