One of my favorite advertising items are the beautifully decorated metal charger signs, which were commonly used by companies from the 1890-1920 time period. One of the biggest users of these chargers were breweries, however, collectors can find whiskey products, cigars, and other categories advertising on them at that time.
The Daniel Aberle and Sons Company based in St. Paul, MN produced this ornate and colorful advertising charger for their Golden Link Whiskey brand around 1900-1910. I cannot find records to show this company ever made it back into business after prohibition started however in 1920.
The charger tray claims Golden Link Whiskey was “Worth Asking For”, so maybe it was that good? Or perhaps any whiskey was good 100 years ago in the cold Minnesota winters to help warm a person up and could make that claim?
Either way, this tray illustrates a Victorian woman watching herself in the mirror preparing to drink a shot of whiskey, with a bottle close by. I find it interesting the woman is alone in the scene considering many men hid their whiskey consumption from their wives either by drinking in the basement, inside an outhouse building and other unusual plates where collectors often find vintage whiskey bottles today.
The Daniel Aberle Company was based at 130 East Third Street in downtown St. Paul, MN. While they were best known for producing whiskey, the firm also produced rum, brandy, wine, gin and ethyl alcohol drinks. Well known whiskey brands they produced were Golden Link, Melbrook, Uncle Dan’s, and Powers Pure Malt.
Charger signs are often mistaken by collectors as trays, however, they were not designed for that purpose. Chargers originally had hanging brackets on the backsides of them which allowed a merchant to display them on their walls, but most have been taken off or fallen off over the years. The overall circumference of 18-24 inches typically would make them very difficult to use as a serving tray also considering their weight and bulk even before something is added to the charger for carrying purposes.