Circa 1934 Dizzy And Daffy Dean Beech-Nut Tobacco Advertising Display
Dizzy Dean and his brother Paul (Daffy) were the pitching core of the 1934 "Gas House Gang" St. Louis Cardinals - one of the most famous teams in baseball history. Before the season Dizzy said, “It ain't braggin’ if you can do it... Me and Paul'll win 45 games this year.” Dizzy won 30 and Paul 19 on their way to a World's Championship.
This large and spectacular full color store display features Dizzy Dean and his brother Paul endorsing Lorillard’s Beech-Nut Tobacco. The stone lithography illustration pictures the famous siblings standing side by side in their Cardinal uniforms, each with a hand outstretched holding a baseball. The backdrop consists of a large baseball glove with a package of Beech-Nut Tobacco nestled in the pocket. “A Great Chew” is printed along the bottom in bold blue letters. The offered display is among only a handful of its kind in existence with the majority being either heavily restored or well-worn due to their size and purpose. Discovered around 2010 in an Ohio attic as part of a modest find of vintage advertising, this example is among the finest specimens known. Its long dormancy in the dark and climatized attic space helped preserve its vibrant original color and structural integrity. Only a general cleaning and minor inpainting to small areas of surface wear were administered by one of the industries elite paper conservators. The quality of the modest restoration work renders it nearly imperceptible and the piece exhibits an excellent to near mint appearance. The depiction of pre-war baseball’s most popular and charismatic siblings along with the brilliant graphics and its grand dimensions combine to make this one of the most appealing baseball advertising displays ever created. A genre defining artifact that exceeds every standard by which such objects are measured. Approximately 31” by 42”.
