Here is a Graupner’s Beer Bottle Sign from the Graupner Brewing Company located in Harrisburg, PA. This Graupner’s Beer Bottle Sign is from between 1933 and 1935 and is in remarkable condition considering how old it is.
The sign was made by the Permanent Sign & Display Company located in Reading, PA. It is approximately 9.5″ by 27.5″ and is made of lithography on metal wrapped on a cardboard backer. Signs like these would have hung vertically on the walls of a tavern or displayed with the easel on the back on a bar back display. The graphics on the sign depict a labeled Graupner’s X-Tra Fine Beer Bottle with text across the top that reads “Deserves the Name” along with an NRA logo (National Rifle Association) logo just below.
From a condition standpoint, I find it interesting that the maroon background has heavy alligator-crazing probably from where it was stored in a hot environment like an attic; except for a few small areas to the left at about 10 o’clock. These areas where the crazing is less looks almost like a handprint, as if the last person to handle this sign back in the 1930s might have had grease on their hands which helped to preserve the paint from where they handled the sign.
I am actually looking for a cleaner example of this sign to add to my collection; please contact me if you have one and are interested in selling it.