Meek Stock No. 64 "Grandpa's Story"

General
No. 64 is a bit of a cipher. The trope of an elderly grandfather entertaining the young, impressionable grandchildren seems to fit with the somewhat idealistically sentimental collection of M&B/Meek stock designs up to this point. However, we haven’t been able to find any artistic or literary source that might have inspired this design. The depiction of what appears to be a well-to-do 18th century family is a departure from the somewhat shabbier depictions in preceding stock trays. Perhaps there was some feedback from the salesforce that there was a need for some more upscale imagery to sell to higher-end clients?

This is not a design that Sahling recorded in his work book.

Shape & Rim & Ad Text
All known tray examples are all oval, with the low pie shaped rim and rolled edge. In fact, the only known use of this image to date is on oval trays. All known sport a green rim design with black or gold advertising text. Advertising text (and sometime symbols or logos) appear both on the rim and on the face of the tray, or on the back.

Hager & Price
Hager includes this design in his catalog, but it is not discussed, nor does he provide a date. We have only encountered two brewery examples at auction and both went for some pretty heady prices. Prices are usually low on non-brewer versions, even for examples in good condition.