Catalog (60)

Offered are two 1920's recipe booklets given out in conjunction with the purchase of the items they advertise, namely Arm and Hammer Baking Soda and Swan's Down Cake Flour. Booklets contain actual recipes featuring the use of the advertised product, of course!

The Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Recipe Booklet, 33 pages, measures 5.50" long x 3.25" wide, and was published by Church & Dwight Co. of New York City in 1925, with recipes compiled by the principal of Miss Farmer's School of Cookery, Boston, Massachusetts. It is in wonderful condition with no missing pages, and just the teeniest edge-rip on front cover near the top staple--so teeny that I nearly missed it! Some minor age-related foxing noted. Bound together tightly by two original staples. Fabulously colored and detailed front and back covers. .

The Swan's Down Cake Flour Booklet measures 7" long x 4.50" wide, and was published by Igleheart Bros of Evansville, Indiana in 1922. The cover of this booklet shows more wear than its offered companion, all wear appropriate for the age of the item. The booklet is bound by the original staples which remain very tight and intact. There is edge wear to covers as well as crease lines and scuffing. While the front cover is rather nondescript, the interior pages feature multiple, colored drawings of various, luscious confections as well as the company's history, a table of weights and measures, and an index. Interior pages have yellowed a bit from age and a couple pages here and there are stained presumably by ingredients as the particular recipes were being concocted.

Would love to try out a couple of these vintage recipes myself!

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!

Measuring 7.5 inches high x 7.50 inches wide x 3.50 inches high, this all-original, new-old-stock, cardboard display box for Whittemore’s Oil Paste Shoe Shine Polish of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is complete with all 12 of its original polish tins! It is presumed that all tins still contain polish--they are all closed too tightly to easily open for an inspection! That will be left to the new owner!

Interesting and extremely eye-catching graphics on both box and tins! Displays just wonderfully!

The cardboard box has some expected wear as seen in photos with small rips and abrasions, but it retains its structural integrity- still able to support the weight of twelve metal polish tins! The majority of the tins are in very, very nice condition as well with expected, slight superficial scratches here and there. Three of the twelve tins have a bit more surface wear to their lids than the others and are pictured as a trio for the buyer’s perusal---still very appealing.

A very difficult to find vintage country store display piece!

Measuring 39.75 inches long x 17.50 inches high, this untouched, all-original, single-sided, porcelain, circa 1930-40s sign is an extraordinarily RARE piece of Black American history-- an artifact of the "Jim Crow" era when segregation of the African American race was unfortunately, most commonplace.

The origin of this sign is unknown, but given its very substantial size and weight, it likely once hung as a directional sign in a major bus or railroad station, designating the "WHITES ONLY" area where African-Americans were required to sit or stand.

The subtly convex sign has had no restoration and remains in all-original condition. It bears areas of paint loss, scratching and superficial rusting (some areas larger in scope than others) typical for its age and use as noted in photos. Please view photos for further assessment of the sign's condition. The age and use-related signs of wear do not impact the physical integrity of the sign and are more than appropriate to the age and purpose of the piece.

An utterly phenomenal, extremely RARE, one-of-a-kind, museum-worthy piece of Black American history!

Please take a moment to view the other "Jim Crow" Segregationist Era signs that I currently have the pleasure of offering.

Offered is an absolutely delightful, vintage 1940's, hand-made barber's sign available for your collection. The sign is created on what appears to be a mat board surface and is encased in an older frame. The sign lists the various services with the price of each posted on the right.

This neat sign measures 14 inches high by 11.5 inches wide, and the frame is approximately 16.5 x 12.5 inches.

The condition of the sign is good, noting clear, crisp lettering with light foxing, mild edge wear and a few tiny blemishes commensurate with age. The older (circa 1920s) frame sports an old, light green, crackled and worn painted surface and pairs well with the barber's sign.

Found in Georgia outside of Savannah, this sign likely was the creation of a small town barber or his associate since it was less expensive to hand-craft a sign like this rather than to formerly commission the creation of one. Prices for a haircut ranged from 50 cents to $1.00 from the mid 1940's to the mid 1950s.

Ready to hang.

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.

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 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.

Offered for sale is a wonderful late 19th century, Victorian drugstore, medical advertising cup. This lovely porcelain mug has “CUDAHY’S REXOMA” printed on the lip. Beautifully hand painted pink roses and other lavender colored flowers adorn the cup on all surfaces.

