In This Issue
- 2021 AAAA Virtual Convention: Final Call
- A Display of Dispensers: Offering Flavors with Fizz
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Selling Dead People's Things by Duane Scott Cerny: A Journey into the Soul of Collecting
- Ice Screamers Virtual Convention: July 22-24
- Value Guide Series: Square Corner Tobacco Tins
- Photo Archives Web Sites
- Pinball Expo Returns October 27-30, 2021
- Fun Finds: Apollinaris Tray
- Wanted Items
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2021 AAAA Virtual Convention: Final Call |
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The 2021 AAAA Virtual Convention is right around the corner: Saturday, July 24, 2021! It is free! Plan to be there to partake in many of the convention activities that members have enjoyed for years. On the morning of July 23 and again on July 24, all AAAA members will receive an email with a link to join the convention. It will be conducted on the Zoom platform. Here is the schedule of activities:
- 12:30 pm Login to Zoom Meeting (If you are unfamiliar with Zoom, please login early)
- 12:45 Review of Zoom Functions
- 1:00 Welcome
- 1:05 pm Live Room Hopping: Selected sellers will present items available for purchase
- 1:45 pm Tour of Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor & Museum, Columbus, Indiana. Conducted by Debra Slone
- 2:15 pm Break-Out Discussions
- 3:00 pm Break
- 3:15 pm Seminar: "Trade Cards: Exploring the Roots of Pop Culture in Advertising". Presented by John Kemler and Alice Muncaster
- 4:00 pm Membership/Business Meeting: Learn about the current status of AAAA and provide input into the future.
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4:30 pm Raffles: $2,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. $50 prizes, $100 prizes, and two Grand Prizes of $250! No purchase required. You must be present to win.
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5:00 pm Convention ends and Room Hopping commences (for AAAA members only) at: www.pastimes.org/roomhopping.
Room Hopping (sales of vintage advertising) promises to be fantastic again this year. Approximately 30 sellers from around the US have assembled thousands of examples of vintage advertising for your shopping pleasure. All genres and price points will be represented. Room Hopping will commence at 5:00 PM on Saturday when the Convention has ended. It will take place on the AAAA web site--it will not be on the Zoom platform. To participate in Room Hopping, simply go to: www.pastimes.org/roomhopping after 5:00 PM, Saturday, July 24.
Room Hopping will be opened to a national audience at 8:00 AM the following morning, on Sunday, July 25. It will remain open for both AAAA members and the public 24/7 until 5:00 PM, Saturday, July 31.
If you have any questions, please contact Paul Lefkovitz, Convention Coordinator at 317-594-0658 or [email protected].
We look forward to seeing you there!
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A Display of Dispensers: Offering Flavors with Fizz
By Mary Jane Cary, the Ice Screamers Newsletter Editor
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Joseph Priestley invited his British friends to taste his invention of the first drinkable artificially carbonated waters in 1767. Yet the first offering of flavor with fizzy water would take four more decades and a trip across the Atlantic to Philadelphia. For $ 1.50 per month, patients with gastric disorders received a glass of soda water each day, dispensed by pharmacist Townsend Speakman in collaboration with their Physician Dr. Philip Syng Physick. Yet after patients complained of the carbonated waters’ taste, Speakman added fruit juice to the fizzy water, and on a Friday, May 22, 1807, the first flavored soft drink, Nephite Julep, was born. |
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Apothecary illustration,
1807 Book of Trades.
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As the first natural retail outlets for customers seeking “healthful” carbonated beverages, druggists recognized the potential profit. Yet confectioners also recognized the opportunity to expand. Thus began a healthy market-based competition among confectioneries and drug stores.
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First ad for syrup-flavored soda waters,
April 28, 1826, Brunet Confectionery,
Alexandria VA Phenix Gazette.
Courtesy Newspapers.com.
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First drugstore ad for
syrup-flavored soda waters, 1829,
Dr. EJ Alcock Drugs, Baltimore MD, Matchetts Directory.
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In 1832, two years after winning awards at New York’s American Institute Fair for his “Geyser” Draught Apparatus which dispensed syrups and soda water, John Matthews immigrated from England to America, and began manufacturing his soda fountains. His compact apparatus could be positioned on a pharmacist counter and featured a single counter draught-tube with the syrups kept in bottles, typically under the counter (images appear below). |
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Matthews patent soda fountain,
Coca-Cola Archive in Atlanta, GA.
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Matthews’ 1867 marble soda fountain ad, Jan 1868
Druggist Circular.
