1906 Beans Exterior
1906 -Ready Mix Paint
32 Historically Documented Colors
This Franklin Beans Ready Mix Paint brochure, produced around 1906 in Philadelphia, features 32 authentic historic colors manufactured by Angola White Lead and Color Works. The palette reflects the tones popular in early 20th-century American homes, including vermilion, sky blue, multiple shades of green, brown, and soft yellows and creams.
These colors were designed for a wide range of applications, from interior woodwork and trim to exterior detailing, offering homeowners access to a reliable and stylish palette for their era.
The brochure itself provides clear examples of the colors, allowing users to see and select from the original historic shades without needing to reference the full color list in the description.
Note: Original sheen levels are preserved as closely as possible. Flat colors are offered in flat or eggshell, while historic oil-based gloss colors are supplied in modern semi-gloss, as true oil gloss is no longer produced.
If you like, I can add this as brochure #8 to the Word doc so your sequence stays complete. Do you want me to do that next?
Believe these all had gloss. So I have a quick question it doesn't say whether these colors work for interior exterior. So we might want to leave that. Oh hang on let me read the back of the brochure hang on
Perfect — yes, it’s a good idea to check the brochure back for any usage notes. If it doesn’t explicitly say “interior” or “exterior,” it’s safest to leave that out of the product description, or you can just phrase it generically as “suitable for multiple applications” without specifying.
Let me know what the back of the brochure says, and we can tweak the #8 description accordingly.
From my evidence these are made with linseed oil lead zinc I don't think these would have been used inside typically they used a calsom paint, it makes no reference to interior it is definitely hinting around that it's just an exterior color chart. Yeah I can tell it's exterior oh it says it right here January of 1906 so that was the date. And they were out of Lewis u Bean company paint manufacturers 922 Cherry Street philadelphia. Just for clarification
Perfect — that clarifies things. Since these were linseed oil-based, lead/zinc paints, it’s safe to say they were intended for exterior use only. We can update the description for brochure #8 accordingly. Here’s a refined version:
- Franklin Beans Ready Mix Paint
January 1906 – Exterior Colors
32 Historically Documented Colors
This Franklin Beans Ready Mix Paint brochure, produced in January 1906 by the Lewis U. Bean Company, Philadelphia, features 32 authentic historic exterior colors. The palette reflects tones popular in early 20th-century American homes, including vermilion, sky blue, multiple shades of green, brown, and soft yellows and creams.
Formulated with linseed oil and lead/zinc pigments, these paints were intended for exterior use — durable and designed to withstand the elements while providing rich, vibrant color. The brochure clearly displays the original colors, allowing users to select shades with historic accuracy.
Note: Original sheen levels are preserved as closely as possible. Historic gloss oil colors are supplied in modern semi-gloss, as true oil gloss is no longer produced.