2803 23rd Avenue
This is a new maker for me, but I can already tell that this guy has a history, presumably as a former partner with someone else. Maybe he was the loser partner and got to keep the stamp, with the partner’s name chiseled off, while the partner had a nice new one made.
I don’t see many sidewalk contractors from Alameda in Oakland. This is the only Maffei mark I’ve found here.
Augustine (ne Agostino) Maffei was born in Italy in 1885 and emigrated to the US in 1902. is listed in the 1920s and 1930s directories, living with his wife Angelina at 818 Pacific Avenue in Alameda. He died in 1978 and is interred in Chapel of the Chimes.
Oakland Underfoot 
26 March 2023 at 7:06 am
I’ve run across some of these recently in Alameda. The earliest I’ve found with a distinct year is from 1925, and the latest from 1937. All have the same stamp design with the first part of the upper line “erased”. One stamp where the last numeral of the year is unclear (if there’s one there at all) retains the “&” in the upper text and still adds the hand-drawn “A” as well. I have not yet found an example with the “erased” name during a few exploratory walks in Alameda.
There are similar 1920s stamps in Alameda from an Alameda-based company called MacKenzie & Lundberg. I’ve found a few of these, including one with the Lundberg portion “erased”. I don’t know whether that MacKenzie was related to the one whose 1950s stamps are found in Oakland.
30 March 2023 at 8:52 pm
Updated with a bio.