At present, the Museum holds over 1 500 original designs and, since in many cases there are several copies of the same image, almost 17 000 individual decals, produced between the late 1880s and early 1960s. The many duplications in the collection allow for true preservation of one copy, while others may be transferred for display as finished products, or studied for research purposes. For example, the analysis of the paper used to produce a decal can only be performed on the artifact prior to transfer.

The backing of a decal can reveal the application technique, in this case a duplex method, which allowed the separation of the paper after the image was firmly placed on the surface. (750129.325)

The coat of arms of the Buenos Aires Central South Railway Company, Tearne & Sons (750129.425)		Among the most interesting items are nineteenth-century coats of arms produced by a British transfer maker, Tearne & Sons; handmade patterns for letters and numbers used by colonial railways; and, signs and trademarks produced by the Canada Decalcomania Company for the Canadian National Railway, Toronto Transportation Commission, Consumers Gas and other Canadian companies.

They represent the vanishing phase of decorative arts that originated in Victorian extrinsic ornamentation and carried on well into the first decades of the twentieth century. As the styles of industrial embellishment changed the role of the artist-craftsman became obsolete and, even as factors such as the range of colours that were commercially accessible increased, the transfers became a testimony to the past philosophy and techniques of decorative arts.

Letters and numbers produced by the Canada Decalcomania Company for the Canadian National Railway (AK114.630)