Advertising collectibles include an unlimited number of subjects, many with large followings. Signage, posters, calendars, paperweights, etc. are obvious promotions of a product or business and its brand (such as “Transportation Advertising” that involves oil, tire or automobile companies and their products). But any product, in any sphere, can itself serve as an advertisement especially through the use of enticing labeling. Moreover, and important to the advertiser, decorative containers might be saved long after the product was used.
The “Golf Queen” brand of perfume and related feminine products (powders, toilet water and soap) was developed by Theodore Ricksecker. He is credited as having established the first American perfume company, offering its initial fragrance in 1868. The most popular scent became the “Martha Washington” starting in 1884. Ricksecker achieved particular prominence after winning awards at the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris. His “Golf Queen” brand, released in 1903, took advantage of the cachet associated with the relatively new sport of golf and its perceived connection with elegance and high society.
The brand was promoted by the fashionable hand-fan pictured, free samples of talcum powder in small envelopes, trade cards and by labeling that proclaimed such products are patronized by “Two Presidents of the U.S., The Imperial Family of Japan and The Russian Embassy in Paris.”
This crossover advertising product can appeal to golf collectors and perfume bottle collectors alike.
