MAUSER / GERMANY

Like many armaments factories the MAUSER Werke AG had to turn to new products after WWI.
They started with a very unusual car, called Einspurwagen ( single lane car ).
It was a three seater with two passengers behind the driver and two small retractable wheels at the side for starting and stopping ( what a crazy idea ). This car had  no emblem. From 1927 to 1929 the WINKLER Company of  Oberndorf  produced the single trace car in licence. Now there was an emblem:

Size
Year	1927 - 1929
Estimate

In 1923 MAUSER brought out a conventional 4 - wheeled car with 4 brakes and a 4-cylinder engine but it was sold in small numbers only.

the target circle on the  emblem as a symbol for the arms industry

Size	6.9 cm x 7.2 cm
Year	1923 - 1927
Estimate

In four years there were two slightly different emblems. Instead of the target circle here you see the ironsight of a pistol ( made by Mauser ):

1924 advertisment for both vehicles

contemporary description of the MAUSER privat car

1924 MAUSER brochure

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).
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STAVER / USA

The STAVER Carriage Company of Chicago was one of the biggest highwheelers manufacturers.
Production started in 1907.  In 1910 STAVER turned his manufacture over to four-cylinder conventional cars.
The emblem is showing a buck´s head with an arrow through its neck.
Their slogan was: THE STAVER IS A STAYER as you can read on the emblem.
Car production ceased in 1914 and the factory was sold to Partin-Palmer.

Size	6.5 cm x 7.5 cm
Year	1910 - 1914
Estimate

backside of an original emblem ( no makers mark )

1914 STAVER identification plate

1911 / 1912  STAVER ad showing the emblem

There was also a quite well made repro made by Harry Pulfer, but they used the wrong red color.
The original red was made with red burgundy vitrious enamel !

Repro made with opaque red color

left:  original emblem                  right:  Reproduction

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).
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PRESTO / Germany

The PRESTO Werke were well known for 2-wheelers, bicycles and motorcycles before they started car production in Chemnitz / Saxony in 1901. The first models had a single cylinder engine.
In 1908 some prototypes started in the Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt, a famous race at that time.
The production of a  home designed 4-cylinder car started in 1910. In their last year of existence they offered a six-cylinder engine. But the same year PRESTO was taken over by NAG and the six-cylinder model was offered as NAG - PRESTO.

very early PRESTO firewall emblem

Size	9.7 cm x 6.4 cm
Year	1901  - 1904
Estimate

1909 PRESTO showing a round emblem with wings

The next enameled emblem was round and you could read on it: Prestowerke AG  Chemnitz SA.
If have never seen an original emblem, so I can show you pictures only from both cars with emblems on the radiator.

PRESTO type P8/22  1910 - 1912 photo  collection Michael Schlenger  (Vorkriegs-Klassiker-Rundschau)                            

The next emblem is a 1912 truck emblem. From 1912 to 1927 PRESTO used a round emblem.  In the upper half of the emblem you can read PRESTO and in the bottom half you find the winged wheel over a cloud:

large PRESTO truck emblem

Size	8.8 cm
Year	1912 - 1914
Estimate

1912 PRESTO truck seen in a German museum

For a short time they used  emblems without the makers name, just showing the winged wheel over a cloud. I guess that it was used in combination with a radiator script.

Size	5.1 cm
Year	unknown
Estimate

There were some variations of this emblem concerning the colors and the size.

PRESTO emblem with chromed base

Size	6.3 cm
Year	1925 - 1927
Estimate

PRESTO car wash (photo collection T. Ulrich)

Emblem of a vee - shaped radiator

Size	6.4 cm
Year	1921 - 1925
Estimate

PRESTO with vee - shaped radiator (photo collection T. Urich )

 In November 1926 PRESTO presented the first Six-cylinder model using the traditional emblem:

Page 1 of the 1926 / 1927 Six-cylinder brochure

 In November 1927 PRESTO was taken over by NAG and the Six-cylinder models were carried under the name NAG - PRESTO:

Size	3.8 cm x 5.6 cm resp.  6.1 cm x 7.5 cm
Year	1927 - 1928
Estimate

There is also a repro emblem mady in Germany by Göde:

look at the wrong colors on the bottom:  black and white only instead of black, white, green and grey

repro emblem with makers mark from Göde

 See more about NAG here.

