Signs of the Times: Nantucket Signs Exhibition of the Nantucket Historical Association

53 Main Street
Walter Coffin
1920s to 1952

Walter Coffin was described as a short, quiet man with a moustache who sold hardware supplies in his somewhat cramped shop (now Albert G. Brock Insurance, Inc.). Coffin advertised “Builders’ and Marine Hardware/Agricultural Implements/Carmote Paint.” People remember Coffin’s hardware store as being chock-a-bloc with a variety of wares. “Everything seemed to be priced at 30¢, no matter what it was.”

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Robert McGrath says: “When Walter was waiting on you, and the telephone rang, he would turn around and yell, ‘The worst god-damned invention they ever came up with.’ ”

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