Walkin' the Talk, and Talkin' the Walk.

The Parrot Talks for Itself, and the Poll-Parrot shoes Speak for Themselves, so it's all good!

Double Golden Gleam Nasturtiums

I started with an American Beauty Rose, moved on to Gladiolus, tackled Geraniums, and now I've done some Nasturtiums. Image was from a vintage Sioux City Seed Company packet.

Bronco Buckingham

Bronco Buckingham

Without the invention of the refrigerated railroad car, we wouldn't have - wait for it - Bacon! A fellow by the name of Gustavus Swift promoted the refrigerated rail car to sell his meat and get it shipped safely. The Buckingham brand I copied from a California fruit label - pears, specifically. And yes, there were refrigerated rail cars in 1894.

F. J. Nye Saddle

This piece of billhead was brought to me during Western Art Week this past March. The gentleman wanted me to put a saddle on it, and included another billhead with a vignette of a tooled saddle. I went one better, bought a book from the Montana Historical Society Bookstore entitled: "Saddleries of Montana". In the book on pages 183 and 184 are depicted several black and white engraved images put up as ads for Mr. Nye, and another Helena saddler by the name of Ben Roberts. A little bit of a backstory here: Ben Roberts housekeeper was a young lady by the name of  Nancy Cooper. Nancy would marry my favorite artist, C. M. Russell. A tooled saddle. I'd do another, and will perhaps find some other saddlery paper from the early saddlers.

Harley-Davidson Board Track Racer

Harley-Davidson board track racer on a piece of Indian Motocycle paper. Because I wanted to. It's in its new home. There will be more. I have some Harley-Davidson paper. Perhaps I'll put an Indian board track racer on it. Keep things even so to speak.

James W. Diamond R. Brown

From C. M. Russell's "Wagon Boss"

The possible names that I have and the sources for those names in this image are as follows: The Gilcrease Museum where the original painting resides cites a passage from the book Half Interest in a Silver Dollar: The Saga of Charles E. Conrad. On page 22 "The man in the painting is sitting on his horse as he watches the progress of the wagons up the grade. Art critics believe the man pictured is Ed Trainer, wagon boss for the I. G. Baker Company."

From the CMR Museum Archives: Col #2011.8.3 Box No. Card 6, Frederic G. and Ginger K. Renner Special Collection, Wagon Boss Card No. 2 3429B The Wagon Boss in the painting is"Doc" Freeles of Fort Benton, uncle of Coburn F. Maddox. Originally sold by Nancy Russell to Fletcher Maddox.

The most intriguing name that I found I can attribute to Ken Robison, historian at the Overholser Historical Research Center in Fort Benton. In a two part story for the River Press in 2012, Mr. Robison described a fellow by the name of James W. Brown who was a Civil War veteran, and in part one of the story, his military experiences, including the fact he was wounded three times is outlined. The second part of the story, and the one that I found tells of the most likely subject of the painting, although Charlie could very well have substituted the face of anyone for that of James Brown. The character that was portrayed may have been a combination of gear for the Diamond R, and a subject of Charlie's choice.

James W. Brown came west as a bull whacker in the Summer of 1866, driving a team of oxen and wagon from Nebraska to Salt Lake City. He loaded the wagon with freight for Helena in August, and arrived in Helena in September. Originally working for another business as wagon boss, he engaged with the original Diamond R, owned by John J Roe & Company under the business name Overland Express Company. I'm including an image of a way bill for the Diamond R below.

I've yet to decide what I'm going to put on this one, but it will involve the Diamond R, that's for certain.

Sharps 1874 Big .50 Sporting Rifle

I will start with the subject of this piece first. I found this rifle on an auction site with plenty of close-up photographs and provenance. The site is Collectors Firearms, The serial number is pictured in one of the photographs as #C54634, one of three Model 1874 Sporting Rifles in .50 Caliber shipped from the factory in Hartford, Connecticut. The shipping date is listed as April 24, 1875, and was sent to a the sporting goods dealer Spies, Kissam & Company in New York City. The total cost of all three of these rifles, plus bullet molds and shipping crate was $92.94.

I could have chosen a different Sharps, perhaps one of their Buffalo Rifles, but Collectors Firearms supplied plenty of photographs of this one, and I decided to go with this one rather than one that perhaps would have been used here in Montana - because I LIKED IT.

I have used this rifle before.  In 2016, I used it on a piece of billhead for another early Helena merchant, although this time I'm even more confident that I've used a document that has been authenticated. A Montana gentleman who collects anything Sharps has confirmed that Adolph Birkenfeld was indeed a Sharps dealer, and one of the rifles he owns is listed as being shipped to Mr. Birkenfeld in 1874. The business was at 10 South Main, and the business was still at the same location in 1900. The census for that year lists Mr. Birkenfeld as a Capitalist. He was in the right business!

