Breakfast Brownie Doughboy

Pillsbury has their doughboy, so I think Breakfast Brownies Cereal can have theirs too!

There is little known about the Breakfast Brownies Company, and not a whole lot more about the Brownie Baking Company, except that they were not one and the same. The Breakfast Brownies Company was incorporated in 1919 in Montana, and although the officers were not all in or from Helena, the cereal was milled in Minneapolis and packaged here in Helena. Just exactly where in Helena I cannot determine, although I do know where their office was located.

I have seen a cardboard case for the cereal, a stock certificate, as well as one sample box and a dozen metal plates for print advertising. One of the plate images is the source for my Brownie Doughboy.

I acquired several pieces of letterhead for the Brownie Baking Company, whose bakery was in Spokane, Washington. I do know that the Brownie Baking Company was once the Tru-Blu Biscuit Company, because I have seen five real photo postcards of the factory, and the message side of the card has the Tru Blu logo printed on it. Research on the web reveals very little about the company, other than the fact the factory bakery building is still in use – not as a bakery, but it's now artist studio space.

I decided to put the Breakfast Brownies Doughboy on this piece of Brownie Baking Company letterhead because they had one thing in common – they both used the images of Brownies to sell their products. Note the Brownie in the lower left corner of their letterhead. I've never done this sort of thing before, but my chances of ever finding a piece of Breakfast Brownies paper are slim and next to none.

Well? Do you think this piece of advertising art would fly up against the Cocoa Puffs of the cereal world?

 

F. J. Nye Saddle

This piece of billhead was brought to me during Western Art Week this past March. The gentleman wanted me to put a saddle on it, and included another billhead with a vignette of a tooled saddle. I went one better, bought a book from the Montana Historical Society Bookstore entitled: "Saddleries of Montana". In the book on pages 183 and 184 are depicted several black and white engraved images put up as ads for Mr. Nye, and another Helena saddler by the name of Ben Roberts. A little bit of a backstory here: Ben Roberts housekeeper was a young lady by the name of  Nancy Cooper. Nancy would marry my favorite artist, C. M. Russell. A tooled saddle. I'd do another, and will perhaps find some other saddlery paper from the early saddlers.

Sharps 1874 Big .50 Sporting Rifle

I will start with the subject of this piece first. I found this rifle on an auction site with plenty of close-up photographs and provenance. The site is Collectors Firearms, The serial number is pictured in one of the photographs as #C54634, one of three Model 1874 Sporting Rifles in .50 Caliber shipped from the factory in Hartford, Connecticut. The shipping date is listed as April 24, 1875, and was sent to a the sporting goods dealer Spies, Kissam & Company in New York City. The total cost of all three of these rifles, plus bullet molds and shipping crate was $92.94.

I could have chosen a different Sharps, perhaps one of their Buffalo Rifles, but Collectors Firearms supplied plenty of photographs of this one, and I decided to go with this one rather than one that perhaps would have been used here in Montana - because I LIKED IT.

I have used this rifle before.  In 2016, I used it on a piece of billhead for another early Helena merchant, although this time I'm even more confident that I've used a document that has been authenticated. A Montana gentleman who collects anything Sharps has confirmed that Adolph Birkenfeld was indeed a Sharps dealer, and one of the rifles he owns is listed as being shipped to Mr. Birkenfeld in 1874. The business was at 10 South Main, and the business was still at the same location in 1900. The census for that year lists Mr. Birkenfeld as a Capitalist. He was in the right business!

L. C. Smith Hammerless Shotgun

Dated February 1st, 1893, J. F. Gibson apparently did a bang-up business as a gun and locksmith, and he chose a stock engraving for his billhead that included a fine grade carved and engraved L. C. Smith shotgun. Just another example of a piece of paper I've enhanced and I'm taking to the Western Heritage Artists' Footprints on the Trail show and sale in March.

Tietjen's Pet - A Smokin' Bulldog

Tietjen's Pet

This is a commissioned piece from a long-time patron, who first purchased a piece of my art during the Western Heritage Artist's show and Sale six years ago. The name will be familiar to a number of artists that belong to the organization, as Beverly Tietjen was a founding member of the WHA.

By 1895, there were over 42,000 cigar companies in the U.S. Many, like Mr. Tietjen, sold various brands of cigars and tobacco products, but they also manufactured their own. Because of strict regulation of sales by the government, retail outlets could only purchase cigars by the box, and once the box was empty, they had to order a new box. The artwork is phenomenal, and the means by which it is produced is phenomenal as well. There is quite a collectible market for cigar labels - Charlie Russell had his own, and even promoted them in some of his art.

