Featured is a beautiful Reverse on Glass advertising sign from the William Simon Brewery which was based in Buffalo, New York, prior to the prohibition era. This particular ROG sign advertises their flagship Simon Pure Brand, which remained the companies flagship brand even after prohibition ended in 1933. The Simon Pure brand was essentially…
The Saint Bruno Standard Dark Flake Smoking Tobacco was a large seller for years, and still was in business as late as the 1970’s being sold in tobacco shops all around the European area as well as inside the United States. This particular metal sign is very colorful, and certainly would have garnered the attention…
Featured is a very colorful metal serving tray showing a bear and a woman holding a beer while a ship arrives, most likely symbolizing the San Francisco port. This tray was put out by The Wieland Brewery, which was located in San Francisco both prior to and again after the prohibition era. This tray is…
The Deppen Brewery formerly located in Reading, Pennsylvania put out two beautiful boxed Reverse on Glass wood framed corner signs, prior to prohibition. Interestingly, these two varieties are the most common corner signs from that era, as boxes of them were found behind a wall in the brewery, or in a railroad car (I have…
This beautiful serving tray from the J. G. Schemm Brewery in Saginaw, MI is one of the prettier pre-prohibition serving trays I have seen in a long time. The colors are simply unique and the image of what appears almost to emulate a stained glass window in the center differentiates the tray from others. The…
The Meadville, Pennsylvania Distilling Company cleverly put out a stunning tin sign with an angel sitting on top of a heart, extolling the virtues of pureness for their rye whiskey brand. The use of both “Pure Rye” and “Genuine Rye” on the same sign, with the use of the angel is an easily recognizable attempt…
The F.R. Penn Tobacco Company in Wilkes-Barre, PA certainly made good use of this small metal tip tray from the 1920’s. The companies highly touted Banker Chewing Tobacco got the outer billing and largest letters on the tray, and was denoted as a “clean tobacco”. I can imagine a banker wanting a clean tobacco,…
The P. Lorillard Tobacco Company produced an amazing advertising piece with this self-framed tin sign advertising their London Life brand of cigarettes. The sign is unusual in that the design portrays smoking as something associated with the life of luxury. In this scene, it appears the man has just gotten done playing a round of…
I find this particular stock serving tray from the Ferd Heim Brewery somewhat interesting. I am not sure why, but it appears the small child is playing a flute, perhaps to bring his mom or the leading woman in his life into his view. This particular tray is widely popular with early antique advertising companies,…
I love this particular piece from the Old Prentice brand of whisky. This particular gesso framed gilt style golden frame was a common design for many early advertisers. Amazingly, many of these signs still exist, and I can only speculate the beauty of the framing motivated people to keep the items to help decorate their…
