Exceptional Artifact & Collectible Auction
Lot 14:
1923 Original Western Super X Store Display “Saving the Day"
This is an original 1923 Western Cartridge Company advertising display board featuring the artwork Saving the Day by illustrator A. Russell. It was produced as a store display for hardware stores gun shops and sporting goods counters and is mounted on the original 1/4 inch advertising board used by Western during this period. The artwork shows a classic hunting cabin scene with harvested duck hunting game hanging by the window a loyal dog tugging at the blankets and a box of Western 12 gauge paper shot shells on the floor. It is a strong example of early American sporting life advertising.
This 1923 display board comes from the very beginning of Western Cartridge Companys Super X era. The Super X line was first introduced and advertised in 1922 making this piece part of the earliest wave of promotional material for what would become one of the most iconic shotshell brands in American sporting history. Early Super X advertising is scarce and surviving store display boards from this period are even harder to find. For collectors of vintage ammunition early Western advertising or Winchester Western history this example represents an early and desirable artifact from the launch of a product line that would dominate the market for decades.
In the 1920s a scene like the one in Saving the Day showing two men sharing a bed in a hunting cabin would have carried no homosexual implication. It reflected the practical realities of the time when space was limited heat was scarce and men commonly shared beds in cabins bunkhouses and work camps without any social meaning attached. The image would have been understood simply as two hunting partners oversleeping in cramped quarters a familiar and humorous situation to the audience Western Cartridge Co. was advertising to. While modern viewers might interpret the scene differently people of that era would have seen nothing unusual or suggestive about it.
Dimensions are 16 1/4 inches by 12 3/4 inches by 1/4 inch thick. Artist is A. Russell with printed signature. Manufacturer is Western Cartridge Co. Date is 1923. Medium is printed artwork mounted on heavy advertising board. Condition shows age appropriate wear consistent with a 1920s store display piece.
Condition: Authentic
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