Frank Robins Company

Edificio Robins, Obispo & Habana, Havana, Cuba

This firm produced perfins from 1917 to 1926.

Ralph, Thelma, Ralph Waldo 'Dick' Crain, Jr., and Earl Thomas Crain, ca. 1910

Well, darn it! I would like to illustrate a cover where a FRCo perfin stamp is on an envelope with a printed Frank Robins Co. corner card. Instead, I have only found FRCo perfin stamps on four picture postcards, all from the same fellow, to his sons and mother back home in Augusta, Illinois, written over the span of 1½ years plus one other small envelope. In 1905, Ralph was manager of the Remington Typewriter Co. in Topeka, Kansas. An obituary on the internet for the writer, Ralph W. Crain, states that he lived in Havana from 1908 to 1932, working as a representative for the Remington Typewriter Company in Havana. A 1921 Printer's Ink publication states the following:

"An advertising agency has been organized at Havana, Cuba, under the name of the Cuba-America Advertising Service, Ltd.  Harold V. Rose [Note: On the picture side of the first postcard, below, there is a handwritten legend "Mr. Rose lives here".] has been appointed director of this agency. He was recently advertising manager of the Frank Robins Company, importer, of Havana... The agency is handling the advertising in Cuba of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Remington Typewriter Company, etc..."

That is the first connection of the postcard writer to the Frank Robins Co. – Ralph Crain's good friend, Mr. Rose, worked for that company.

I then emailed someone that I found on a genealogical site and received not only a picture of Ralph W. Crain, his wife and two sons (shown at right, ca. 1910), but also a passport renewal application, signed by Ralph W. Crain, from 1918. In part it reads,

"my legal domicile is in Huntsville, Ill. (P.O. Augusta), my permanent residence being at Havana, and I last left the United States on Sept. 1917, arriving at Havana, Cuba, on Sept. 1917, where I am now residing for the purpose of conducting business on behalf of Frank Robins Co. agents for Burroughs Adding Machine Co., Remington Typewriter Co, etc. of U.S.A." [emphasis added]

I have since discovered a document stating that Ralph W. Crain was the treasurer of the Frank Robins Company and that the firm "represents a number of the largest concerns in the United States, including such lines as typewriters, adding machines, voice reproducing machines, metal furniture, safes, desks, fine papers, office registers and other goods outside of this line".

I now know for certain that the writer of the four postcards using FRCo perfins worked for the Frank Robins Co. This is the proof needed to establish ownership of the perfins just short of having a cover with a Frank Robins corner card and perfin stamp. Ralph W. Crain was using the stamps of his company to write home to his mother and two sons who were staying with his mother while attending high school in the U.S.

Employee use of FRCo perfin stamp

Used 9 January 1922 to Augusta, Illinois, USA, by Ralph W. Crain, an employee of the Frank Robins Co.
FRCo perfin on 1¢ José Martí definitive (1917) - Scott 264, Edifil 205


Employee use of FRCo perfin stamp

Used 11 September 1922 to Augusta, Illinois, USA, by Ralph W. Crain, an employee of the Frank Robins Co.
FRCo perfin on 1¢ José Martí definitive (1917) - Scott 264, Edifil 205


Employee use of FRCo perfin stamp

Used 12 November 1923 to Augusta, Illinois, USA, by Ralph W. Crain, an employee of the Frank Robins Co.
FRCo perfin on 2¢ Máximo Gómez definitive (1918) - Scott 266, Edifil 206a


Employee use of FRCo perfin stamp

Used 5 May 1924 to Augusta, Illinois, USA, by Ralph W. Crain, an employee of the Frank Robins Co.
FRCo perfin on 1¢ José Martí definitive (1917) - Scott 264, Edifil 205


Employee use of FRCo perfin stamp

Used 7 August 1920 (postmark on reverse) to New York City, USA
Interesting to note that the name "Tom Crain" (one of Ralph's sons) appears in pencil (and perhaps in Ralph Crain's handwriting) on the cover while the addressee's name and address is printed in a shaky, juvenile cursive, perhaps done by Tom Crain, the young boy of 13 years of age.
Two FRCo perfins on 1¢ José Martí definitive (1917) - Scott 264, Edifil 205

And here are some FRCo perfins:

FRCo perfin reverse   FRCo double punch perfin reverse   Edifil 205   Edifil 206   Edifil 206a   Edifil 207   Edifil 208   Edifil 210   Edifil 214   Edifil 215   Timbre Nacional 2 centavos  

Display in Frank Robins window, Havana

Edificio Robins

Edificio Robins, circa 1920, home of Frank Robins Co. and Monroe & Company.

From a text in Spanish: "It (this building) has six floors that were solidly built, in stone and abundance of marble. The wide and numerous window openings ensure effective ventilation and give abundant light throughout the interior. The ground floor consists of a lounge for exhibition of fine furniture for desks, art objects, phonographs, pianos, cars and thousands of other objects that make up the business line of the Frank Robins Company. At the back of this room, a wide marble staircase leads to the second floor occupied by the offices of the company. On Havana Street, the building has the necessary elevators and stairs for the upper floors, distributed in mercantile offices, which are occupied by valuable foreign companies and offices, among them, that of the Naval Attaché of the United States."

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