Tomb masons do leave behind their "calling card" of sorts to inform that they were the ones that constructed the tomb. In many cemeteries including Bukit Brown you can find these if you look closely enough. One of the rare recent interesting finds was the marble "calling card" or tomb mason marble advertisement plaque that reads:
Lim Choon Seng
81 Selegie Rd.
Local
Not only did this tomb mason identified himself and its business address in English, it went on to emphasis that it is a local company. The Lim Choon Seng Undertakers constructed the tomb of Mr. Tan Kok Cheng (who passed away on 13th August 1939) using marble as it's main material for the headstone and shoulders for double tomb of Mr. and Mrs. Tan Kok Cheng. Another interesting fact is that the timeline of Tan Kok Cheng death coincides with the timeline where the frequency of advertisement of Lim Chong Seng services can be found on the newspapers the most. In fact i could find only for 2 years (in 1939, where their telephone number was 4643 and in 1947, where their number has changed from 4 digits to 5 digits, 80624). What happened to the company after that, remains a mystery to me for now.
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| Lim Choon Seng Undertakers and marble merchant (1939 Advertisement) |
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| Lim Choon Seng Undertakers (1947 Advertisement) |
From the same address itself (81 Selegie Road ) i found links to another company (i am not sure if Lim Choon Seng is linked to it), called The Malaya Undertakers. Their advertisements seem to be only seen on 1936 and totally disappeared after that.
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| The Malaya Undertakers ( 1936 Advertisement) |
Selegie Road Undertakers
There were many other tomb masons on Selegie Road other than the Malaya Undertakers and Lim Choon Seng Undertakers over the years. (will find time to update when i discover more). There is also a taxidermist company and photo company on the very same road as well (so it is not all undertakers).
83 Selegie Road
Singapore Casket Co.
155 Selegie Road
Wee Bros. Undertakers
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| Wee Bros. (1928 Advertisement) |
190 Selegie Road
The Casket Co. or The Indian Casket Company from a 1942- 1945 article.
[research on-going. Please visit again for more updates ]
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