Timber Cruisers

Timber Cruisers

The original painting, entitled "Blazing the Trail", was painted by Phil Goodwin in June of 1905. He sold the image to Outing Magazine, who had a halftone created to be used as the lead for an article on timber cruisers. In 1911, Brown & Bigelow, a major source for advertising art to be used for calendars and cards, purchased the image for use on a calendar.

A photograph of the original oil painting.

The halftone image produced for the article on timber cruisers in Outing Magazine for 1906.

This was not an easy translation. Some of the details were altered in the halftone, and I struggled to make sense of the foreground in the original because of how dark the original had become. I am more than satisfied with the result, although I will wait to hear from my patron.

Kenworth Badge, 1978

A freight bill for "Freight all kinds" from the Curwood Company in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to Tyson Foods Inc., Spring Dale, Arkansas. This is THE newest piece of old paper I've worked on, and a relative of the owners of Epp Trucking commissioned me to put some appropriate art on it.

Keep on Truckin'.

Buffalo Robes No. 3, THE END

A poem and illustration by

C. M. Russell

THE END

By 1881 when this billhead was completed, the Buffalo had all but disappeared with few exceptions. Charlie Russell arrived in Montana Territory in 1880, and perhaps did see a few small herds on the plains between the Yellowstone River and the Missouri.

When Buffalo Nos. 1, 2 and 3 are matted and framed, I will publish the completed piece. This is for a patron who brought this project to me at the Western Heritage Artists Footprints on the Trail Show at the Holiday Inn this past March.

Buffalo Robes No. 1, June 23rd, 1859

A MEANS TO AN END

From C. M. Russell's Running Buffalo

This is the first of three piece I have been commissioned to do, all of them referring to Buffalo Robes. I have seen advertisements for what were called Sleigh Robes, and I would imagine they were sought after for that reason. These that are being sold by this businessman in Boston would have come to them via an Indian trader on the frontier. They would have come from Indians who traded the robes for trade goods, and in 1859, Indians were the source for the robes. This is a story of not only the paper, but the huge herds of buffalo that were almost gone by the time Charlie arrived in the West.

Horse of the Hunter, Buffalo Brewing Company

This is a piece of billhead for the Buffalo Brewing Company of Sacramento, California. I follow several glass groups on Facebook, including Western Bottle Collectors and patent medicines. I love putting glass on old paper, and I also like putting C.M. Russell's fabulous art on paper appropriate for it. Thanks to a good friend, Daniel Lopez for putting this piece in my hands.

Savage 99

Over the past six years, I have on occasion acquired a piece of paper and lost track of when or where I came to find it. In this case, I had access to more than one example of this rifle, and in the end I had to rely on friends that I've made who provided me with reference photos. The coin is a bit bigger than a Buffalo nickel. This one is headed to the Western Heritage Artists Footprints on the Trail show in Great Falls, Montana, during Western Art Week.

L. C. Smith Hammerless Shotgun

Dated February 1st, 1893, J. F. Gibson apparently did a bang-up business as a gun and locksmith, and he chose a stock engraving for his billhead that included a fine grade carved and engraved L. C. Smith shotgun. Just another example of a piece of paper I've enhanced and I'm taking to the Western Heritage Artists' Footprints on the Trail show and sale in March.

Tietjen's Pet - A Smokin' Bulldog

Tietjen's Pet

This is a commissioned piece from a long-time patron, who first purchased a piece of my art during the Western Heritage Artist's show and Sale six years ago. The name will be familiar to a number of artists that belong to the organization, as Beverly Tietjen was a founding member of the WHA.

By 1895, there were over 42,000 cigar companies in the U.S. Many, like Mr. Tietjen, sold various brands of cigars and tobacco products, but they also manufactured their own. Because of strict regulation of sales by the government, retail outlets could only purchase cigars by the box, and once the box was empty, they had to order a new box. The artwork is phenomenal, and the means by which it is produced is phenomenal as well. There is quite a collectible market for cigar labels - Charlie Russell had his own, and even promoted them in some of his art.

Original document

The above image is what the document looked like before I began to abuse it, somewhat. The erasures and line removes on most of this old paper that I encounter is excellent paper, and stands up to my abuse fairly well. There was a spindle hole on this one, but I'm really uncertain as to why. The pencil can be read, and he signed it in pencil as well, but I am having a hard time determining just exactly what he was seeking from Bateman & Switzer, to whom the note is addressed.

I could do cigar labels until the cows come home, but this one was a pleasure, as it came from my head, and the bulldog is from a brand called Bulldog. So - I copied it. When an original gets copied, it's a sign that the original was well done.

