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Rare and wonderful, 1904 St Louis World's Fair Aluminum Tip Tray with Comic Strip Character illustration Featuring Alphonse and Gaston. This wonderful little press Tip Tray measures approx. 5" x 3 1/4". It features an elaborately, embossed design around the edges with a central, transfer scene that is actually a bit risqué for the period. The scene takes place on a city street corner where a pretty young lady is seen crossing the street. She has raised her skirt just a bit to avoid the muddy street exposing her ankles and a bit of her calf. The always polite yet ever bumbling Alphonse and Gaston are seen bowing to each other on the sidewalk from which the young lady has just departed. Text in the transfer reads “Have a Look, My Dear Alphonse†/ “After You, My Dear Gastonâ€. As usual our “boys†will surely miss out on the fleeting glimpse of the pretty ankles due to the grandiose politeness that is their trademark. Below the image is text that reads “Souvenir of the St. Louis World’s Fair,1904â€. The Tray is unmarked by the maker and in excellent condition - clean and crisp and beautiful with no wear to the transfer decoration and retaining its original, brilliant surface. The only flaw is a very small dent just behind Gaston’s feet. A rare and charming St. Louis World's Fair Souvenir Tip Tray and a fantastic addition to any collection!!! “Alphonse and Gaston†was an American comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper, featuring a bumbling pair of Frenchmen with a penchant for politeness. They first appeared in William Randolph Hearst's newspaper, the New York Journal on September 22, 1901. The very first strip was titled in capital letters, "ALPHONSE A LA CARTE" AND HIS FRIEND GASTON DE TABLE D'HOTE." Their routine "After you, Alphonse.", "No, you first, my dear Gaston!" entertained readers for more than a decade. Alphonse was tall and grotesque; Gaston was short and grotesque. The premise of their strip was that they were both extremely polite, constantly bowing to each other and deferring to each other. Neither could ever do anything or go anywhere because each insisted on letting the other precede him. Though never a daily or even weekly feature, Alphonse and Gaston was a Sunday feature for several years, a stage play, appearing in a few comedy shorts and Hearst collections and even being licensed as product mascots. The catchphrase "After you, Alphonse" continues to be used, in situations when a person receives a dare to do something difficult or dangerous or both; the catchphrase returns the dare to the person who made it. Sometimes it is said when two people are simultaneously trying to go through the same doorway and awkwardly stop to let the other go through. The imagery of Alphonse and Gaston appears fairly frequently in baseball broadcasts when two outfielders go after the ball and it falls in for a base hit. Overseasshippping is extra and cost will be quoted at bidders request. Massachusetts residents must add 5% sales tax. Insurance is required on all Domestic Shipping and not available on International Shipping. Please check out other early and interesting items offered by this seller on ebay. Click Here to See Our Items We Have for Sale in the eBay Gallery Important Notes about Shipping Charges and the eBay "Detailed Seller Rating" Star System: The amount quoted for Shipping & Handling is calculated by eBay and is equal to the EXACT amount charged by the Post Office plus a $1.00 "packing fee" - the $1.00 fee is our only compensation for the virgin packing materials we use on all of our professionally packaged boxes as well as our cost for the salaried help that does most of our packing - as I am sure you can see, we make NO profit on the Shipping charges and, in fact, our costs are usually greater than the $1.00 fee. We have NEVER requested Feedback from our customers as we were taught that "fishing for compliments" was impolite but the new eBay Detailed Rating System has put us in a rather tight spot. Most buyers are unaware that eBay bases a monthly fee discount on a Seller's "Star" rating. A monthly average of "4.6 Stars" (in any one of the four "Star" categories) costs us approximately $400 in additional eBay Fees - that's $400 above what we would pay if we had a "4.8 Star" average in all 4 "Star" categories!! As a consequence we hope you do not find us rude to ask that if you are happy with our items, our service, and our packing & shipping please be sure to use the "Star" rating system and remember that a "5 Star" rating is the only way we can qualify for eBay's fee reduction program. , ATTENTION FRIENDS!!! We are pleased to announce the start up of a second weekly auction by WALNUTTS2!!! The next generation of NUTS have decided to take a crack at listing some of the hundreds of items that we have accumulated over the past 28 years. Click Here to See What WALNUTTS2 is Offering in this weeks Ebay Auction!! Rest assured that WALNUTTS2 will be offering the same high standard of customer service and 100% unconditional satisfaction guarantee that you have found here in our weekly auctions. The "young'uns" will be starting off slow as they learn the ropes but we ask that you support them as you have supported us over the past 10 years!! Powered by eBay Turbo ListerThe free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items.
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