This section of the site features some of the more interesting trays that I
have come across over the years. As time permits, we will include more
information about the trays pictured on this page.
Brucks was another Cincinnati brewery that produced through the
1940's.
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Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana
Trays
The Budweiser factory scene tray
dates to around 1900. This tray shows the enormity of the St. Louis
Anheuser-Busch brewery factory even back 100 years ago. This is one of the few
trays that have been reissued. Side-by-side they are easy to tell apart. The old
beer trays were made using the lithography process while the newer reproductions
were made with a silk screening process. A close look at the surface of the
reproductions will reveal a cloth-like texture. The walls of the factory scene
reproduction tray are straight and almost perpendicular to the tray's floor
while walls of the original are curved and at a slight angle to the floor. The
Anheuser-Busch trays often list the date of reproduction on the back of the
tray.
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Missouri, Kentucky, and Nebraska
Trays
There was no end to the variety of tray designs. Two of the trays below
use monks to sell their products. Monks were long famous for brewing beer in
their abbies in Europe.
The Fredericks Brewery of Chicago produced this interesting tray
in the late 1930's. It reflected the old German influence by displaying an old
German Shepard. Companies often played up their German heritage because of the
long-standing reputation of German beers. With the onset of World War II they
tried to play down their German connection. A large number of breweries had a
more patriotic theme such as this the tray from the Scheidt brewery of
Norristown, Pennsylvania.
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Minnesota and Wisconsin Trays
The Knapstein tip tray is from the New London, Wisconsin- a
brewery that lasted until prohibition.
The George
Brehm & Son brewery is from Baltimore and lasted from 1866 through
prohibition.
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