It is difficult to say at what point in our history such a craft as nameplate manufacturing appeared. Perhaps it began in the Middle Ages, when noble knights applied inscriptions, slogans, mottos, and family coats of arms to their shields?! Or perhaps it came to us in the 20th century, in its final form as the production of service-purpose plates with inscriptions?! Let's find out!
First Theory
In support of the first theory is the obvious origin of the term "nameplate" from the German or English word "shield." Additionally, craftsmen such as armorers or armor-makers would display or hang the results of their work at the entrance to their workshop as a visual advertisement and, at the same time, an indicator of the craftsman's trade. The most resourceful and enterprising soon realized that hanging a shield was more profitable than displaying weapons and armor, since additional advertising information could be applied to it — for example, the armorer's surname or a promotional slogan. Shop owners with other types of goods could not help but notice such a successful idea from the blacksmiths, and soon began hanging their own advertising shields and signs. Of course, hanging a "battle" shield when you're selling, say, baked goods, is not entirely appropriate. Therefore, shields were replaced by beautifully designed wooden or metal tags — signboards. But not every merchant can draw beautifully, or even come up with an attractive sign design. So soon, among the services offered by local master artists, an item such as custom nameplate production appeared. And when this phenomenon became widespread, entire guilds of masters offering custom tag production emerged. We — the company "Shilda.com" — are the successors of those guilds, as the core business of our enterprise is custom plate production.
Second Theory
The second theory is that the demand for nameplate and plate manufacturing arose during the period of active industrialization, which began in European countries in the second half of the 19th century, but only reached the territories of the former Russian Empire in the 1930s. The active growth of industry, with the use of various units, machines, and mechanisms, required scaling up the process of manufacturing tags and plates with technical information. In addition, the production of signs and plates in large quantities was needed during infrastructure restoration following the devastating events of World War II. Express nameplate manufacturing remains a highly sought-after service today in industries such as mechanical engineering, heavy industry, and logistics. This is evidenced by the popularity of our manufacturing company "Shilda.com" among car enthusiasts, manufacturers, small organizations, and large companies.