Lindbergh Air Mail

This is a First Day Cover for the 10 Cent Air Mail stamp released to the public four weeks after Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic. It is believed that although he was offered $1,000 to carry a small package of mail, he declined because of his concern for weight. It is also believed that he did carry a total of five covers, and only two of those have ever come to market.

There was a huge surge in promotions of Lindbergh's name on everything from a dance to cookies, but the National Biscuit Company didn't create a Lindy Snap. This piece is what is called a Corner Card, carrying the name of the business in the upper left hand corner of the envelope serving as a return address. The image is taken from a cigar box label under the company name of Mazer-Cressman of Detroit, Michigan.

Now that this piece is finished, it's flying off to the patron who commissioned it.

Uneeda Biscuits - School Days

My first OLD PAPER of 2013.

Back in June of 2009, I depicted the Uneeda Biscuit Boy on a piece of National Biscuit Company billhead from the same address as this piece. At the time, I was unconcerned about the underlying printing on the form interfering with my image. That was then - this is now.

I'm beginning to be more picky about what stays and what gets erased. before I start. This one was complicated, but since it is good paper (it even has a NBC watermark) I can reinforce the paper with archival repair tape and still have enough surface left to lay the art work on it where it needs to be.

I've done two pieces of NBC paper with the Uneeda Biscuit boy on them, although the second was on NBC letterhead. This piece of billhead was actually 8 1/2 X 13 inches originally. Business owners would trim the billhead so as to conserve on paper, saving the trimmed portion for other uses.

The piece is dated 9-11-06. All of the baked products, including the Uneeda Biscuits, were produced on site. I've given the history of the building in a previous post with an image of Zu-Zu the clown, who was the advertising icon for another NBC product - Ginger Snaps.

The box itself is the basic image that Frederick Stanley (the artist who painted the original Uneeda Biscuit Boy) had to work with. There is a description of the painting HERE, at Robert Edward Auctions, which also describes the box that he had to create separately and affix to the painting.

Uneeda Biscuits and Last Chance Whiskey

It's taken me well over a week to get all of my Thank You's done for those whom I consider patrons. These folks like what I hung on the wall at the Western Heritage Artists show in Great Falls, Montana, last month during Western Art Week. Not only did they like it, they decided to hang it on their walls instead of mine. You can follow the story of the Biscuit Boy in this previous post, and this one as well.

As I've been doing the Thank You's in the order in which they were purchased, I'm also doing the same with the images I post of the Thank You's themselves. This one was particularly sweet. It hung in the Juried Lobby show with a little RED dot on it the entire time. I've also posted about this piece as well.

As I hear from the folks who received their Thank You's, I'll post more of them. It'll keep me busy for a bit.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did doing them!

Uneeda Biscuit Boy

In October of 2009 I was struggling to find paper. Although there was a lot of NBC paper available on eBay,  I was more interested in finding paper from their factory here in Helena. This particular piece was glued into a ledger which I examined over a year ago. It was the first piece of NBC letterhead I'd ever seen.

If you compare this piece with the Biscuit Boy I completed in 2009, you'll see that I wasn't as concerned back then about letting the printed portion of the document remain visible through my image. I'm going in a different direction these days. Although it's time-consuming to eliminate the printing where it interferes with my art, the results are well worth the effort. I don't know how long this will last. I'm using an ink eraser that was available years ago, and has now become a collectible. Any of you paper artists with suggestions, my ears are turned on.

I failed to identify the artist of this image in 2009. I started looking for more of the history, and I discovered an archived listing at Robert Edward Auctions that's worth the read. Although his name is misspelled in the lot description, his name was Frederick Stanley.

This is actually the first piece that I sold at the Western Heritage Artists show in Great Falls during Western Art Week. I didn't need the Biscuit Boy's rain slicker until we were packing up on Monday last to drive home. Good weather, despite the fact that we usually get snow around St. Patrick's Day. My paddle was in the water the entire time. I don't have a timetable for posting the rest of the art and the Thank You's that are going to be done. 

The Monkees, The Boxtops & The Animals

I remember them all. I thought about the Circus a few times when I was doing this piece, but The Monkees didn't jump rope, Eric Burdon & The Animals didn't cut their hair, and The Boxtops - well, I'll never forget The Letter.

There are a couple of other products that the National Biscuit Company produced, but for the moment - I have no more Nabisco paper.

Uneeda Biscuit Boy #1

Another fabulous marketing marvel from the folks at Nabisco. Just where did the Biscuit Boy come from? The Uneeda Biscuit was the first use of the In-Er Seal packaging. The In-Er Seal package was a combination of waxed paper and cardboard, guaranteed to get mom's biscuit and cracker purchases home to her even in a driving rainstorm. Before Uneeda Biscuit was introduced by National Biscuit Company in 1898, crackers (and biscuits) were sold unbranded and packed loosely in barrels. Mothers would give their sons a paper bag and ask them to run down to the store and get the bag filled with crackers. National Biscuit Company used this as part of their Uneeda Biscuit advertising symbol which depicts a boy carrying a pack of Uneeda Biscuits in the rain. In 2009 (after over 110 years) Nabisco discontinued the Uneeda biscuit out of concern that the product was not as profitable as other product lines. What a shame. After discovering all there is to know about Uneeda, Ineeda Biscuit. Uneeda was also one of the first product names that used a compound, made up word.

This paper is once again a piece that came from the only biscuit factory in town, and the building, or at least the first two stories, still stands.

GINGER, ZNAPPY!

We had a Cracker Factory in Helena. As a matter of fact, we had more than one. The National Biscuit Company, now known as Nabisco, filled an order for the C. W. Rank & Company Mercantile in Virginia City, Montana, in late November of 1899. Included on this order were Zu Zu Ginger Snaps. You can see that line item just above the first 'Zu' on the face of the box that Zu Zu is sitting on. I found this nice advertisement for Zu Zu Ginger Snaps on the web.

Zo... Deliver Zome Zu Zu'z and make it Znappy!!! And let it Rain, of course - they were packaged in the famous waxed paper In-er-seal!