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Linotype printing block.
An example of the element Lead

Sample Image
Lead Linotype printing block
Linotype printing block.
See previous sample for more about where this printing block came from.
This block represents the newest lead-type printing technology (developed around 1900): Each line of type is a single block of lead, which has been cast from a set of individual letter molds assembled in the right order. The lines are then stacked together to form a whole block, in this case for printing the title page of a student report card.
Because I got this at an auction, and because I didn't see any form of Linotype machine at the auction, I don't know exactly what brand or technology was used to create it: I'm using the word Linotype generically to represent an automated line-of-type machine. Since the shop apparently didn't have one of these machines (they are rather large and very complicated, while this was a fairly small and simple printing shop), I wonder if they might have used some kind of typesetting service to make the lines of type for them. But that's just speculation, I have no idea if such services even existed.
Here's a picture that has been mirrored horizontally so you can read what it says (the actual printing block, as seen in the main sample image, is of course mirror-reversed, so the text will come out right when applied to paper):


Source: Auction
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 1 July, 2007
Text Updated: 1 July, 2007
Price: $1
Size: 3"
Purity: 85%
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