Catalog (61)

Offered is a C1900, artistically-executed, hand-painted and hand-stenciled, wooden veterinary medicine advertising sign entitled "TRY VARNUM'S SPAVIN CURE".

The term Bone Spavin refers to the development of arthritic or degenerative changes that create bony growths effecting the lower joints of a horse and often resulting in lameness.

This very unusual sign measures 42" L x 6"W and is in very good condition. The wood demonstrates a few faint hairline, length-wise splits that do not go through the wood, and thus, do not effect sign integrity. Two hooks on the top of the sign facilitate hanging.

Offered is an absolutely fabulous, early 20thC, reverse-painted-on-glass, MOYER'S PHARMACY Drug Store Sign.

This striking example was clearly designed to attract customers with its coloring and bold combination of script and block lettering- all executed in reverse on the underside of the glass. The reverse-painting technique adds additional elegance to the artistic quality of the sign's design. The very sturdy frame is constructed of wood that is enveloped in a heavy gauge metal. The metal portion of the frame has hints of having been painted a few times over the years and shows age appropriate wear.

The sign measures 36"L x 16"W x 1" thick and is in very good condition. There are various mounting holes present. As expected with old glass, some unobtrusive blemishes and small scratches are also present, commensurate with the sign's 100+ years of age. Two very small spots of paint loss are also evident as seen in the photos.

An utterly eye-catching and distinctive, vintage pharmacy sign that will complement any collection!

Offered is a graphically appealing, 1950s, Kodak Film Advertising Display. This beauty comes in the original box and shows very little wear. There is scant patina from minimal use, minor surface scratches and blemishes, and one bend in the metal as seen in the photo. The display turns easily on its circular base, and the colors are as bright as if it was brand new! Definitely a discerning collector's dream!

Measures 20.75" tall x 7.25" in diameter. The overall height includes the removal top pediment.

A five-sided display seldom found in this condition!

Offered is a fabulous, early 1900s, veterinary doctor sign, advertising the practice of a Dr A. A. Bennet. This 18 inch x 11 inch brass sign is a wonderful advertisement piece. The black painted lettering has been cut into the brass sign to give a two dimensional effect.

Veterinary signs of any type are quite scarce! Wonderful patina!

Measuring 12.5 inches wide by 8 inches high, this vintage, hand-painted on board, 1940's No Smoking sign is most emphatic in its message: "NO SMOKING MEANS NO SMOKING"! Most definitely a conversation piece! Fab visual display! Condition is good with paint wear to edges as seen in photos. Light pencil lines to guide the hand-painting are still visible on the front of the sign. (The left side of sign appears darker in photos than the right side. This is a function of less-than-perfect photography! Coloration and brightness are uniform throughout! No dark or shadowy areas!)

An extraordinarily RARE 19th CENTURY piece of Black Americana advertising featuring a fabulous graphic of 2 young African American painters holding a "White-Wash Boy's Hydrated Lime" box.

This product was produced by the lime manufacturers, Hatmaker and Place, of Canaan, Connecticut, in the late 1800s. This small company was located within a large "lime belt" that stretched from Connecticut to Vermont. Back in the day, lime powder mixed with water was quite commonly used to "white wash" or paint numerous surfaces, and it was also used as a medicinal disinfectant! The manufacture of lime from marble was one of the earliest and most successful mineral industries in Connecticut, with historical records dating the establishment of the first CT lime manufactory to 1722.

Given its age and the fragility of paper, condition of this wonderful box is quite good. The lower portion of the back side of the box evidences light surface wear with some of the printing on the lower portion of the box worn away as a result. The front of the box has a 3.25 inch long tear which resulted in the loss of the lime powder from the box.

This early piece of Black Americana advertising is EXCEEDINGLY RARE and may well be a ONE-OF-A-Kind item! The Hatmaker and Place Company was one of a number of very small manufactories located within the "lime belt" that were ALL bought out and immediately closed down by a wealthy group of investors who then created and incorporated the mammoth monopoly, The New England Lime Company, early in 1902.

This fabulous piece of Black Americana is NOT to be missed by the serious collector!

Offered is a wonderful, circa 1920s, hanging, Apothecary Show Globe fashioned in the Art Deco style, complete and all-original. Very often hung in the front window of the local drug store to attract customers, these show globes were frequently filled with colored water to add extra depth and interest to their sculpted appearance.

Condition of this fabulous piece is quite fine. The interior of the globe and finial note some faint, scattered, age-related haziness. While the large globe has absolutely no damage, the decorative finial has a few mild chips to its ground glass base as noted in the photo, that are completely invisible when the finial rests perfectly in place inside the neck of the globe.