Original document

The above image is what the document looked like before I began to abuse it, somewhat. The erasures and line removes on most of this old paper that I encounter is excellent paper, and stands up to my abuse fairly well. There was a spindle hole on this one, but I'm really uncertain as to why. The pencil can be read, and he signed it in pencil as well, but I am having a hard time determining just exactly what he was seeking from Bateman & Switzer, to whom the note is addressed.

I could do cigar labels until the cows come home, but this one was a pleasure, as it came from my head, and the bulldog is from a brand called Bulldog. So - I copied it. When an original gets copied, it's a sign that the original was well done.

Sharps Model 1874 .50 Caliber Sporting Rifle

I will start with the subject of this piece first. I found this rifle on an auction site with plenty of close-up photographs and provenance. The site is Collectors Firearms, The serial number is pictured in one of the photographs as #C54634, one of three Model 1874 Sporting Rifles in .50 Caliber shipped from the factory in Hartford, Connecticut. The shipping date is listed as April 24, 1875, and was sent to a the sporting goods dealer Spies, Kissam & Company in New York City. The total cost of all three of these rifles, plus bullet molds and shipping crate was $92.94.

I could have chosen a different Sharps, perhaps one of their Buffalo Rifles, but Collectors Firearms supplied plenty of photographs of this one, and I decided to go with this one rather than one that perhaps would have been used here in Montana - because I LIKED IT.

Realizing that although this billhead was for cartridges and not firearms, I thought for awhile about doing a cartridge box. This was early enough (July 13, 1874) that I really couldn't find anything colorful enough in cartridge boxes to do this piece of paper the injustice of picturing a plain old box.

After a visit to the Montana Historical Society Research Center, I discovered exactly nothing about the Koenigsberger Brothers. I also did a web search for the brothers and found the following entries in the San Francisco Directory for 1867:

HOENI<;SieEK<;EgC BKOTIIEK!^(/'Vr(h°na7id, Philip, anil Schastidii), manufacturers cigars and importers tobacco, 218 and 220 Battery Koenigsberger Ferdinand (Koeniysberger Brothers), dwl 803 Ellis Koenigsberger Philip (Koenigsberger Brothers), dwl 803 Ellis Koenigsberger Sebastian (Koenigsberger Brothers), res Helena, Montana.

Although a bit cryptic, it does make mention of Sebastian in Helena in 1867. The key element to this entry is the fact that the brothers manufactured cigars. They would have been in business at 30 Main Street in Helena through at least July of 1874, for that is the date on the billhead.

Goodkind Brothers Metropole Whiskey

We'll begin this post with a little history.

Brothers Abraham L. and Edward I. Goodkind, and Meyer and Charles Wise operated a wholesale wine, liquor, and cigar business in Helena, Montana, from 1890 or 1891 until 1896 when the Wise brothers left the business. The Goodkind brothers continued their operation until Edward died on May 11, 1916. The preceding is directly from the Montana Historical Society Research Center.

This is my first finished piece of 2016, and I intend to submit this piece for the Lobby Show at the Western Heritage Artist Show and Sale beginning on March 16, 2016, at the Holiday Inn in Great Falls, Montana.

It is a back bar bottle with fluted shoulders and base, and although I have not seen this particular bottle, I have seen a similar bottle belonging to one of my first patrons. I used a photograph as a model for this piece, and the image was borrowed from another patron and original owner of this bottle.

The letterhead is dated 22 April, 1914, and the letter concerns the shipment of whiskey barrels to be returned to Goodkind Brothers from a Mr. E. M. Smith. I am not certain how this letterhead was acquired, but I assume it came from ether the C. W. Rank or S. R. Buford establishment records in Virginia City.

The Goodkind Brothers building still stands at the corner of 6th Avenue and what is now known as Last Chance Gulch. When this letterhead was originally printed, the street was called Main Street, and was indeed THE main street of downtown Helena. The building is now the beginning of a two block long walking mall that extends South on the gulch to Broadway, which roughly parallels 6th Avenue East and West.

Urban Renewal frankly decimated downtown Helena, and eliminated some of the rich historical buildings. This one survives.

Sugar Coated, Nickel Plated Ceegars

The Morris Brothers were here in Helena so early their business didn't even have an address, save for Main Street. This is a piece of billhead/letterhead that I acquired by trade from a patron who purchased one piece of J. H. McKnight paper from me, and commissioned me to put my art work on another similar piece which he supplied.