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In 1866, Civil War veteran James Vernor opened a pharmacy in downtown Detroit, where he created a medicinal tonic of vanilla and spices with ginger to calm the stomach. Vernor’s Ginger Ale proved so popular at his soda fountain that he began selling the extract and bottling franchises to businesses willing to adhere to the recipe. James Vernor's Pharmacy, Detroit, Michigan c1870's is shown to the right (Courtesy Keith Wonderlick and the Vernors Collector Club).
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Although Root beer, sarsaparilla, spruce and ginger beers were already popular beverages commonly brewed at home from roots, barks, and berries, Boston pharmacist George W Swett and Philadelphia pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires began experimenting with easier methods for producing root beers. While both men became successful, Hires became the first major advertiser and mass marketer in the beverage industry. During the 1880s, his logo appeared on trade cards with healthy rosy-cheeked children, booklets for children, trays, mugs, and other novelties (image above and to the left). |
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This decade spawned four syrups whose sodas are still produced today: Moxie, an 1884 creation by Lowell, Massachusetts’ homeopathic physician Augustin Thompson; Dr. Pepper, created by pharmacist Charles Alderton in 1885 at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas; Dr John S. Pemberton’s first Coca-Cola in 1886 Atlanta, Georgia, marketed by Asa Chandler after Pemberton’s 1888 death; and pharmacist Caleb Bradham’s 1893 Pepsi-Cola debut in his New Bern, North Carolina drugstore.
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In 1890, Malden, Massachusetts druggist Walter P Sheldon introduced his Queen Sherbet Royal Beverage at his pharmacy’s soda fountain. The drink proved so popular, Sheldon trade-marked the name and began distributing the syrups beyond the Boston area into western Connecticut.By July 1896, The National Magazine reported “You will notice, at every apothecary's, the glass tank which contains it standing in a prominent place on the counter.” Research to date suggests that the Queen Sherbet syrup dispenser is the earliest known. Queen Sherbet Dispenser, c.1896 is shown to the left. Courtesy Harold Screen Collection.
Two other Malden, Massachusetts pharmacists, brothers Henry and Fred Miner, created the beverage Miner’s Fruit Nectar during the 1890s, perhaps inspired by Sheldon’s Queen Sherbet success. By 1896, they were offering dispensers on loan to fountain customers who purchased ten gallons of syrup. Research to date suggests that Henry Miner’s design patent for their dispenser, granted in January 1898, is the first granted for a syrup dispenser. Miner's Fruit Nectar Dispenser, c1896 is shown to the left.
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As bicycling proved popular for recreation as well as transportation, some fountain owners sought the wheelmen’s trade by installing bike racks and tire pumps outside their storefronts and stocking bicycle repair kits. Once inside, cyclists’ thirst could be quenched with special drinks featuring names like Cycle Tonic, Sprocket Foam, Pedal Pusher, and Cycla-Phate, a favorite among cyclists and just one of the 300 flavors offered by Boston’s Beach & Clarridge Company in 1895. Illustrated above is a Halls’ Pharmacy ad, July 9, 1895, Mechanicville, NY. |
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While fountain manufacturers like Matthews, Green, and Tufts bottled syrups in ceramic jugs as a sideline for their customers’ convenience, beverage companies like Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Hires, and Pepsi-Cola offered tall, decorative free-standing counter dispensers for their syrups. Yet in August 1900, Chicago fountain manufacturer Liquid Carbonic offered a comparably elegant urn to all fountains ordering five barrels or more of their pure fruit drink Grape Kola (images appear below). |
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Hires Muni-Maker dispenser, c1898. |
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Liquid Carbonic’s GrapeKola
Syrup Dispenser, 1900.
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As the number of soda fountains and their demand for bottled syrups rose, druggist J Hungerford Smith emerged as a leading manufacturer. Smith first experimented with flavorings in his Au Sable Forks, New York pharmacy. When drugstores began ordering his best-tasting syrups, Smith built a manufacturing plant to make his True Fruit syrups, then relocated to Rochester, New York in 1891 to open a larger plant. Since Smith's concentrated syrups required only a simple dilution before dispensing, they were quickly and widely adopted by fountain operators, while use of fruit juices virtually disappeared after 1900 (images appear below). |
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J. Hungerford Smith Cardinal Cherry Syrup Dispenser, c1900-1910 |
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Pepsi-Cola ceramic dispenser, c1900. |
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Although hot soda dispensers were introduced as early as 1859, the first were unattractive metal urns, the variety of beverages was limited, and the water was not carbonated. Yet by 1904, when Chicago’s Armour & Company began offering their Carnation china urn and matching cups for free with orders of their Vigoral, Beef and Tomato bouillons, the hot soda joined its ice cream soda cousin, enabling the soda fountain to evolve into a year-round business. Illustrated to the left is an Armour & Co Carnation China Urn and cups, 1904.
