The Red Raven Splits brand was very well known in the early 1900’s for their prolific use of advertising trays featuring a red raven bird on them, and the slogan, “Ask The Man” on most of the products advertising items. I don’t know exactly who “the man” was, but I am guessing it was the local druggist, since the product was simply an elixir to fight off a hangover. In the early 1900’s it was very uncommon for a woman to be a pharmacist, hence the reasoning for their widespread usage of the word man. The drink was also advertised to fight a Headache, Indigestion, or “For High Livers’ Livers”. Most of their trays feature an image of the red raven bird. Many styles are known of the product with a young girl trying to help her papa get rid of his headache by retrieving the Red Raven Splits for him. The featured tray shows one of the birds wearing a cloth indicating some pain and suffering, and has a notation for the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair on it.
The Red Raven Splits brand was a huge seller, hence, they put out several large serving trays and quite a few styles of small tip trays to keep their brand in the public eye. The colors were usually spectacular and I suspect did well in the intent to catch the end users attention.
Interestingly, the Red Raven brand literally died off with the start of prohibition, probably because the product was not needed as much after the laws passage. This era unfortunately ended a period of beautiful advertising pieces being put by the Red Raven Company. However, due to the success of the brand there are still quite a few examples remaining for collectors to insert into their collections even today.
Red Raven Splits Lobster Tray, Circa 1910
Red Raven Splits Tip Tray