The only thing that the Morris Brothers didn't sell was whiskey, although I doubt that the whiskey was very far from their front door.

Brackman's Grocers

This building is not at 1429 Helena Avenue. The actual address WAS 102 6th Avenue, which is the Northeast corner of 6th and Jackson. It was rendered from a photograph taken in the 1930's, and a very clear photograph it was. The building still stands, although the brickwork has been stuccoed over, and the entrance to the building is now on Jackson. As a matter of fact, the photograph was so good I could actually read the broadsides on the side of the building, but found it almost impossible to render them clearly enough to be readable. I was amazed that there would be an advertisement for a rodeo in Chinook, being that the rodeo grounds would have been at least 240 miles up the road. Also of note is the sign on the West side of the building advertising Klein & Bourne Flour, which would have been a locally produced flour. I have seen a label for Brackman's Mayonaise, produced and sold on the premises. History!

Borsalino - Good enough for Charlie Russell

In the previous post I covered a little bit of history regarding Borsalino Hats, but I neglected to tell you a little about Giuseppe Borsalino, the founder of this world famous hat company.

One of the first, if not the first industrialist of any stripe in Europe to have a pension plan AND health insurance for his employees, his hats went worldwide fairly rapidly. He went from learning how to make a hat in France in the early 1850's, to employing over a thousand people in his single factory at the turn of the century when he died. The company continued to grow (and stayed in the family), and by 1913 employed over twenty-five hundred workers turning out literally millions of hats.Why would that be important?

If you want to produce a quality product and have many someones do your "work" for you, the best way to insure success is to pay them like you want them to stay. Cheap labor is easy to find, but a worker who is not paid fairly will not produce a quality product. It's the same in any game.

Greg and Madge Allen own the only REAL Men's clothing store in Helena, Montana. They sell women's clothing as well (the Sheila's part), but I despise shopping for clothes at the Big Name stores. This business is Brick and Mortar. It's on Last Chance Gulch. It feels like the Larson's Clothing store in Shelby, Montana, where I purchased my clothes as a young man.

I won't reveal the Borsalino I'm now wearing, except to give you a couple of hints: Where did Giuseppe learn to make hats? What does a properly attired French artist wear?

I won't make you guess.

Borsalino, By George!

An over-sized stiff cardboard mailer is the foundation for this piece of NEW mail art. It came from the Borsalino office in New York, but I'm thinking perhaps that Borsalino sent out their catalogs in this mailer. I did not question the proprietor of the only real Men's (and women's) clothing store here in Helena, but I never look a gift horse in the mouth. Inside the mailer was a small advertising card which is a reprint of a poster or perhaps a window card for - Borsalino Hats.

I had to remove the three stamps that were on this mailer and replaced them with three Birds of Prey stamps. The mailer required $1.90 in postage, but I simply overfranked it so that a meter strip wouldn't be used. I like stamps. I actually wish that the Bogart stamps would have pictured him in his fedora - which was a Borsalino, but alas - The stamp salvage from the sheet does show him in his hat, but I didn't know if anyone would make the connection with the mailer.

The Borsalino lettering is embossed - quite dramatically, but it was white just as is the rest of the mailer. Rich looking by itself, but I dug out my Gold leaf supplies and spent an hour remembering how to use PVA for the gold adhesive before I touched it. I actually got the entire lettering out of three leaves of the gold. I know it doesn't look too dramatic the way it reproduces, but this was one I had to share.

The chair, hat, cane and gloves are from another old Borsalino advertising poster.

The Parrot Talked - and Walked! PFF #54

Back in November of last year, I posted an image of a Parrot Confectionery receipt - with an image of a  Poll-Parrot Shoes bookmark with which I had "enhanced" the old paper. This Parrot wasn't eating peanuts in my room at the Western Heritage Artists show the middle of March. It flew the coop like the little guy in the return address.

This is the Thank you I sent to a couple of folks who now have Breakfast Brownie Doughgirl and The Walkin' Talkin'  Good Tastin' Chocolate Bookmark.

I'm also in the game today for Postcard Friendly Friday, my 54th. If you like to look at mail art, hop on over to Beth Niquette's The Best Hearts Are Crunchy where she plays hostess for the day.

C. M. Russell Shoots Pool

In September of last year I posted an image of a single-striped number 9 Hyatt pool ball on a piece of letterhead from a Chicago business by the name of Hubbell & Grote. The letter itself was interesting enough that I had a difficult time sizing the ball so that sense could be made of the letter. I'm not just in this game to put the art on a piece of paper without allowing the paper to tell its story as well.

