Richards & Conover Hardware Company Collection. The wholesale hardware company was started by John Francisco Richards in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1857.
Richards was a smart and calculating businessman who took note of how cities in the area were evolving. He saw local developments such as the opening of the Hannibal Bridge in 1869 and growth of the railroads and stockyards as indicators of future prosperity. Realizing that Kansas City’s industrial and commercial potential would soon surpass that of Leavenworth, he moved his business in 1857 to Kansas City, where it continued to prosper and expand.
By the 1950s, the market for wholesalers began to change and the hardware company adapted. Those in charge at Richards & Conover decided to refocus their business strategy on steel distribution, opening a new warehouse at 6333 St. John Avenue and closing the hardware business. When the company itself closed in 1999 due to a faulty new software system and changes in the steel market, it could attest to being one of the longest continually operating family owned businesses in Kansas City with five generations of the Richards family having been involved.

Large coldblast tubular , most likely used in  Defiance marked RICH-CON lanterns

Condition- good, light rim staining and flea bites.
Strong casting .