Bidding ends on Monday for this incredible 140 year old piece of history. Don't miss the chance to own this historic sign advertising the BEER that would become one of the best selling in the entire world!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252225846529?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-21/the-world-s-top-10-beers
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Family Sells Vintage 140 year old Anheuser Busch Beer Sign
RARE Vintage Anheuser Busch Beer Sign ROG (Bubble Glass) Sign - Advertising Gold Leaf.
Within one-week, ebay buyers will determine if this extremely rare piece of american history will fetch a record breaking price. This breweriana vintage bubble-glass style R.O.G. (reverse on glass) Anheuser Busch advertising sign hasn't seen the light of day for many decades.
Take a look-
This was obviously not an inexpensive piece to produce, and we think it's either extremely rare or even one-of-a-kind as we have not been able to find anything similar during our research. (I've looked through probably 1000 + old bar photos on-line trying to find one like this hanging on a wall) Experts - Anheuser Busch Corporate ; please feel free to share ides if you know otherwise.
The style of the frame and bubble-glass (to our eye at least) is Victorian, so the date would match well with the "look" of this incredible piece of craftsmanship.
The piece measures a large 32" high x 21" wide to the outside edge of the frame.
The frame looks to be made of hand shaped copper (a magnet does not attract/attach and it is soft and pliable) and the slag glass is in original UNBROKEN condition with the exception of one small piece (clearly shown in photo). The frame has a small hole punched in it as well as a small tear (as shown in photos).
Portions of the paint are obviously missing but, miraculously, the 140 (plus) year-old bubble glass is NOT CRACKED or chipped and you can clearly see the original wording!!
We're assuming a professional artist/sign painter will be able to restore this sign if that's what you'd like to do, but the gold leaf remains fairly intact (and must have cost a pretty penny-- even 140 years ago.)
We believe that this sign was given to our grandfather "Jumping Joe" Savoldi (Notre Dame All-American running back for Knute Rockne, pro footballer w/ George Halas' Chicago Bears, World Champion pro wrestler/originator of the DROPKICK, and WWII Special Ops Navy Seal O.S.S Italy//France) in about 1942 when he owned a beer distributorship covering parts of Michigan and Indiana. (Red Top and Barbarossa). At the time, he was living in Harbert Michigan and must have valued the sign highly to have kept it after they moved out of Michigan in 1956 and until his death in Kentucky in 1974. His wife Lois then kept the sign in Kentucky, and later Florida, until her death in 1998. In 1998, our father, Joe Savoldi III, (an only child) inherited the sign and we inturn inherited it when he and our mother passed away in 2009.
If you want to know more about the sign's owner, Joe Savoldi, you can look him up here-
...and about his famous "dropkick" here-
...and Anheuser Busch here-
...and Budweiser here-
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