The story was not a very long one, but the folks to whom this Thank You is addressed found it to be interesting enough that they decided to take it home. Why is Charlie parked next to the pool ball? Well - Because they are also C. M. Russell fans, and this one of Charlie with a pool cue in his hands was just the right touch.

Uneeda Biscuits and Last Chance Whiskey

It's taken me well over a week to get all of my Thank You's done for those whom I consider patrons. These folks like what I hung on the wall at the Western Heritage Artists show in Great Falls, Montana, last month during Western Art Week. Not only did they like it, they decided to hang it on their walls instead of mine. You can follow the story of the Biscuit Boy in this previous post, and this one as well.

As I've been doing the Thank You's in the order in which they were purchased, I'm also doing the same with the images I post of the Thank You's themselves. This one was particularly sweet. It hung in the Juried Lobby show with a little RED dot on it the entire time. I've also posted about this piece as well.

As I hear from the folks who received their Thank You's, I'll post more of them. It'll keep me busy for a bit.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did doing them!

Last Chance for the Goodkind

Last Chance for the Goodkind

Some history would be appropriate at this point.

Brothers Abraham L. and Edward I. Goodkind, and Meyer and Charles Wise operated a wholesale wine, liquor, and cigar business in Helena, Montana, from 1890 or 1891 until 1896 when the Wise brothers left the business. The Goodkind brothers continued their operation until Edward died on May 11, 1916. The preceding is directly from the Montana Historical Society Research Center.

This particular billhead is dated October 12, 1903. I have seen (and have in my possession) some Wise & Goodkind paper, but this piece was of particular interest to me because of the label.

I've had in my possession, albeit not for very long, two pieces of Goodkind Brothers billhead.  I had the good fortune of finding a local patron who willingly sold me a piece of Goodkind paper, and then loaned me a small whiskey bottle that still had the label affixed. I took it home, shot photographs of it, and then returned the bottle. A week later, I completed the art work, showed it to him, and he purchased it. It never made it into a frame.

While at a brick and mortar antique shop in Chinook, Montana, several months ago, I was shown two original Goodkind Brothers labels. The shop owner was willing to make copies of both of the labels, but I had to commit to NOT sharing the copies with anyone, especially on the web. I returned home with the copies, and contacted the fellow who had the bottle I had already used, and he provided me with a pint bottle (a flask) that had a pewter screw-on cap. He also gifted me two other bottles, one in amber and the other a beautiful fluted shoulder bottle, both of them dug locally.

The studio process involved more than one step: I had to do some touch-up work on both of the labels, and I had to size them appropriate to the bottles. I finished and published the results of the Royal Club Rye Whiskey flask which you can see here, if you haven't seen it already.

The second was a bit more complicated. The provenance for both of these labels is impeccable, although I have no idea, nor does anyone else, if these labels were ever used. Bottle collectors, or even collectors of lithographic labels would probably be able to determine if there are any other copies of these labels out there in private hands. They both came from a printer's book which had numerous labels pasted into it. From the additional markings on the label, my guess is that the label was used, or at least printed.

I've tried to stay as true to the original label as I could, because I did want to give the viewer the impression that the label indeed is a real label on a real bottle.

This piece may be a keeper. I have one other piece of Wise & Goodkind paper, and I know where there is at least one other piece of Goodkind billhead that is the same size as this piece. I also know where there is a smaller piece of their paper with a vignette of their building on the corner of Sixth and Last Chance Gulch (now known as Main Street) here in Helena, and the building still stands. I have forty hours of work on this piece, and that's no joke - I kept track. Working on it was like working on one of my cacheted covers, but I also had to make it look like the real thing. The label really does tell the story of placer mining as it was done, and I wanted to make certain that it looked right. The artist that did this label knew what placer mining was about, and depicted it quite well. The background also looks like a local stream, which makes the whole thing seem to shout MONTANA.  Enjoy. It was a labor of love.

Walkin' The Walk, Talkin' the Talk

Have you ever heard of the International Shoe Company? Neither had I, until I started doing some research on a bookmark I'd seen, while looking into a piece of brilliant advertising ephemera on Inherited Values. This site is dedicated to "Antiques and Vintage Collectibles, NOT by the book". I thought that Deanna Dahlsad, (the author of the article about bookmarks) actually had her tongue in her cheek, given the aforementioned tag line I found when I hit their Home page. She didn't have a lot to say about the bookmark she'd chosen to highlight in her article (actually an interview with a bookmark collector), but it was a Parrot. A Poll Parrot to be exact. More about the Poll Parrot bookmark later in this story.