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).
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SIGMA / France

The AUTOMOBILE  SIGMA  of Paris / France was active from 1913 to 1928. They offered an assembled car using Ballot and later   SCAP engines.Prduction was always modest and never exceeded 200 cars a year.  The 8 and 11hp models were sold in England as Marlboroughs.
To my knowledge there was only one enameled emblem:

Size	6.2 cm
Year	1913 - 1928
Estimate

Sigma radiator seen in Paris 2019

repro emblem made with the original dies

For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).
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BIEDERMAN / USA

The BIEDERMAN Motors Corp. of Cincinnati / Ohio was active in the truck sector from 1921 to 1955.  It was a small concern which managed to outlive several larger rivals such as Schacht.
Engines they used were Hercules, Lycoming, Continental, Cummins and some other.
Production was always very limited except during WWII when they built a large number of vehicles for the US Army.

For years they used this emblem:

heavy emblem made of brass

Size	25.7 cm x 7.3 cm
Year	1946 - 1955
Estimate

Typical look of a truck emblem after decades of use:

emblem before polishing

 1950 / 55 advertisment

For more truck and car emblems see older posts or top right ( list of car makers ).
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B.F.A. ( Bolle Fiedler ) Germany

The BOLLE and FIEDLER Automobilbau  G.m.b.H from Germany is unknown to most prewar-car enthusiasts..
In the Beaulieu Encyclopedia you´ll find just three lines  about the company´s history, even under an incorrect name.  B.F.  instead of B.F.A. - and no picture is shown. The same applies to Nick Georgano´s "Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars".
The 2019 edition of Werner Oswalds´s standard reference "Deutsche Autos 1920 - 1945" at least provides a photo and some basic information. On the internet - believed by many to be omniscient - alomost nothing is available on B.F.A. .
So, when I found an emblem with the three letters B.F.A.,  I couldn´t be sure that it once belonged to a same-named  car.
Several years  later, however, I happened to come across a dozen of contemporary pictures showing B.F.A. motorcars which enabled me to outline the history of this obscure yet fascinating car manufacturer.

ultra rare B.F.A. radiator emblem

Size	5.0 cm
Year	1922 - 1925
Estimate

The following photo shows the B.F.A. "factory" with  4 mechanics and the two owners Mr. Bolle and Mr. Fiedler. On the sign above the left door it says: " B.F. Automobilbau G.m.b.H " in the last line.

Factory in Berlin - Charlottenburg,  Morsestr. 18.

Shortly after its formation, the BOLLE - FIEDLER company built  a race car which participated in the famous AVUS race in Berlin in 1923. Here it can be seen waiting at the starting line.

B.F.A. at the starting line on the occasion of the 1923 AVUS race

The next photo shows the start of the AVUS race in  autumn 1923.  The car on  the far  left is  an
OMIKRON  race car and the  second from the right is  the B.F.A. racer:

 B.F.A. employed a self-designed  3-cylinder two stroke engine. The lettering B.F.A. is clearly visible on the engine block !

The next photo shows a B.F.A. race car at full speed on the occasion of the 1924 AVUS race:

The last picture is a particulary important document, since it shows the only B.F.A. car ever made for use  on ordinary roads:

This one-off was registered in Berlin in 1923

In the enlarged section, the unique radiator emblem is clearly visible. Als see the following photomontage:

Last but not least, there is another photo showing the dashing lines of this unique two-seater cabriolet:

Only four  cars were built. Here you see number 4.

Three race cars and one car for use on ordinairy roads- that comes to a total production of just 4 cars. As the B.F.A.  emblem from my collection is clearly a vintage piece and shows traces of solder it is highly likely  that it once adorned the radiator of one of  these 4 cars !

Emblem made by A.STÜBBE / BERLIN

B.F.A. was a short-lived company like many others in the 1920s: the "factory" in the photo below was in use only from autumn 1922 till autumn 1925.

 For more emblems see older posts or top right ( list of carmakers )

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