AAW Stock No. 119 "The Life Saver"

General
Not counting politicians (Roosevelt No. 47, Alton Parker No. 50), union leaders (John Mitchell No. 43 and the religious figures (Leo XIII, No. 39, the monk from No. 40), "The Live Saver" is the only design in the whole Coshocton catalog that spotlights a profession or occupation. It is unclear why American Art Works chose to highlight this particular profession at this time. Certainly fire had been a serious safety concern for both residential and commercial entities, particularly with the growth of cities and industrial factories. A little digging reveals serious fire incidents in major cities in the early 20th century that claimed numerous lives. American Art Work’s predecessor, Tuscarora Advertising suffered a major loss of stock and production facilities (but no lives) back in its early days.

At the dawn of the century, fire fighters often worked 84 hour weeks and 24 hour shifts without the safety equipment available today. Fatalities were common. Like factory workers, fire fighters were still considered unskilled labor and salaries were low. Although a few locals had formed and associated themselves with the American Federation of Labor, the formation of a national union didn’t occur until 1917 when AFL-CIO president Samuel Gompers helped create the International Association of Fire Fighters.

The yearly salary for a fireman was set at $740 and volunteers were to be paid “…$1 a day when they work.” According to US Government sources the average salary across all industries at the time was $574 a year and $699 for state and local government workers, so the Coshocton salaries were pretty attractive for the three full time positions (the Chief’s salary was set at $840).

This design does not appear to be based on a work by an external artist and Sahling has no entry in his workbook for this design.

Size & Shape and Advertising Placement
All of the tray examples we’ve encountered of this design have been 13” concave pie shapes with black rims and gold advertising. The only one example we have run across any with advertising text on the face is the one for Aberdeen Brewing of Aberdeen, Washington. We have never encountered any tip tray or sign versions of this design but have seen paper-based color lithographs from the Silver Spring Brewery; Victoria, British Columbia, although these appear to later productions.

Hager & Price
Hager does not discuss this design but includes it in his introduction date table and in his catalog. All of the examples we have seen have been from breweries with the exception of Hagan & Travers May Brook Whiskey. Examples in better than average condition seem to achieve four figure sales prices and even less than average examples achieve strong mid-three figure prices.

The growing city of Coshocton experienced two significant industrial fires in early 1906, including one at the Pope-Gosser China factory, causing the city council to approve the creation of a “modern fire department” with paid professional firemen. Up until this time the fire department appears to have been an unpaid volunteer force. The creation of the fire department included the purchase the George Senft property at the intersection of 8th and Walnut Streets for $3,000 and passage of an ordinance that assured a complete fire system, to include complete building, alarm system and equipment. Fire alarm boxes were installed throughout the city (as in many cities).