Several weeks ago, I published a post about another bookmark fan by the name of Michael Popek. He has a blog called Forgotten Bookmarks. As he works in the family's Antiquarian Bookstore, he has ample opportunity to find what others leave behind in books of every stripe. A couple of weeks ago, he published a book, and I covered that in this post.

Long before Michael had decided to publish a book, he had posted a piece of billhead, and the top line item was Baby Ruth Candy Bars. That post is a good example of what I really enjoy about the people I meet on the way to acquiring my old paper. The receipt was dated 1934. It was used. It was high time it was recycled, and I was the guy to get that done. Michael gave it to me. For the asking. He got a Thank You.

Bookmarks are good. Good for books, and good for my art! How good? This post will give you some idea about books and bookmarks and how I find a steady source, helping me put my love of history and art together.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in The Parrot Confectionery, talking to the owner, Brian Ackerman. Brian let me have some billhead - both old and new, but unused. I like the kind that have served their purpose, whether the business owner used a typewrite or wrote it out in long hand, because it's still richer in history than a pristine piece of  letterhead or billhead. Every piece of Parrot paper that I had previously received from him I'd put in new homes. I knew I wanted to do more of the Parrot that "Talks for Itself", so I asked Brian if he could let me have a few more pieces of the "old paper". He let me have some of it.

I was no sooner home and sitting at the computer looking for my old templates for the Parrot and doing a little bloghopping, when I came upon the Poll-Parrot bookmark. Which started my research journey - What do shoes that "Speak for Themselves" and Parrot Chocolate that "Talks for Itself" have in common? A lot.

In 1911, Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoes merged with the Peters Shoe Company and became the International Shoe Company with office in St. Louis, Missouri. Apparently, St. Louis was the home for more shoes than you can shake a walking stick at. About the same time that International was taking over shoes businesses (there were others), Paul Parrot was busy making shoes - in St. Louis - as well. In 1922, International bought Mr. Parrot's business, right down to the soles. Oh yes - they took at least one cue from Paul - he had a talking Parrot in his shoe store, and it was a very popular advertising "gimmick". There's currently all kinds of Poll Parrot ephemera floating around in the vintage collectibles market - anything from whistles and buttons to Radio Programs? For real. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention Howdy-Doody. Poll Parrot Shoes sponsored Howdy-Doody. Yup. I'm surprised International didn't convince Howdy to introduce his Poll Parrot friend. A Parrot Puppet. Someone to talk to, you know - Puppet to Puppet.

I digress.

The Parrot Confectionery began business in the same location in downtown Helena in 1922, the same year International began marketing Poll Parrot shoes. I don't know if Poll Parrots were sold in Helena, (we did have a Buster Brown), but we did have The Parrot. An old functioning soda fountain. Booths. A Wurlitzer jukebox. And Parrots. Lots of them. The also have the Avian equivalent of the Turtle - The Parrot. Oh Yes - A facebook page.

The Parrot I've placed on The Parrot billhead is slightly twice the size of the original bookmark - which I've seen and touched. The owner would not sell it. It was die cut (the curved line around the tail) so the only thing that would be sticking out of the  book would be the Parrot's head. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet besides getting it matted and framed. The Parrot isn't talking.

Goodkind Brothers Whiskey Bottle

In November of 2009, I posted an image of a piece of Goodkind paper upon which I had depicted a small bottle with a Goodkind Brothers label still affixed. Usually with bottles this old which had paper labels on them, the labels don't survive.

I have in my possession scanned images of two different Goodkind Brothers labels. The provenance for these labels is unquestionable, but to say that they were ever used on whiskey bottles is an entirely different story. They came from a sample book of a lithographer who not only produced labels of this type, but also labels for various other products as well.

This bottle should probably be called a flask. It does not stand on it's own all that well. It's a 'dug' bottle which was recovered locally. The owner graciously allowed me to borrow this bottle and the pewter cap, and he also gifted me two other larger bottles upon which I'm going to place the second of the Goodkind Brothers labels. Just like this one, I'll fill it with Ancient Age whiskey, take photographs of it to use for models, and then I'll post the image of the finished product.

