This is a tin charger made for the William J. Lemp Brewing Company, St. Louis, MO in 1903. It is the sixth charger in a series of six Lemp Brewing Co. metal chargers distributed from 1903-1917. This charger is 24 inches in diameter. It features Sir John Falstaff in an outdoor tavern setting with a woman pouring Falstaff beer into his stein. Sir John Falstaff is a mythological character from three of William Shakespeare’s plays. Sir John Falstaff was often used by the Lemp Brewing Co. for their advertising in the early 1900’s.
The Wm. J. Lemp Brewing Company was ahead of its time in the mid-1800’s when the business established itself in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the first brewery to use refrigerated train cars and their own railroad line to ship products nationwide. William J. Lemp took over the brewery from his father John Adam Lemp, and both helped grow the company to be successful. Lemp introduced the Falstaff shield trademark in 1896 to protect his brand from imitators. The design for the shield came from a rendering of an artist’s paint pallet. By the late 1800’s, it was one of the top twenty largest breweries in America and their Falstaff beer was more popular than ever.
