I love this old charger sign with the larger than life image of a rotund Prince Albert! I have always wondered if this brand changed their image for the prince character on purpose? In later years the prince was featured as a debonair character in a dark black suit, looking very dapper. The latter image was much more of what I would consider a prince image to look like, at least in my opinion. Either way, this particular charger is from the early 1900’s and clearly shows a Prince Albert tobacco and cigarette tobacco pocket tin in the image, helping sell the product with the larger than life Prince image! This particular charger sign has a hanging bracket on the backside and is a very collectible piece of tobacciana today.
The Prince Albert brand of tobacco was introduced in 1907 by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company out of Winston-Salem, N.C. and has remained one of the largest selling tobacco brands still to this day. Some of their main competitors over the years were Velvet, Lucky Strike, George Washington, Union Leader, Buckingham, and Half and Half to name a few.