vmtrevino2
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 334
- Location
- Houston
Very coolI recently won these on eBay, thinking they were ads cut from a printed source, but imagine my surprise when I discovered they are original artwork, most likely from Robert A. Holmes' advertising department at Crofut & Knapp. The time frame is 1917 to perhaps early-1927, though more likely early-1920s.
I'm not sure whether they were used in newspapers or magazines, or what was their intended audience. They may have been mockups, but I don't yet know enough about the early-20th century advertising process to be sure. The first one is ink and perhaps charcoal, with some white grease pencil. The second one is ink. Most C&K/Dobbs ads of this style also included a bit of descriptive text, and these don't have that. It's possible they may have been for generic advertising cards to be sent out to national retailers, but the address wasn't normally included on those. Another oddity is that on the first piece, "Company" is spelled out, instead of abbreviated. This is a rarity in the company advertising. I wish I knew the artist, but they aren't signed.
View attachment 34832
View attachment 34833
This name and address is on the back of the large ad, but a quick Google search has not yielded any information. It could be the artist or just somebody in the approval process. Who knows?
View attachment 34834
Brad
~The Hatted Professor
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk