Self-framed Riz La Tin Advertisement Sign, ca. 1910
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GUEST:
They came out of a warehouse of a fine furniture store in Billings, where I live, and it was just kind of thrown in a corner with things that were going to be discarded. It had some water damage on it. It had some tar on the glass and on the frame. And the furniture company was going out of business, and they were cleaning out the warehouse, and, um, it was going to be thrown in the trash. And my brother-in-law thought it was too beautiful and nice to do that, so he took it home with him, and his wife cleaned it up, took the tar off, and they really didn't have a place to store it, so she let me have it in my home for a while, and that's where it's been.
APPRAISER:
Great. That's great. So, it was actually snatched from the jaws of death.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
It's a wonderful advertising piece.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Around 1915-1920 period, maybe a little bit earlier. When it comes to antique advertising, condition is of paramount importance, and you did mention some water damage, which we can see along the top here. There is some water damage. However, the good news is, it really doesn't affect the image. It's in the margin or the solid color, so it's not affecting the image. The other really good thing about this piece is, although I believe it's been repainted, it is the original frame, because right at the bottom is the name of the company. It says "Riz La" right along the bottom. So it's basically what is called self-framed. This is a self-framed advertising sign. Very popular in the period, and the great part about this is, you have a really, really nice, attractive image. You know, cigarette and tobacco collectibles of late are not as popular as they once were. However, that's more than compensated for by the great image that you have. If I had this at auction, based on condition, all the factors in mind, I would probably put an estimate conservatively of $1,200 to $1,800.
GUEST:
Well, that's fantastic. I never had a clue it'd be worth that much.
APPRAISER:
Had it not been repainted in the frame, and not the water damage, I probably would have pushed the estimate up to $2,000 to $3,000.
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