M&B Stock No. 136 "Her Loyal Friends"

General Comments
Clearly the “Loyal Friends” in this design are the horse and the dog, who appear to be sympathizing with the young woman who apparently has received some sad or unwelcome news in the letter she is holding. Although we cannot find a specific literary reference, it can easily be imagined as a typical scene from an Edwardian era (or the Gilded Age as it was known in America) romance novel.

Dogs have long been referred to as “man’s best friend,” aluding to their millennia-long history of close relations, loyalty, friendship, and companionship with humans. The first recorded use of a related phrase is by Frederick the Great of Prussia (he supposedly said one of his Italian Greyhounds was his best friend) and has since become a common colloquialism. . It was likely popularized by its use in a poem by Ogden Nash below:

Although technical it doesn’t qualify as 'doggerl' (Crudely or irregularly fashioned verse, often of a humorous or burlesque nature), we have to say it’s a pretty awful example of poetry. Before the 19th century, breeds of dogs (other than lap dogs) were largely functional. They performed activities such as hunting, tracking, watching, protecting and guarding; and language describing the dog often reflected these roles—viscous, ravenous, watchful. By the 19th century and flourishing in the 20th century attitudes towards dogs began to shift, possibly, due to discovery of the rabies vaccine in 1869.

After dogs, horses may be man’s best friend; based on their ability to understand subtle eye and body movements, horses can grasp human dispositions relatively well. A recent study conducted out of the University of Rennes determined that horses recall positive interactions with individuals, even when the horse and human are separated for months at a time. Remembering that America was still largely rural, and people then had far more interaction with animals like horse who have been referred to as “man’s most loyal servant” it’s easy to understand in the context of this design.

Sahling does not have an entry in his workbook that specifically identifies this design; however, he does have an entry in April 1913 for “Deep oval tray model” which was likely for this design or No.135.

Size, Shape & Advertising Placement
The only form we’ve seen with this design is the newly introduced smaller oval with the steep rim walls. These examples have all had black rims with gold advertising, none of which featured any advertising on the face of the tray, although at least one (P.E. Sharpless) has advertising printed on the back.

Hager & Price
“Her Loyal Friends” is the last tray Hager discusses individually, noting that it “...is likely to be very late and the most likely possibilities are one of the numbers 136 through 140. At least this particular instance of this design carries no number.” Apparently, his example also did not carry a copyright date either as he did not include it in his date of introduction table; he ended up slotting it in his catalog after No. 135 (which turned out to be correct). Most of the examples we’ve seen also don’t carry a stock number or copyright date, but stock examples and at least the P.E. Sharpless ones do. The Salem Brewing Association & Bavarian Brewing Co. are the only brewery examples we are aware of and unfortunately, we do not have sales data for either one. Most of the examples we’ve seen for non-brewers have been average condition and been in the upper double to low triple figures.