Heard it through the Grapevine

Picture Perfect!

There are lots of good stuff to view in the auction world; here are a few

Found by Ralph Finch

Among antique advertising recently offered July 31 by Morford’s, of Cazenovia, N.Y., were a few items that caught my eye, or my odd (and fertile) interests:

Lot 1: 20.75 by 14.75 inches. “Outstanding, very early museum quality tin litho sign for Dr. Crook’s Compound Syrup of Poke Root patent medicine, w/ beautiful lithography by Tuchfarber & Moellmann (research shows lithographer no longer used this wording in their name after 1872). Clean, bright and exceptionally nice. Framed.” It sold for $4,700. (Prices do not include the 18 percent buyer’s fee.)

Dr. Crook products could cure all pain and all “blood issues.” Even pimples. (Where was this when I was 14?)

With a little research I found an ad in the Dodgeville (Wis.) Chronicle dated Sept. 27, 1872, for the well-named Dr. Crook: (Some parts were unreadable):

“lO YEARS —OF A— Public Test Has proved DR. CROOK’S SYRUP OF POKE ROOT. It has the medicinal property of Poke combined with a preparation of Iron which goes at once into the blood, performing the most rapid and wonderful cures. Ask your Druggist for Dr. Crook’s Compound Syrup of Poke Root. Take it and be healed.”

Lot 38: Size: 6-1/8 by 8-5/8 by 2.5 inches. “Scarce, blue variation die-cut tin litho advertising toy featuring man in Moxie plaid jacket and hat driving Co.’s Moxiemobile vehicle. Clean, bright and displays very nicely, w/ minor faint waving and some light oxidizing on wheels. It sold for $2,600. Lot 66: 1-3/8 by 12-1/8 inches in diameter. “Outstanding, scarce, early tin litho serving tray for Deacon Brown Co.’s (Montgomery, Alabama) phosphate sodas, w/ stunning multicolor graphics. Clean, bright and exceptionally nice appearance (display side like new), w/ exception of a couple non-detracting minor small speckle spots.” It sold for $8,200.

Lot 94: 7.5 by 2-5/8 inches (diameter.) “Unusual, early advertising bottle for Eau De Cologne, w/ beautiful looking curved multicolor glass label. Bottle and stopper both have a gnarly, deeply embossed faux tree trunk composition bark like material over the glass. Excellent overall.” It sold for $350! (That stinks! It sounds like I missed out on a bargain.)

Lot 135: 17 x 14.5 x 9 inches. “Neat and unusual, early figural papier-mache advertising display for “Corn Fix” brand corn treatment product, featuring great trademark happy feet characters. Front display side is very nice overall w/ attractive original paint surface (C. 8+/-), w/ some light staining on backside. Has very early, primitive light bulb electrical fixture inside w/ attached cloth cord that is for making its large, great looking glass eyes light up.” It sold for $1,550.

Lot 139: Here is something I need for my collection of fertilizer signs (honest): Measuring 10-1/8 by 36 inches, a “Nice, early, wooden painted sign for White’s Barren Island Fertilizers. All original, w/ a nicely weathered, lightly soiled untouched dry paint surface, giving it a nice primitive country look.” Holy crap! Selling for a mere $450, I should have bid on it.

A little research revealed (edited) the stinky truth: “New York City’s sanitary reforms of the 1890s were significant because for the first time every street was cleaned and all neighborhoods had regular trash collection. Since the 1850s, com-

Lot 1

Newspaper ad for Dr. Crook's Wine of Tar. "It is rich in the medicinal qualities of tar" and cures many ills.

Heard it through the Grapevine

panies on Brooklyn’s Barren Island, in the western portion of Jamaica Bay, converted offal and animal carcasses into grease and fertilizer. This system was expanded to accommodate the waste flows created by the city-wide sanitation reforms. The industry was established when Barren Island was unpopulated and isolated but the eastward growth of the city made the waste industry increasingly unwelcome even as the city depended on it for financing trash collection.

“Although there were other rendering plants elsewhere in New York City, Barren Island was clearly the center of the industry. Dead Horse Bay on the west side of the island was named for the many carcasses unloaded there.

“Shortly before the 1870s, the firm of P. White’s Sons won a contract with the Board of Health for removing dead animals from the city’s streets. The primary product of the company was the material recovered from the rendering process. In one five-day period in August of 1896 the company removed 1,256 dead horses from the streets of New York. The company had its own pier on the Hudson River and two steamboats to carry carcasses to Barren Island. By 1909 the facilities on Barren Island annually disposed of 19,000 horses, 380,000 dogs and cats, 1,000,000 pounds of condemned meat, 80,000 pounds of poultry, 3,500,000 pounds of fish, and 5,000,000 pounds of offal.

“In 1885, P. White’s Sons, managed by Thomas F. and Andrew J. White, were described as ‘manufacturers of Barren Island Fertilizers, Superphosphate of Lime; Dried Blood, Bone and Meat, &c.’ It maintained an office on Peck Slip in Manhattan and a small plant near New Brunswick, N.J., but had its main plant on Barren Island. They had no shortage of raw materials in the form of blood, bones, and meat, as their company controlled the dead animal and offal contracts for both New York and Brooklyn. In addition to the fertilizer sold under the name ‘Farmers’ Pride,’ the company manufactured a number of specialty fertilizers including sulphate of ammonia, dried blood, and dried fish scrap. P. White’s Sons also sold horsehair, hides, glue stock, tallow and grease.”

Lot 94

Lot 38

Lot 135

Lot 66

Lot 139