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Auction History Result

4z0142 AL. G. FIELD MINSTRELS linen 21x28 stage poster 1920s art of Billy Clark in blackface, rare!

Date Sold 7/9/2020
Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price.


An Original Vintage Linenbacked Stage Play Poster (measures 20 1/2" x 28 1/4" [52 x 72 cm]) (Learn More)

Al. G. Field Minstrels was a traveling minstrel show from the 1900s to the the mid-1920s. The minstrel show (or minstrelsy) was an American form of entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and musical performances, and the shows were usually performed by white people in make-up or blackface. Al. G. Field was born Alfred Griffin Hatfield around the middle of the 19th century. Starting in 1875, he performed in the Sells Brothers Circus and began managing the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus in 1884. In 1886, he opened his first traveling minstrel show with 27 performers. He passed away in 1921 at the age of 72. His last will and testament arranged for his minstrel show to be bequeathed to his brother Joseph E. Hatfield and to Edward Conard.
If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know.
Important Added Info: Note that we have never before auctioned this poster! Billy Clark (credited on the poster as "Billy Redd") was a minstrel performer for many years, and he was one of the few who wrote his own music and wrote his own comedy sketches! Also note that this is one of eight different posters for Al. G. Field Minstrels we are currently auctioning, and all but one show either a performer solely in blackface or in blackface and without makeup. We believe that this poster and the other seven Al. G. Field posters all date from the mid 1920s, perhaps from exactly 1924 or 1925, because one of the posters advertises Rody Jordan, who apparently only performed in blackface in the 1924-25 season. In the past, we have only previously auctioned two Al. G. Field posters, and both of those did not show the performer in blackface. These posters are incredibly rare!

Note that this poster advertises one of the performers at this show whose name was Billy Clark. Apparently, he changed his stage name to "Billy Redd" at the last minute, because this poster was printed with his name at bottom top left and bottom left, and his name at top left was overprinted with black ink, and his name at bottom left has a snipe over it with his new name.


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Overall Condition and Pre-Restoration Defects with Quality of Restoration: very good. The poster was never folded. It has a faint diagonal crease in the top left corner and small tears in the left of the top border, extending into the top of the red background. It also has the overprinting and snipe described above. Overall, the poster was in very good condition prior to linenbacking. The restorer backed the poster "in the European style", meaning that they did not do restoration to the defects described above. Note that either the restorer who mounted the poster did not leave any excess linen around the edges of the poster, or possibly the owner of the poster chose to carefully trim off the excess, so that the poster would fit in a frame.
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