The Cudahy meat packing industry dates back to the turn of the century. The Cudahy meat industry, with stockyards in Omaha, Chicago, Sioux City and Los Angeles produced the REX brand of fine beef and pork products. They also produced lard, soaps and patent medicine products such as Cudahy's Essence of Pepsin and Cudahy's Rexsoma that used the animal byproducts. The patent medicines were marketed as nutritional supplements for improved health.

This 3.5 inch tall undamaged beauty is in very good condition and very classy indeed!

A terrific image on a lovely cup that can be easily displayed anywhere in your collection.

Offered is a seldom found grouping of 2 doctor signs that were used by a Canadian pediatrician's during his early years of practice in the 1930s.

The large brass sign measures 5" x 14", exhibits some tarnishing, and was most likely placed on the doctor's office building exterior.

The diminutive brass sign, measures 6.5" x 3.5" and was most likely attached to an interior door.

Both signs are in very nice condition and are easily displayed either on a shelf or on the wall!

The pair is offered at $100.00 or either one of the signs may be purchased individually at $60.00 each.

Measuring 7 1/2 x 9 1/2, this lovely, 1930's, English or Continental origin, Black subject diecut features a very pretty, smiling young woman in a straw bonnet with book.

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!

Offered are two paper booklets featuring cooking and baking recipes from the 1920's!

The smaller booklet with a graphic of a sweet faced girl with mixing bowl was published in 1925 by Church and Dwight Company of New York, and advertises Arm and Hammer Baking Soda.

The second, larger booklet called "Cake Secrets" was published by Igleheart Brothers of Evansville, Indiana in 1922, and advertises Swans Down Cake Flour.

Photos provide a good representation of each booklet. An interesting pair!

Offered is a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted sign from the 1940s era. This eye-appealing and visually-graphic sign is constructed of metal, has two-toned, colored lettering and sports the Newark, New Jersey Traffic Club's shield-shaped emblem.

This professionally executed, rare sign measures 29 inches long x 9 inches wide and is in good condition. Areas of light paint loss as seen in the photos and a few minor crimps in the metal, most noted by the corners, are commensurate with age.

An internet search revealed that the club was established over 100 years ago in 1909, although this sign appears to be from the 1940s. A neat find!

Measuring 5 3/4 x 7 3/4, this lovely, 1920's, English or Continental origin, Black subject advertising diecut features two sweet, smiling young girls under a tattered umbrella.

This pleasant diecut is in excellent condition and comes protected in an attractive, walnut-tone decorative frame!

A sweet piece!

If you are looking for a pharmacy sign that is nearly mint and sports great graphics, you can stop searching!

This awesome example dates to 1955, is painted and has a reflective finish on the large lettering. This sign is new-old-stock, was never used and was acquired directly from the family of the former proprietor of the now-defunct, Stanley, North Dakota, Rexall Pharmacy!!!

This beauty measures 36" long x 18" wide and was manufactured by the Continental Sign and Advertising Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It appears to be made of a galvanized metal, is pre-drilled for hanging and is in pristine condition!

Ready for your collection! A fabulous, visually striking, pharmacy advertising piece!

Offered for sale is a very rare, circa 1890s, advertisement for “KESSLER’S – SMOOTH AS SILK“ WHISKEY-- shaped in the form of a TOP HAT!

This fabulous advertising piece is made of papier mache’, is painted black, and sports cream-colored lettering on both sides of the hat.

The firm of Julius Kessler Dist. Co., Inc., in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, originated in 1888 and created an American blended whiskey known for its silky smoothness!

The condition of this fab piece is very, very good given its 115++ years of age, with some areas of paint loss and wear (mostly to the top of the hat which is the surface that actually serves as the base for this piece). No structural weakness or damage to the papier mache- a very solid piece that displays beautifully!!

Measures 12”L x 9.5”W x 6”H. An eye-catching, visually appealing, early display advertisement!!

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.

Measuring approximately 23 inches high X 18 inches wide, this heavy cardboard restaurant menu from the 1940’s has never been used! This menu board was designed by the manufacturer to be a consumable, throw-away --- for jotting down the ever-changing, daily menu “Specials”!

Featuring a delightful, cartoon-like caricature of a black man, this board is in very good condition with minor edge wear, slight age-discoloration and a teeny missing piece of the front rim of the hat.

An interesting, seldom-found piece of Black Memorabilia!

Please disregard reflections in photos that are due to the presence of protective plastic wrap.