Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco
by Priscilla Burgers
Title
Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco
Artist
Priscilla Burgers
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
CHEW MAIL POUCH TOBACCO by PRISCILLA BURGERS
Layton Country Store and Cafe greets visitors to Layton, New Jersey with a classic Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco sign on its exterior wall. Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco advertisement signs were painted on one or more sides of buildings from 1890 to 1992 for the West Virginia Mail Pouch chewing tobacco company (Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company), based in Wheeling, West Virginia. At the height of the program in the early 1960's, there were about 20,000 buildings, mostly baarns, with Mail Pouch advertisements spread across 22 states. The signs, usually hand-painted in black or red with yellow or white capital lettering, read as follows: "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco Treat Yourself to the Best." Sometimes they have thin vertical blue lines on the left and right. Initially, building owners were paid between $1 and $2 a year for the advertisement, equivalent in 1913 dollars to about $20-$40 today. More importantly, they received a much desired fresh coat of paint to preserve the integrity of the wood. Mail Pouch painted their message on one or two sides of the building (depending on viewability from the roadway) and painted the other sides of the building any color the owner wished. Many of the buildings were repainted every few years to maintain the sharp colors of the lettering.
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FAA Featured Photo:
Signs Group - 5/9/2017
Uploaded
April 29th, 2017
Statistics
Viewed 352 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/26/2024 at 9:42 PM
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