Circa 1910 Home Run Cigarettes Advertising Poster

Sold For:

$11,162

Year:

1910

Auction:

2008 Spring

Lot #:

1339

Category:

Post-1900 Baseball Memorabilia

Circa 1910 cardboard advertising poster for "Home Run Cigarettes" features a batter and catcher in full color with a pack of "Home Run Cigarettes" serving as home plate. This classic full-color lithographic advertising poster is one of the rarest and most impressive of all 1910-era generic baseball advertising pieces. This is a particularly well known piece in the general antique advertising collecting world, and has a higher profile in that collecting field than in the baseball collecting world. The advertising display is also featured in several books on classic American advertising lithography. This is one of only a handful of known examples. The poster (12 x 18 inches), which is produced on extremely thick stock (rigid and approximately one-quarter inch thick), displays a number of minor flaws consistent with its age, fragile nature, and former use including light soiling, minor abrasions and creases, tiny border tears, and a few insignificant tiny areas of color touch-up in the green of the grass (really minor and of no consequence). The colors remain strong and vibrant, and the piece displays beautifully. Of special note also is that the wood frame is original to the piece. This is how it was originally issued by Home Run Cigarettes for display in retail tobacco establishments, and because of this, the frame is really a part of the advertising display. Total dimensions: 13.5 x 19.5 inches. Reserve $500. Estimate $1,000/$1,500. SOLD FOR $11,162.50