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We recently chopped up all the concrete in our backyard and found tons of interesting items. To our surprise, there was a full bluestone patio and walkway that ran the whole perimeter of the yard. Also, we found a beautiful old cast iron sign. Its about three feet long and six inches high w/ a lion head in the middle. It seems to be the sign left by the company that built our house. The lettering says Branch Houses, it lists an address on Water St in downtown manhattan and at the bottom, it lists all the cities where they had offices, chicago, cleveland, ny…Does anyone know anything about the history of this company, etc? Also, the sign is very beautiful but its completely covered in rust. Any idea how to get it off? I really don’t want to damage it. Thanks for any tips.