Owney - Postal Mascot PFF #48

Owney gets his dog tags

The United States Postal Service issued a Forever stamp on July 27th honoring a dog who 'adopted' Railway Mail Service mail bags - as his home - beginning in Albany, New York, in 1888. If you are interested in learning more about Owney, and how he came to acquiring so many tags that he had to have a special vest constructed by order of the Postmaster General, you can visit the official USPS Beyond The Perf  site for the entire story.

The short version is he rode in Railroad Post Office cars all over the country and became the Railway Mail Service clerks unofficial mascot, and now has a home in the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.

Several months ago I received an invitation to submit a First Day Cover of the Owney stamp to be included in their permanent collection centered around Owney. I have been to Washington, D.C., but I didn't have a chance to visit the museum, so I can't tell you much about it.

In 1995 I created a First Day Cover for the POW/MIA issue. A pair of dog tags were pictured on the stamp and I chose a Montana man named Lee Nordahl as my theme, and I pictured his dog tags on a bamboo cross over a map of North and South Vietnam.

The use of dog tags to serve as identification of soldiers predates Owney, and the use of metal tags as we know them today dates back to the Second World War. You can read a short history of dog tags at this official site.

The POW/MIA issue dog tags immediately came to mind when I received the invitation from the National Postal Museum to submit a First Day cover honoring Owney. I know he didn't have a set of dog tags like the pair I wore, so I decided to create a pair just for him. Rather than include the city name of Albany, I substituted the serial number which would ordinarily be included on the tags with the Zip Code for Albany, NY, Owney's "home".

Make sure you stop by Beth Niquette's "home" The Best Hearts Are Crunchy to view more more wonderful pieces of mail art on Postcard Friendly Friday.

Breakfast Brownie Doughgirl

Breakfast Brownie Doughgirl

Original newsprint advertisement

Luckily, the newsprint advertisement print block that I used as a model for this piece didn't go to the dogs!

There is little known about the Breakfast Brownies Company, and not a whole lot more about the Brownie Baking Company, except that they were not one and the same. The Breakfast Brownies Company was incorporated in 1919 in Montana, and although the officers were not all in or from Helena, the cereal was milled in Minneapolis and packaged here in Helena. Just exactly where in Helena I cannot determine, although I do know where their office was located.

I have seen a cardboard case for the cereal, a stock certificate, as well as one sample box and a dozen metal plates for newspaper print advertising. One of the plate images is the source for my Brownie Doughgirl.

I acquired several pieces of letterhead for the Brownie Baking Company, whose bakery was in Spokane, Washington. I do know that the Brownie Baking Company was once the Tru-Blu Biscuit Company, because I have seen five real photo postcards of the factory, and the message side of the card has the Tru Blu logo printed on it. Research on the web reveals very little about the company, other than the fact the factory bakery building is still in use – not as a bakery, but it's now artist studio space.

If you are interested in seeing my earlier version depicting the Brownie Doughboy which I completed in September of 2010, you can see it HERE. The Doughboy image was also taken from a newsprint print block.

I decided to put the Breakfast Brownies Doughgirl on this piece of Brownie Baking Company letterhead because the companies had one thing in common – they both used the images of Brownies to sell their products. Note the Brownie in the lower left corner of their letterhead. I've never done this sort of thing before, but my chances of ever finding a piece of Breakfast Brownies paper are slim and next to none.

The Parrot - Talks for Itself

When I went searching for old paper over a year ago this past January, The Parrot Confectionery was one of the first places I stopped. Brian and Kelly Ackerman had purchased the business from the Duensing family, and were in the process of learning what they needed to know about the chocolate business. I inquired about old letterhead or billhead, but was discouraged to hear that the Duensings had no letterhead, and the billhead was destroyed to eliminate information such as credit card numbers to protect the privacy of their customers. The business itself is one of only two businesses on Last Chance Gulch here in downtown Helena that are still in operation in the same location since 1922.

Walking into this candy store is like walking back in time. There is a Wurlitzer juke box, booths and a real soda fountain. They make all of their own chocolate and it is all displayed in five foot high glass cases.

During my first brief visit with Brian I offered to design a piece of vintage letterhead that they could use for special occasions in exchange for several of them that I could put my art work on.
Brian agreed to look at whatever I came up with, and he finally settled on the lettering that you see on their web site. I did not do the parrot, but the design outfit that created their logo did, since the one that I had done was not in color.

In going through the old papers in the office, Brian discovered several pieces of old billhead from the fountain, and he gave them to me. This is the last piece that I have, as the other two have since gone to new homes.