AAW Stock No. 110 "Rose of Killarney"

General
No. 110, with its clearly Irish association, seems to be an odd design in an era where most brewers in America were still of German descent and anti-Irish sentiment still ran strong. So who did American Art Works intend this design for? Interestingly, aside from stock samples, every example we’ve seen of this design has been from the Star Brewery in Portland. R and Vancouver, WA, which made us wonder why they would be interested in a design clearly tied to Ireland. Brewery owners at the time this design would have been issued seem to have been the typical Germans. However, according to the excellent brewery profile at https://www.brewerygems.com/ Portland was one of their primary markets and according to the Oregon History Society “Irish laborers migrated to Portland in the 1870s to lay railway tracks, dig sewers, work on the docks, and build roads. Irish immigrants migrated to Morrow and Lake counties to work as shepherds or on cattle ranches. According to the 2000 census, nearly 12 percent of Oregon’s population is of Irish ancestry.” So, it appears there was a substantial Irish market in Oregon which may explain the appeal of this design for the Star Brewery.

Rose of Killarney was a late 19th century love ballad that would have been well-known when this design was issued. It is about an idealized lovely young woman with a true heart, obviously whom the young woman in the design is meant to represent. In addition, the pink roses in the vase are meant to be examples of the Killarney Rose, a thornless pink rose. A less likely source is the somewhat obscure Aline: Rose of Killarney a play by 19th century actor and playwright Edward Stirling, which was an adaptation of Gaetano Rossi's Linda di Chamounix, an operatic melodrama... Stirling was nothing if not prolific; he published around 200 works for the stage, many being adaptations of works by popular authors, notably Charles Dickens, Walter Scott and Harrison Ainsworth, often within days of the novel's publication

Sahling has no entry in his workbook for this design, which carries a signature of Wm McEntee (1857-1919), known for his portraits of "belle epoque" elegantly attired females, and illustration. There are several stock designs for American Art Works and other manufacturers credited to him.

Size & Shape and Advertising Placement
The few examples we have encountered have all been small oblong trays (11x14, no other sizes or sign examples have been observed. Rims are black with gold advertising text.

Hager & Price
Hager does not discuss this design, include it in his date table, or have it in his catalog. We suspect that he never encountered an example. We’ve only seen this design a handful of times and only have pricing information on the several Star Brewery examples we’ve seen, which are mid-three figures but not as high as one would expect for such a scarce design.