A Topical Trifecta

A year ago about this time, I posted a scan of a billhead from Marshall-Wells that involved my remake of a vintage travel poster. You can look at it here. I had intended to take it to the Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale to hang in my room, but the art and the artist (me) got involved in a bit of a birthday surprise. So, it hung on the wall during the show last year, and I got good reactions to the subject - which involved fishing. That meant that although the piece sold BEFORE I got it to the show, it was just one less piece of art that I had hanging on my wall that I could sell.

I am in a similar situation this year, however, this is at the framers right now, and I intend to hang it in the Lobby Show, that way more eyes will see it, and hopefully it will find a home. I had a LOT of fun with this one. The entire piece is out of my head with a little help from Google.

The reason I titled it A Topical Trifecta is because it involves three very popular topics for collectors, and I enjoy putting them together in one place. And yes, I have fly fished in Glacier National Park, and I didn't go through an entrance to get there and do that.

Bronco Billy visits Virginia City

They loved their fireworks in Virginia City. I have completed several pieces with the same theme, all with various line items for 4th of July celebrations. All are dated in June. In this case, plenty of time to get munitions from St. Paul, Minnesota. This image is a mash up of a package and a label. The label was displayed on the web at a vintage label site. The package had a different label, and I wanted a red package to go with the label.

The above image is the paper before I started removing characters. One hundred and sixty-three to be exact. Slow and steady. I left no holes, despite the thin, brittle paper. You will notice the characters GIANT FIRE CRACKERS. I incorporated them into the art work.

This is the label before alteration to fit the document.

More Fly Paper

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go, and the drive is only ninety miles of Interstate. This is the first of three smaller pieces of Marshall-Wells billhead that is fishing related. Since I sold the larger piece before I had a chance to frame it, I decided to not reveal this one until today. It is mounted in my portfolio which is in my car. The Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale officially starts tomorrow evening, but I always goes a day early to set up and settle in. The gallery rooms are not open until 7:00 PM, but I'll have mine open all day tomorrow. If you are in Great Falls for Western Art Week, I'm offering you an invite!

Sharps Model 1874 .50 Caliber Sporting Rifle

I will start with the subject of this piece first. I found this rifle on an auction site with plenty of close-up photographs and provenance. The site is Collectors Firearms, The serial number is pictured in one of the photographs as #C54634, one of three Model 1874 Sporting Rifles in .50 Caliber shipped from the factory in Hartford, Connecticut. The shipping date is listed as April 24, 1875, and was sent to a the sporting goods dealer Spies, Kissam & Company in New York City. The total cost of all three of these rifles, plus bullet molds and shipping crate was $92.94.

I could have chosen a different Sharps, perhaps one of their Buffalo Rifles, but Collectors Firearms supplied plenty of photographs of this one, and I decided to go with this one rather than one that perhaps would have been used here in Montana - because I LIKED IT.

Realizing that although this billhead was for cartridges and not firearms, I thought for awhile about doing a cartridge box. This was early enough (July 13, 1874) that I really couldn't find anything colorful enough in cartridge boxes to do this piece of paper the injustice of picturing a plain old box.

After a visit to the Montana Historical Society Research Center, I discovered exactly nothing about the Koenigsberger Brothers. I also did a web search for the brothers and found the following entries in the San Francisco Directory for 1867:

HOENI<;SieEK<;EgC BKOTIIEK!^(/'Vr(h°na7id, Philip, anil Schastidii), manufacturers cigars and importers tobacco, 218 and 220 Battery Koenigsberger Ferdinand (Koeniysberger Brothers), dwl 803 Ellis Koenigsberger Philip (Koenigsberger Brothers), dwl 803 Ellis Koenigsberger Sebastian (Koenigsberger Brothers), res Helena, Montana.

Although a bit cryptic, it does make mention of Sebastian in Helena in 1867. The key element to this entry is the fact that the brothers manufactured cigars. They would have been in business at 30 Main Street in Helena through at least July of 1874, for that is the date on the billhead.

Fly Paper for the Fly Fisherman

Another piece off of the drawing table and headed to the Footprints on the Trail, Western Heritage Artists Show and Sale. Opening on the 16th of March, I intend to leave this one unframed for the show. This piece is dated the 16th of February, 1904, sent from Marshall-Wells Hardware Company in Duluth, Minnesota, to C. W. Rank and Company in Virginia City, Montana. I've not had a bit of trouble finding new homes for the four previous pieces of 'fly paper' I've completed, and I don't think I'll have a problem finding a new home for this one either.

The above image is of the top of the piece which I thought it best to include in this post, as well as the dimensions: It is eight and one half inches wide by fourteen inches tall, and would display nicely in a frame.