For perspective, the globe with finial in place measures about 16 inches tall. The total height as measured from the globe base to the point where the 3 chains terminate at the bracket is 32 inches. An additional 19 inch chain was added by the previous owner.

A noted feature of this globe is the very handsome, decorative, metal bracket which supports the globe in a fancy, Art Deco style frame. The delightful hangar rounds out a wonderful example of the "architecture" of pharmacy history of the 1920s. The condition of the globe frame, chains and support bracket is good with the light wear and mild loss of finish expected of an approximately 100 year old piece. The wall hangar is in excellent condition with minimal surface imperfections.

An exceptional opportunity to purchase a visually striking, Art Deco styled Apothecary Show globe in complete and all original, an advertising piece of a bygone era certain to become a central focal point of any apothecary, pharmacy or drug store collection!

This wonderful vintage hospital sign from the 1920's once hung in a small central South Carolina hospital, as told by the 91 year old seller from whom it was purchased.

Taken right out of her sewing room where it had hung for decades on the wall, the black and gold sign, which is painted on a heavy particle-type board, has a very lovely, warm, aged patina. It was very difficult to photograph as the black background paint readily picked up the slightest light source. The very first photograph most accurately depicts the color and appearance of this piece. Any white glare in any of the photographs should be completely disregarded, as both the color and tone of the sign are quite uniform.

Measuring 24" wide x 6" long, the sign has three eyelet-type holes in each of three corners (one corner is missing) to facilitate hanging. It comes with a heavy, ancient piece of wire that was used to hang the sign in the seller's home.

As noted in the close-up photos, the sign has its share of surface rubs, scratches, paint edge wear and three of the four corner edges missing-- all appropriate examples of wear for a well-used sign that is nearly 100 years old! Close examination of the sign suggests that the background was painted completely black first and then the gold edge-work and lettering were stenciled on top of the black background.

Just LOVE the look of this sign!

This is an authentic signed baseball from former Negro League baseball player Luther "Luke" Atkinson. The ball was signed at an autograph show in March 2006. Luther "Luke" Atkinson was #20, a stand-out performer for the Wilson, North Carolina All Stars, the Carolina Tigers, and the Satchel Paige All-Stars, who played baseball in the Negro Leagues from 1955 to 1960, starting his career right out of high school. As of spring 2018, Mr. Atkinson, who lives in Maryland, remains an active volunteer in the newly opened, Hubert V. Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball, Inc., at the new Owings Mills Metro Centre Complex.

A brief history of the Negro League:

African Americans first began to play baseball in the late 1800s on military teams, college teams, and company teams, eventually finding their way to the established professional baseball teams of white players. However, racism and “Jim Crow” laws would force African Americans from these teams by 1900, with black players left to form their own teams.

In 1920, an organized league structure was formed under the guidance of Andrew “Rube” Foster, a former player, manager, and owner for the Chicago American Giants. In a meeting held at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Mo., Foster and several other Midwestern team owners joined to form the Negro National League. Soon, rival leagues formed in Eastern and Southern states, which brought black baseball to major urban centers and to rural countrysides in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. The Leagues maintained a high level of professional skill and inspired economic development in many black communities.

In 1945, when Major League Baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Jackie Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs, Robinson became the first African American in the modern era to play on a Major League roster. While this historic event was a key moment in baseball and civil rights history, it marked the decline of the Negro Leagues. The best black players began to be recruited for the Major Leagues with their black fans following them, and the last Negro Leagues teams folded in the early 1960s.

Measuring 6 1/2 x 11 3/4, this lovely, early 1900's, Black subject diecut by Enoch Morgan & Sons, England, features three individual Sapolio Soap diecuts used to advertise the company product. Each diecut features the head of a young black boy centered inside a piece of fruit or vegetable- a cabbage, a watermelon and a (?) pear.

Sapolio was a brand of soap noted for its unique and clever advertising, led by Artemas Ward from 1883–1908. Bret Harte, an American short story writer and poet, wrote jingles for the brand, and the sales force also included King Camp Gillette, who went on to create the fabulously successful Gillette safety razor and the razor and blades business model. Time magazine described Sapolio as "probably the world's best-advertised product" of its time period!

This pleasant trio of Sapolio Soap diecuts is in excellent condition and comes protected in an attractive, walnut-toned, oak decorative frame!

Quite visually appealing!

Measuring 9 inches in width x 3 inches in height x 1.75 inches deep, this vintage 1920’s, country store advertising display reads, “We Give And Redeem Gold Stamps”. A very unusual find!

