This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/30/2023
From the early days of professional baseball, tobacco companies had capitalized on the sport’s popularity and featured the game prominently in their advertising campaigns. Because most advertising pieces were meant for display in stores and replaced when a new campaign was launched, most of the colorful advertising pieces were simply thrown away. That is why it is a special treat to find that one of those advertising pieces has survived, and in as wonderful shape as this example. Produced for the Sure Shot Tobacco Company circa, 1910, this piece features a batter preparing to swing with a lavishly detailed ballpark scene behind him. This piece is actually the center panel of what was originally a triptych; the left panel depicting a catcher and the right showing a pitcher going through his windup. The Sure Shot logo fills the upper part of the golden yellow frame above a rendering of the company’s tobacco packaging. The piece retains its original bright colors and shows some light toning from age. There are some surface scratches and light staining on the main image and edges show the expected chipping and scuffs inevitably found on century old advertising displays. The panel has been professionally mounted and framed in a floating shadowbox frame to maximize the display beauty of this piece.