Cardboard Advertising Signage
will always be collectable and hold a very high premium
Over the past century or so, advertising signs could be found outside and inside. They could be proclaiming a new product or simply attracting customers to an already established one. Some signs provided information or even warnings, but nearly all had some commercial connections or at least the hint of something for sale. They differed from traditional advertising posters in that they usually were much more durable (typically a fairly heavy cardboard), and were normally far less dependent upon time as a significant factor in their message.
More often than not it was bright colours and striking images of children, animals, or the products themselves that attracted the attention of the passer-by. Starting with the last quarter of the 19th century, they had different names and even slightly different uses. They were known as banners, counter cards, hangers’ placards, store cards, site-of-sale cards and various titles. They could vary in size from six or eight inches to several feet. The one thing most of them had in common was the same narrow purpose of attention attracting advertising. They were not sold, nor were they given away as a premium (unlike their kid sister trade cards)
The fact is they were nearly always thrown away to make room for other advertising signs. Nearly always, but not always.
During the 1870's and 1880’s a natural leader in the medium of advertising was on paper were the companies which sold patent medicines. For various social and economic reasons, patent medicine store signs were very popular for a time in North American.
Would be customers also saw a growing number of other products on advertising signs; soap, sugar, tobacco, firearms, and whiskey. Moreover, signs offered a wide assortment of other attractions from hardware supplies to railroad transportation. For those who could read, and perhaps even more importantly for those who could only understand drawings and symbols, brand names began to take on major significance from Baker's Chocolate and Colgate, to Waterman's Pens and Winchester Arms. By the 1880's handful of leading companies were spending as much as $100,000 annually on paper advertising around the country.
Early in the 20th century, advertising signs and more elaborate display signs began to play a larger role in retailing. The advances of lithographed printing added to the colour and attractiveness of such signs as they did with other printed advertising.
Around 1910 the Piedmont Company issued a stunning three sided "crowd in the ball park" display sign promoting cigarettes and the interesting little baseball cards which came with them. The 60 by 40 inches display illustrated the cards of ten different players including Honus Wagner. it was the Wagner card that later became one of the most sought-after baseball cards of the 20th century. The Piedmont display has also become a very sought-after item. On August 3, 2022, a Honus Wagner card sold for $7.25 million in a private sale, breaking the record for the most expensive card.
Retail stores in the 1920's offered advertising signs for the likes of Crescent pliers and Brinly Plows.
Manufacturers made use of bright letters on lightly coloured but heavy cardboard stock for most of the signs.
The 1930's saw the greatest assortment of advertising signs thus far in history. Even the blandest of retail and grocery stores offered dazzling arrays of cardboard symbols from Donald Duck Butter Creams Candy and Palmolive Soap to Dutch Boy Paint and First Aid the "orange fruity flavour" soft drink. Entertainment also became a factor in advertising sign investments with radio shows like Tom Mix, Chandu, and Fibber McGree and Molly, appearing in cardboard form along with their radio show sponsors.
Movie goers mean while were treated to advertising standees in blazing colours such as Looney Tunes cartoons in the lobby of theatres. In some case’s the artwork of well-known commercial artists, such as Lucian Bernard for Rem cough medication, was added to the growing parade of colourful advertising signs.
During the war years of the 1940's many ad signs were devoted to bond sales and 'war loan' causes. Frequently they were gaily decorated in patriotic colours and slogans. School children were depicted in various signs including those for GE Mazda electric light bulbs.
Animated characters also made more and more appearances on cardboard for commercial firms like the Kool Penguin for Kool Cigarettes and Elsie the Cow for Borden dairy products. In the 1950's there were character connections with television show sponsors such as Colgate Dental Cream and Howdy Doody, another star-related sign promoted footwear with a photo of Lucille Ball and a mention of her latest movie, Sorrowful Jones. Additionally soft drink producers like Coca-Cola and Seven-Up used several full colour cardboard signs to link their product with the simple joys of pie, ice cream, grilled cheese, or a hamburger. Green Spot Orange Drink used healthy and happy children on their product signs.
Topics for advertising in the 1960's extended to Sealtest Ice Cream, Piels Beer, Old Crown Ale, UpTown soft drinks, and Rayette for professional hair care. In 1962, Jello featured baseball legend Mickey Mantle on a site-of-sale sign promoting their product and accompanying trading cards.
In later years, presidential candidate Jimmy Carter appeared on a store sign promoting Playboy magazine and his famous interview with that publication, and no less than the Three Stooges clowned in grocery store signs on behalf of Hostess bakery products.
The good new for collectors and would-be collectors is that colourful advertising signs are still today very desirable and command a very good premium after more than a century they are very much in use from Kellogg's Corn Flakes in the grocery aisles to Movie Cards in the theatres.
