Checkerboard

January, 2023

• 2023 AAAA Convention
• Top This! Collecting Bottle Displays and Toppers: Part II
• Signs from the Collection of Robert and Mary Ann Ray: Part II
• Gifting Your Collection
• SACKS General Store Recognized by Antique Trader
• Wanted Items

The 2023 AAAA Convention will be held at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in York, Pennsylvania from Wednesday evening, July 19 to Saturday morning, July 22. The hotel is located in an exciting region noted for its numerous antique malls and stores.

The convention registration will cost $130 per person, which will include all convention activities and several banquet meals. The discounted hotel room rate is $124 per night for a room with one king bed and $134 for a room with two queen beds, plus tax. Parking will be free.

As always, a busy schedule of activities will keep you amused and entertained the entire Convention. Seminars, room hopping, silent auction, shared banquet meals, games and raffles, and more will make for a memorable experience. The Ice Screamers, a national group of ice cream and soda fountain collectors, will once again conduct their national convention in conjunction with our event and we will participate in some of each others' activities. We will also be joined by our friends from the Graniteware and Treasures for Little Children groups.

Alan Petretti will be the featured seminar speaker, reprising his wildly popular appearance at last year's AAAA Convention in Dublin, Ohio. The topic of his presentation this year will be "The World of Soda-Pop Art". In addition to sharing his expertise with us as the pre-eminent authority on Coca-Cola and soda-pop collecting, he will reveal another side as an accomplished visual artist.

In fact, Allan has created an absolutely stunning original work of art in honor of the 2022 AAAA Convention in York! It will be revealed on the cover of the March issue of PastTimes. Allan will personally gift this original work of art, framed, to a lucky raffle winner at the Convention! Adding further to the excitement, each paid-up AAAA member who registers to attend the 2023 Convention will receive a free 11” by 14” print of this gorgeous “York” art-work, suitable for framing. It will be professionally printed on an offset press on glossy, coated cardstock and packaged in a transparent sleeve. The prints will be distributed at the Convention, complements of the AAAA Board of Directors. Allan will also will be exhibiting examples of his original artwork for attendees to enjoy and/or purchase.

Registration for the convention will open up in February. Look for details and registration forms in the February issue of the Checkerboard and the March issue of PastTimes. There will be one important change in the registration process this year. Registrants will make their room reservations directly with the hotel--not through AAAA.

Click here to send any questions you might have to Paul Lefkovitz, Convention Coordinator.

Editor's Note: Last month's issue of PastTimes included an article authored by Allan Petretti, entitled: "Top This! Collecting Bottle Displays and Toppers". In this companion article, Allan provides a fascinating gallery of additional bottle displays and toppers.

Editor's Note: Last month's issue of PastTimes included an article that featured the sign collection of Robert and Mary Ann Ray. In this follow-up article, a beautiful gallery of additional signs is provided. Images are not to scale. All measurements include the frame.

J. Hungerford Smith Co., Rochester, New York, 20" x 15",

Kettering, Phila and Rochester, N.Y.

Seal of North Carolina, A. Hoen Co. Litho, Baltimore, 16.5" x 12"

Lowney's Canadian Soldier Buttons, trolley car candy sign, 26" x 16"

Shredded Wheat, trolley car sign, 27" x 17"

Christmas Club Radio Program, 27" x 17"

My history as an antique advertising collector started about 50 years ago when my father passed. He was the son of the oldest brother of the three Nash brothers who started in business in Devils Lake, ND in 1885. In 1925, the business evolved into the Nash Finch Company. The first acquisition was Caldwell Coffee Company in Minneapolis and they changed the name to Nash's Coffee in 1925 also. The firm continued until 1959 when it was sold to coffee importers and the brand continued until 1963. I never worked for the business but it was always an important part of my family history.

As I entered my 80's and we were looking at other living arrangements, I decided that it was time to stop collecting. The question then was, "What to do with 750 items that I had displayed in our lower level townhouse"?

I had given away duplicates of lesser condition items previously, so I contacted a couple of county historical societies and asked if they were interested in more items. Of course, I explained, they would pay nothing for them and it would work for both of us! They were very happy to take me up on my offer.

I also took another step. Nash Finch had about 50 warehouses in six Midwestern states. I contacted the county historical society in each of those locations and asked if they might be interested in starting a collection of products carried by past wholesale grocers in their city--at no cost to them. It turns out I was never turned down!

I then shipped an assortment of items to each location. I provided dating information about each item included. I also sent a short history of Nash Finch in their city-- when they started and when they closed, as times changed. (Today there are only 4 distribution centers to supply the six state grocers!)

My donations included the company private labels as well as Nash's Coffee items. Private labels were No-Vary, Our Family, Golden Valley and Buy 'n Save.

The county historical societies were happy with their new acquisitions. My wife and I were also happy. When we moved, I only had one box of prime items that I just could not bear to give away!!

Other collectors might want to consider this avenue for dispersing portions of their collection. Items gifted will add to the history of the communities that produced them and will be appreciated by future generations of local residents.

SACKS General Store was honored by Antique Trader Magazine in their "Best of 2022" article. The article recognized "some of their favorite events, auctions, and people of a remarkable year."

SACKS General Store is an eye-popping collection of antique advertising and more that was assembled by AAAA members Chuck and Sherry Krull. They were joined at the hip for years in their labor of love as they put together this enormous and incomparable museum-quality collection. It is truly a sight to behold!

SACKS General Store was featured in the June, 2020 issue of AAAA PastTimes, which led to an impressive cover article in the April 1, 2022 issue of Antique Trader Magazine (photo right). Very sadly, Sherry passed away this past November, in the words of the Antique Trader Editor, "leaving a void not only in the hobby but in our hearts." AAAA extends its deepest sympathies to Chuck and his entire family at this time of sadness. Sherry will be missed by many.