Winter 2014 Auction Closing Feb 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2014
In 1933, the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. introduced a new mentholated cigarette under the brand name, "KOOL." It was very popular, as this writer witnessed his father smoking them day after day. Like any son, I wanted to emulate my father, but luckily, in that one regard I didn't want to be as "Kool" as he was. The 1930s was a tobacco producers dream. Everybody back then smoked. To get the public hooked on their product, one of the elements in their advertising blitz was this imposing paper ad display, providing a line score for the 1933 World Series. In this contest between the Washington Nationals and the New York Giants, the Giants prevailed in a five game series. This advertising piece was designed to prompt the World Series baseball fan to indulge in a smoke break while listening to the games over the local tavern's radio. This piece is highly colorful, with its bold yellow background, and bright red 15-cent price circle. Due to this ad we find that Kool Cigarettes were "cork tipped" and mildly mentholated." Of interest to our political friends is the small announcement in the display's lower right that the sponsor supported the "NRA," President Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Act. The line score component of the 36" x 13-1/2" ad piece has not been involved in the active scoring of any of the five games; and there are a few creases plus areas of light wrinkling, none which greatly affect the magnificent display qualities. Despite these issues, the piece grades EX to EX/MT in appearance. This is not only a baseball collectible, but also delves into the realm of the political arena, and tobacco pop culture with the debut of an iconic trademark of KOOL. This tremendous display piece is framed to a dimension of 38 x 15-1/2 inches.