I sent an email to Sargent - Sowell to see if they could provide any info. For those interested. Below is the company presidents reply
Thanks for reaching out. It is always fun to hear about some old product being found or used somewhere out there! SA-SO (or Sargent Sowell) has been in business since 1948, so there is some history there for sure.
Unfortunately, I don’t think your discovery is quite on par with finding a buried treasure. I’m not even sure it is really that old. That is an 18” cast iron pedestal base. It basically serves as a heavy base for portable signage, so wind or casual contact doesn’t knock the sign over. A product like that might be used at an outdoor fair or a convention center to direct people at an event. Usually a 12 x 18” sign is mounted to it.
We still sell that product, but it is no longer cast with the Sargent Sowell name. We’ve got a guy who started working here in 1993, and he remembers selling the product pictured for a short while. We also have some history of private label things being made starting in the 1970’s.
So if I had to guess at an age of your discovery, it would be somewhere between the late 70’s and early 90’s.
Now, if you want to embellish the story, you can interpret it as the 1870’s to the 1890’s—just don’t ask me to swear to it!
Thanks for your interest.
Joe
