Sign for Nixey’s Silver Moonlight Plumbago Stove Polish, £4200 at Chippenham Auction Rooms.
Although now long forgotten, the London family firm of Nixey’s was a household name in the second half of the 19th century.
In 1847 company founder William George Nixey had patented a product for polishing cast iron that improved on the once ubiquitous cleaning powder known as ‘the servant’s friend’. Bottles of Nixey’s Refined Black Lead sold in the thousands.