Jones demanded "Star A Star" shingles be used, and we were unsure if this was a brand name or a quality ranking, similar to how we use "Grade A" today. The answer was found in a 1924 handbook of lumber inspection rules, which detailed "*A*" as a grading specification for a "Forty-one Year Roof." The directions from the Northern White Cedar Shingle Manufacturers Association also contain detailed instructions for properly working with the shingles (PDF).
Our shingle research stumbled upon some charming tributes to the quality of "Star A Star" shingles. Besides the ad seen at right, there is a notice of a marriage in the May 1886 edition of The Medicine Lodge [Kansas] Cresset: "This religious weekly extends its best wishes to the young couple and hopes the lumber yard of their life may never be filled with wind-shaken faulty lumber but always be stocked with first-grade clear stock, Star A Star shingles and everything else first class."
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