Black with hand-painted, gold lettering, this interesting advertising display would sit nicely on a shelf! In fine, all-original condition with the expected nicks and superficial surface scratches.

Offered are 2 very scarce, circa 1940's, glass, hospital signs acquired many years ago out of a New Jersey hospital that was undergoing modernization and renovation.

These glass SPINAL CORRECTION signs once hung near the entryway of the physical therapy department and are ready for display in your collection!

The first sign measures 13 inches long x 3 inches high and is of thick, heavy plate glass construction. The second sign has the same description but has about and inch missing in length. The signs sport gold-toned, applied lettering and are finished off in black paint, such as in the style seen in reverse-painted glass objects. There is some paint loss and lifting which is commensurate with older painted glass.

This delightfully fancy, 19th Century, cast iron, physician's office sign marked "DR. JOHN LAGAN", once hung on a small building in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, California! It actually survived the famous earthquake of 1906!!

A treasure of early signage designed in the Art Nouveau style, this sign measures 46 inches long by 7 inches wide. The sign weighs at least 25 pounds and sports cast detailing seldom found!

The sign features a delightful and mellow patina with an old painted surface retaining traces of old blue coloring beneath the exterior battleship gray tones. Scattered areas of unobtrusive surface rust add to the wonderful appeal of this vintage sign.

Visually appealing and artfully designed, this vintage piece of signage would make an interesting addition to one's Medical Memorabilia Collection!

Measuring a diminutive 4.50 inches long x 2.50 inches high, this very unusual tin and pot metal piece features a small black shoe shine boy with shoe polishing brush in hand, about to polish a giant ladies lace-up shoe!!

The piece has two tiny holes in its bowl suggesting that this was once screwed or fastened into another piece. Logic suggests that perhaps this may have been an advertising display item of some sort.

Remnants of red paint are easily visible on the back of the black boy's hat as well as on his lips, and the giant shoe also displays remnants of black paint. When one looks quite closely, one can see that the entire figure was at one time painted. Some light superficial rusting to the bowl is evident here and there.

Certainly a mystery piece as to purpose, this fascinating Black Memorabilia collectible remains quite intriguing and does reinforce a stereotypical occupation associated with black folk during the unfortunate Jim Crow era.

Used by the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, New York, - the A & P grocery store chain - for advertising purposes, this sizable diecut has been protected in a 12 3/4 x 9 1/2 inch, gold-toned frame.

Vividly colored, this Black Memorabilia themed piece features a smiling black girl seated on a large straw basket while holding 2, smaller-sized, flower-filled straw baskets in each arm. The young girl is nicely attired in a ruffled blue and yellow dress and wears red sandals, white lacy gloves, and a rose-accented, straw bonnet!

The diecut is in excellent condition! A very unusual find!

Presented in a frame is the highly colorful, visually-appealing and patriotic cover of an 83 page song book advertising BROMO-SELTZER. Prominently featured is the American flag waving beside the iconic, cobalt blue colored BROMO-SELTZER bottle!

This cleverly-designed image dates to the late 1890s to the early 1900s as it advertises the product as a CURE for all headaches. The passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act requiring that foods and drugs bear truthful labeling statements and meet certain standards for purity and strength, prohibited the previously popular and loose use of the word "cure" in product advertising from that point forward.

This delightful song book cover is framed in a 1930s era metal frame measuring 10" x 8". The graphics are quite sharp, and the paper appears aged, consistent with its 100+ years of existence.

Measuring 15.75 inches long by 4 inches in height, this metal, circa 1930s, brown and yellow, French advertising sign reads:

"Defense de Fumer..sans Microphosphate Schloesing."

Translated to English, it literally means "No Smoking without Schloesing Microphosphate", clearly an advertisement for a chemical product made by the Schloesing Company.

Certainly a conversation piece in very good condition with the expected mild and non-substantial wear with minor rust here and there to the painted surface. The sign has 4 small holes at each corner for easy mounting.

Measuring 7 1/2 x 9 1/2, this lovely, 1920-30's, English or Continental origin, Black subject diecut features a very pretty, smiling young woman in a straw bonnet with anonymous book in hand.

This diecut was manufactured to advertise a specific item, store or location but was never used for that purpose or otherwise personalized. Likely, this was vintage advertising piece was discovered and then framed by an unknown individual so that it could be enjoyed despite its anonymity.

This pleasant diecut is in excellent condition and comes protected in an attractive, walnut-tone, oval decorative frame! The frame bears some minor veneer loss that does not impact the frame integrity, nor is it immediately noticeable.

A sweet piece!