449. Scott Forrest Discovers the Historical “Thinking Man” (+SPD Tampers)
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The Green Harp Flag PSA: 2025 Pete Geek Tampers from Gary Hamilton! They're here!—the 2025 Pete Geek Tampers from Gary Hamilton. This year he’s offering 24 tampers ahead of the Chicago show, six each in each of the four variations shown here. Pricing for the US is the same as last year, $50 each, which includes shipping. Gary will be taking more SPD tampers to the Chicago show for interested Pete Geeks, then following the show he’ll be selling them to all our brethren overseas. There are 24 tampers available–6 of each variation. If you would like more than one tamper, please submit a second form. Price is $50 each, including shipping in the US (Sorry, no international shipping for this event.) Payment will be made through PayPal. Please watch for a PayPal request from Gary Hamilton. Questions? Send email to petegeek1896@gmail.com SOLD OUT! 1:14 pm CDT But here's a link for the waiting list, as we're hoping Gary may have time to make a few more: You MUST fill out the Google Form to place an order: Here is the waitlist link: https://forms.gle/FEgwth2oE2PgcSJ16 Who Was the Real “Thinking Man?” Frontispiece to the 1906 catalog In the commentary to the upcoming release of the Peterson Patent Pipes 1906 Catalog, there is an exploration of K&P’s mission. There I make the case that the famous paragraphs at the beginning of the 1896 and 1906 catalogs about “the importance of supplying as perfect a Pipe as possible” as a real human good weren’t mere puffery (that's a legit legal term, BTW) nor the result of business data analytics, but the product of true pride* and genuine belief. I can imagine those whose work is in advertising and data analysis may roll their eyes at that. I’m old-fashioned enough to believe, however, there is a solid rock on which human dignity depends and that the success of Kapp & Peterson as well as its counter-cultural appeal may very well lie in something Socrates once said: ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ —“The unexamined life is not worth living.” And that brings me to Scott Forrest CPG and his detective work. Scott’s business is in antique collectibles and it’s no surprise therefore that he’s one of the foremost collectors of vintage Petes in the world. If you’ve read the blog for long or haunt eBay for Petes, you’ve seen his crisp, clear and distinctive Pete photos at Belltown Vintage. Recently Scott’s been helping me understand printing process used for K&P's 1906 catalog, and as serendipity (or grace) would have it, about the time he was helping me understand the difference between photogravure, rotogravure, and letterpress halftone, he ran across a photograph of the real-life historical man behind the Thinking Man icon. Scott channeling the Thinking Man As I understand it--and I may not be remembering this exactly right--the first thing Scott had to do was channel the Thinking Man. This wasn't an easy task, and involved several intricate…