M&B Stock No. 50 "Alton B. Parker"

General
Alton B. Parker was the Democratic candidate for President in 1904 after having served on the New York Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals. He was a conservative Democrat whose nomination split the party (the more liberal Bryan wing didn’t turn out to vote for him) and he lost in a landslide (336 to 140) to Teddy Roosevelt, only carrying southern state. His campaign was considered to be so disorganized and ineffective that he even lost his home state of New York. After the election, Parker resumed practicing law and served as the president of the American Bar Association from 1906 to 1907. He represented organized labor in several cases, including representing Samuel Gompers and other labor leaders in Gompers v. United States, in which the Supreme Court overturned their convictions for contempt of court on statute of limitations grounds.

J.F. Meek referenced this design, along with Roosevelt in his 1903 interview with Printer’s Ink. It is the last political stock design M&B/Meek did perhaps reflecting Meek’s retirement from the company due to ill heal in 1908, unless there are unknown Taft and Bryan trays that haven’t identified in the 80-90s range. Note: there is a Taft/Sherman tip tray, but by this time Meek had different numbering for tip vs full sized trays.

Shape & Rim & Ad Text
Known tray examples are all oval with the low pie shaped rim and rolled edge. The rim features red flowers (appear to be carnations) with monochromatic images of Jefferson and Jackson at 9 and 3 o’clock. An image of the US Capitol appears at 12 o’clock and a sample banner with “Alton B. Parker” appears at 6 o’clock flanked by roosters on each side. The TOC sign version simply features the oval portrait of Parker in in judicial robes surrounded by faux woodgrain. Advertising text appears on the face of the tray in black print.

Hager & Price
This tray is not included in Hager at all, most likely he was unaware of it given its scarcity. There are no brewery examples we are aware of and only a very few non-brewery examples, for which we only have pricing data for 2 trays and a TOC sign. Relatively speaking prices are strong for non-brewery examples, probably driven by political memorability collectors.