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Since fountains had originated in drugstores, they continued to sell drinks claiming health benefits. In 1909, the Hessig-Ellis Drug Company of Memphis, Tennessee and its Puro Manufacturing Division began advertising their fruity Fan-Taz as “It’s red - It’s rich - It’s pure - a drink that makes you think,” and marketed it to baseball fans across the United States, Canada and Mexico with ads featuring balls and bats (image appears below).
As the 1906 passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act addressed public demand for safer foods and medicines, Ward’s Orange-Crush company of Chicago soon guaranteed that their concentrated Lemon, Orange, and Lime syrups met all federal and state pure food laws (image appears below).
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Baseball-shaped Fan-Taz
Syrup Dispenser, c1910
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Ward’s Lime Crush
Syrup Dispenser, c1910.
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This emphasis on sanitary and higher quality foods likely influenced syrup dispenser design, with the newly formed Richardson Corporation, founded in 1915, leading the way. President Alick G Richardson, an experienced drugstore, soda and syrup businessman, debuted his “Maid of Honor” Liberty drinks in clear-glass syrup dispensers, a move that was replicated by other syrup and beverage manufacturers through the 1920s. Shown to the left is Richardson’s Liberty Cherry Syrup Dispenser, c1916.
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All-metal and metal-and-glass dispensers joined the lineup of round and oval ceramic designs placed on soda fountain service counters (images appear below). |
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Richardson’s Maid of Honor
Liberty Drinks Syrup Dispenser, c1918.
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Schoenhofen Green River
Syrup Dispenser, c1920
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Among the dazzling exhibits at the 1933 Chicago’s World’s Fair were soda fountains and refreshment stands showcasing a sleek new dispenser. Over six million visitors enjoyed a Coca-Cola after watching in amazement as the attendant dispensed their drinks simply by pulling a handle. The company newest dispenser, manufactured by Chicago’s Dole Valve company, was the first automatic fountain dispenser. Known as the Dole MASTER, the design featured reservoirs for ice, syrup, and carbonated water. A pull on the handle enabled ice-cold syrup and carbonated water to mix automatically for dispensing.
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Coca Cola's first automatic
fountain syrup dispenser, 1933
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From tall two-piece china urns and baseball-like spheres to ceramics shaped like barrels, fruit, and logs, syrup dispensers provided purpose-filled stylish advertising on American soda fountain counters during their 60-year reign from the 1890s - 1950s. The dispensers shown below are among the many antique soda fountain items on display at the Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum in Columbus, Indiana. Interested in planning a visit? AAAA and Ice Screamer member and Zaharakos historian Debra Slone will make your day extra special!
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This article was reprinted, with gracious permission, from the Ice Screamers Newsletter. The Ice Screamers is a national organization consisting of individuals who enjoy researching ice cream history and collecting ice cream parlor and soda fountain memorabilia. For further information, the club's web site is www.icescreamers.com.
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Selling Dead People's Things by Duane Scott Cerny
A Journey into the Soul of Collecting
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Thousands of books have been authored on the subject of collecting. Just about every aspect of collecting has been covered in the endless titles that are out there. However, one volume stands out as unique...Selling Dead People's Things by Duane Scott Cerny. This book is not really about collecting per se. Rather, it explores the human experience surrounding collecting and the cast of characters who play out their unique roles in the buying and selling of rare, beautiful and meaningful things.
The author draws on his years of personal experience buying and selling items of antiquity as co-owner of one of Chicago's most revered antique establishments, Broadway Antique Market. In doing so, he is able to report on the poignant, odd, and even mysterious stories that form the backdrop for such transactions.
The book has enjoyed commercial success as reflected in its status as an Amazon #1 Best Seller. It has also received critical acclaim. Here are some quotes:
- "A dazzling collection of stories...A down and dirty book about interactions of people in the trade: sellers, buyers, experts, and others. Duane has shown me a literary path...people and their stories...and I am extremely jealous!" -- Henry L. Rinker-Author, appraiser, radio host, and national media personality
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"Steering like a Ouija planchette, Selling Dead People's Things takes us across personal artifacts of lives passed on, rousing stories and spirits revealing often that life is the greater mystery than death." -- Michael Carbonaro, Creator/Executive Producer of "The Carbonaro Effect" on TruTV.
