OHIO CAR

Jewel Carriage Co. (1909) 
Ohio Motor Car Co. (1909-1912)
Carthage/Cincinnati, Ohio

This is an Ohio Model 40A serial plate (1909)   mjs
Size: 56mm wide 32mm high

The Jewel Carriage Company established the Ohio Motor Car Company in Cincinnati in January 1909 and it is reported that construction of the four-cylinder Ohio Forty began almost immediately in Carthage, Ohio with the first Ohio Model 40A touring car delivered in May 1909. For 1910, there were six Ohio Forty models available and a wide range of models were offered through 1912, although it is not clear that all these models were actually built. In fact, it is not known how many Ohio cars were built. The OhiO seems to have been a well made capable motor car but production numbers are likely to have been modest. The company made a point in its advertisements that it did not go in for high volume production but preferred to make a smaller number of cars which were checked thoroughly for quality before being sold.

The Jewel Carriage Company was in financial trouble early in 1910 and was in receivership by June 1910. The company came out of receivership by early 1911 but financial problems continued and the company was reorganized in 1912 using the Ohio Motor Car Company as the new parent company. This did not help and in December 1912, the company was sold and reorganized again with new ownership as the Crescent Motor Car Company. Production continued at the Carthage factory but the car was now called the Crescent. The "Ohio" name was retained simply as a model of the new Crescent motor car.

Emblems

The Ohio was often advertised as the "OhiO" with smaller letters for the central "hi" in the name. However, the use of logos or trademarks in Ohio advertising is confusing and inconsistent. 

The first Ohio motor car advertisements in 1909 did not use a logo, see example shown below, which declares that the Ohio was "Made in Cincinnati", although the factory was actually in Carthage:

Ohio Model 40 advertisement (1909)  cincinnati enquirer

However, the "OhiO" logo appeared later in 1909 and continued after the Jewel Carriage Company name was replaced in advertisements by the Ohio Motor Car Company name, see examples shown below:

OhiO motor car advertisement (1909)  ebay

OhiO Forty advert (1909)  everybody's magazine

This "OhiO" logo is also shown on the cover of the 1910 Ohio catalog, see below:

Ohio catalog cover showing logo (1910)  worthpoint

Original period Ohio car photos from 1909 and 1910 generally do not clearly show the radiator, although an Ohio car taking part in the Munsey Historic Tour in 1910 had the "Ohio" name stencilled on the radiator grille for publicity purposes, see example shown below:

Ohio car taking part in the Munsey Historic Tour (1910)   dpl

Some OhiO motor car advertisements include an illustration of the front of an OhiO Forty showing that there was no radiator emblem but a brass "OhiO" script was mounted on the radiator core, see example shown below:

OhiO Model 40A showing radiator script (1910)   ebay

The brass "OhiO" radiator script certainly continued in use on at least some models through 1911, see original photos shown below:

OhiO motor car with radiator script & no emblem at trade show (c1911)    dpl

OhiO race car with radiator script and no emblem (1911)    dpl

I do not have a good close up photo of the brass "OhiO" radiator script. If you have this script, please let me know, in order to update this post. Original "OhiO" radiator scripts with this design are extremely rare.

The "OhiO" name was also displayed on the hubcaps, see the extremely rare example shown below:

This is an OhiO hubcap (dates uncertain)   the hubcapper

I can find no photos or illustrations showing the "OhiO" script shown above after 1911, even as a logo, although a logo with "OHIO" in capital letters with the central "HI" in smaller size letters is seen in some advertisements in 1912, see example shown below:

OHIO motor car advertisement showing logo (1912)  ma

It might be expected to see the "OhiO" logo script represented on the Ohio serial plates, although I have not seen this style of Ohio serial plate. If you have such an Ohio serial plate, please let me know, in order to update this post.

The Ohio serial plate shown above at the top of this post and again below uses a completely different script style for the "Ohio" name. This Ohio serial plate was made for an Ohio Model 40A built in 1909 and 1910. My guess is that this serial plate was used early in 1909 before the introduction of the "OhiO" script, although I cannot confirm this absolutely. This Ohio serial plate is extremely rare.

This is an Ohio Model 40A serial plate (c1909)   mjs
Size: 56mm wide 32mm high

This style of "Ohio" script is not seen in Ohio motor car advertisements but has been seen on the extremely rare Ohio hubcap shown below. I assume that this hubcap was used at the same time as the Ohio serial plate shown above, possibly early in 1909, although I cannot confirm this.

This is an Ohio hubcap (c1909)   dkc

The confusion regarding the "OhiO" script continued after the Ohio Motor Car Company was sold and reorganized as the Crescent Motor Company. The Ohio production line was continued but the new car was the Crescent with the Ohio name retained as a model of the Crescent, see Crescent advertisement shown below: 

Crescent Motor Company ad (1914)    ebay

However, some Crescent Motor Company advertisements make it appear that the "OhiO" motor car had continued under new ownership, see example shown below:

Crescent "OhiO" ad (1913 for 1914)  ebay