Apr 13, 2023 - Sale 2633

Sale 2633 - Lot 147

Price Realized: $ 750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(PRESIDENTS--1908 CAMPAIGN.) Design for a "cane-banner" for Theodore Roosevelt's presumed re-election campaign. Two items: typescript carbon with ink and pencil corrections, signed in type by G.A. Beidler, 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches; and ink drawing, 24 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches, with printed portrait of Roosevelt affixed. Both with folds and minor wear. Oklahoma City, OK, June 1907

Additional Details

This banner was designed to roll up and slide down into a hollow cane, allowing it to be carried and unfurled with ease. The typescript description is headed "Campaign Cane-Banner for 1907 and 1908, Just Out." It promises "the latest and best campaign device and novelty ever invented, and the greatest hit and winner of the age." The projected production cost was 15 cents, and "no campaigner or old comrade would object to paying a dollar." The accompanying drawing shows three potential uses: for Civil War veteran parades, for the display of an American flag, and as a banner for a presidential candidate. The example shown has an image of the sitting president Theodore Roosevelt "for president 1908." Roosevelt soon decided not to seek a second full term at that time.

George A. Beidler (1842-1921) was a Civil War veteran and retired postmaster. He had served as a lieutenant in the 106th Illinois Infantry, which he used as one of his examples in the drawing. On 19 February 1907 he received a patent on this "campaign device," using a different drawing. These two documents are from his attempt to market his invention.