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"Duane Scott Cerny's writing brings the dead back to life and tells the "E! True Hollywood" tales behind the stuff we buy at estate sales and antiques markets. The designers, collectors, and dealers who purchase these pieces would hold these treasures ever more dearly if they only knew their backstories. This is a heartwarming, heartbreaking, and HILARIOUS narrative about the way dead people's things, and their owners, really lived. As an avid reader drawn toward in-depth New Yorker pieces and fascinating historical and nonfiction books, I could not put this one down!" -- Sally Schwartz, Show Promoter, Randolph Street Market, Chicago
Mr. Cerney is participating as a seller in our upcoming AAAA Virtual Convention. His beautiful offerings reflect the bold and eclectic footprint his experiences in the industry have formed.
Selling Dead People's Things is readily available on Amazon.com. It can also be purchased at: SellingDeadPeoplesThings.com, which also offers up more stories of the same ilk. Those who wish to contact Duane Scott Cerney directly can do so at [email protected].
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Ice Screamers Virtual Convention: July 22-24 |
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Many of you are well aware that AAAA and the Ice Screamers have been collaborating for a number of years in conducting our annual national conventions. We consider them part of our extended "family". Like AAAA, the Ice Screamers are holding this year's convention virtually. They have invited all AAAA members to attend their Convention and AAAA has extended a similar invitation to their members.
We encourage you to attend the Ice Screamers' events. There will be no fees. They will be conducting a presentation about Early Soda Fountain Advertising on Friday, July 23 that should be of special interest to many AAAA members.
For more information about the Ice Screamers' convention, including the schedule, click here. As you can see, their events end just before ours begins so there is no conflict. You can attend both events and have several days of continuous fun.
I will be sending an email on the 22nd, 23rd, and the 24th with a link to join the Ice Screamers' Zoom meetings.
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Value Guide Series: Square Corner Tobacco Tins |
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We are pleased to bring you another installment in our Value Guide Series from the pages of our own publications. This time, we are featuring a value Guide that was originally published in PastTimes in 1996 (Volume 5, Number 6). The subject was Square Corner Tobacco Tins.
Due to the continued popularity of the subject matter, the scope of the examples illustrated, and the valuations themselves, this Value Guide is regarded by many collectors as the most important of those published by AAAA. Like all of the Guides published by our club, it may be dated but it remains very informative.
Click here to upload the PastTimes issue that contained this Value Guide. Once uploaded, you can print or save it.
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Photographs keep the past alive. Since their introduction just prior to the second half of the 19th century, photos have served to witness all that is lost to the passage of time. Collectors love photos because they provide a first-hand account of the people, events, and things of the past.
There are a number of excellent on-line resources that unlock the door to vintage photographs. An article published earlier this year on MSN Lifestyle was " 10 Photo Archive Websites that Let you Lose Yourself in History" by Amy-Mae Turner. In that article, the reader is introduced to a number of outstanding digital collections of photographs that can support research, casual searches, and just fun forays into yesteryear. To read that article, click here. |
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Pinball Expo Returns October 27-30, 2021 |
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Pinball Expo, an annual event, will be returning to the Chicago area October 27-30, 2021. It will be at a new location: the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Schaumberg, Illinois. Rob Berk, Show Promoter, states: "We welcome all coin op enthusiasts to visit Pinball Expo in Schaumberg, Il. Celebrating our 37th year, our show covers all aspects of the hobby. Seminars, factory tours, autograph session and a vendor hall featuring over 400 games set on free play." Visit www.pinballexpo.com for details. |
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Fun Finds: Apollinaris Tray |
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Robert Ray has done it again! He has a knack for acquiring unusual and charming pieces for his general store collection. Recently, he spied a fetching tray that immediately beckoned to him. And how it is part of his collection. It is an Apollinaris Table Water tray, graced by a delightful illustration by Phil May. Thanks for sharing this with us, Robert. |
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In this column are those sought-after items of desire that seem to be elusive. If you know where any of these items can be acquired or if you have one available, please click the link to reply directly to the seeker. To place a listing in this column, click here. There is no fee for AAAA members. Up to three listings per member are permitted.
Antique Advertising pertaining to Country Store or Drug Store Products or Places. Especially those showing Women or Girls with the product or location shown. I would consider any Antique Advertising (paper, cardboard & metal Signs). Quality a plus! Dale Peterson at [email protected]
Wanted top condition: Hard A Port small top tobacco tin; Convention Hall 1 lb coffee tin (green or yellow); Army Navy coffee slip lid canister; Big Horn 1 lb coffee tin; Continental Cubes medium size kidney shape tobacco tin.
Unusual one pound peanut butter tins. Tin litho or paper label. To reply, click here.
Marshmallow Tins, Smaller than 5 Pound Size. To reply, click here.
American Cookie, Biscuit and Cracker Tins and Boxes. To reply, click here.
Banjo related advertising wanted Pre-1940s. Long time collector buying banjo company signage, catalogs, billheads, periodicals, minstrel banjo items such as posters, broadsides, sheet music ( pre-1870s ) with illustrated banjo covers, early photographs showing banjo players (pre-1915). My main collecting interest is in 19th century material. To reply, click here.
Antique American Medicine Bottles by M. Knapp... soft cover book with price guide. Printed in 2012. [email protected] or 781-248-8620 also, see my other want ad for Clarke’s ephemera and bottles.
Looking for 3 Vintage Tins: American Eagle "Oriental Mixture" tobacco (dimensions approx. 6.5" long, 2 3/4" wide, 1.5" tall); 1 Gal. Indian Head Hydraulic Brake Fluid; and Packham´s Caramel Toffee. Any offer is welcome and any condition considered. To reply, click here.
Morton Salt, older items, and also Pacific Coast Borax, especially a crate or box. email [email protected] or call Peggy Dailey 612-522-9211
Comic Book-Related Advertising Items: Must be from before 1980. To reply, click here.
Clarke’s Vegetable Sherry Wine Bitters, Sharon, MA & Rockland, ME: All sizes, variants, smooth/pontil base. Especially need labeled Clarke’s any size! Also, any Clarke’s ephemera…trade cards, almanacs, newspaper ads, etc. Charlie Martin Jr., 781-248-8620. Email: [email protected]
George Petty: Advanced collector looking for unique or rare items. Photo’s, store displays and non paper items. NO Esquire pages. Pete Perrault. To reply, click here or call (502) 290-7661.
Ice Cream Advertising: Mr. Ice Cream desires better graphic ice cream advertising including: postcards (Advertising and RPPC), trade cards, letterheads, billheads, booklets, poster stamps, blotters, magic lantern slides, pinbacks, watchfobs, and pocket mirrors. Allan Mellis, 1115 West Montana St. Chicago, Illinois 60614-2220. [email protected] To reply, click here.
Stock food, poultry food, veterinary advertising wanted. Posters, medicine packages, give-aways. Email [email protected] or call (256) 520-5211.
Singer Sewhandy Model 20-Green-regular paint, not hammertone. To reply, click here.
National Biscuit Company, Nabisco, Uneeda Biscuit, Uneeda Bakers, Muth Bakery, NBC Bread toys, signage, tins, containers, displays, historical items. Please Email [email protected] or call (937) 205-2232.
Early Cigarette Rolling Papers: Pre-1940’s - American, Zig Zag, Braunstein Freres, Bambino, and Ottoman papers wanted. To reply, click here.
Antique/Collectible Banking and Financial System "Give-a way" and advertising items. Specifically from Pennsylvania. Alarm devices and such. To reply, click here.
VITAMINS advertising, displays, signs, bottles, and anything related: Hadacol is an example. Most would come from the 1930’s thru the 1970’s. Also anything related to cod-liver oil and WEIGHT-LOSS, REDUCING, ANTI-FAT, and OBESITY ITEMS. To reply, click here.
Early tin signs lithographed by Tuchfarber, Wells and Hope, Worcester Sign Company, Sentenne and Green, etc. I can pay more for good condition, but would be interested in any condition. Don Lurito [email protected] also in the directory. To reply, click here.
Dwinell-Wright Co. Royal Ground Spice Cardboard Spice Boxes. One side displays horizontally. Approximately 3.75" by 2.25". Any type of spice is OK. To reply, click here.
ENSIGN Perfect and ENSIGN Perfection vertical pocket tobacco tins to enhance my collection. Feel free to contact me at 614-888-4619 or [email protected] to see if you can help fill the voids.
Edmands Coffee Company, Edmands Tea Company, 1776 Coffee, American Beauty Tea, Japan Tea, Devonshire Tea, (imported by Edmands, Boston/Chicago): Any items such as tins, signs, paper, or anything else related to the Edmands family of companies in Boston is desired. To reply, click here.
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The AAAA Checkerboard is a monthly e-newsletter that is made available to all AAAA members at no cost. The mission of the Checkerboard is to increase knowledge about antique and collectible advertising among AAAA members. The Checkerboard also provides news and updates about AAAA. It is produced each month with the exception of the four months per year when the award-winning PastTimes print newsletter is published. Paul Lefkovitz ([email protected]) serves as the Editor of the AAAA Checkerboard. Copyright 2021, Antique Advertising Association of America
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