3140

Back Bar Mirror from Yukon Saloon, Dawson City, Klondike [155000]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Advertising Signs Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Back Bar Mirror from Yukon Saloon, Dawson City, Klondike [155000]
SHIPPING & HANDLING: The customer is responsible for all shipping and packaging charges. We offer shipping service as a convenience to our buyers. Items are not shipped until the invoice and shipping charges are completely paid. Shipping costs will be calculated and billed separately after your items have been paid for. Purchases will be shipped via our approved, insured carriers: FedEx, UPS, USPS or DHL. Pick up is available from our Reno office, once you have received your invoice post auction
This sign is reported by the collector to have come from the Yukon Saloon in Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush. The saloon was located in a hotel that burned down with 40 additional structures in the Fall of 1898.

This sign is in the exact style of certain western whiskey brand signs of the nineteenth century, particularly those from California such as J.H. Cutter Whiskey (we sold a Cutter sign of almost this exact size and style years ago)

Our research shows Dawson to be about a perfect spot for it, so we don’t doubt the origin. It would have hung in a saloon of decent patronage, though most of the saloons in the Yukon were known as loud, rousing, boisterous places, full of men, gaming, dancing and cavorting. An Illinois newspaper told the story well: “The Yukon Gold Region - … Until the past summer the social life of the mining camp centered on the saloon, and this was particularly true in winter ... The saloons of a mining camp have no counterparts in the East, and the Yukon saloons have none anywhere. They contain a bar where whiskey and cigars are sold at half a dollar each … elaborate gaming layouts and perhaps theatre and dance hall.” (Inner Ocean, Chicago, Jan 25, 1900)

Enterprising whiskey manufacturers all clamored for licenses to make Yukon whiskey. Canadian governmental officials apparently handed out very few, and many were prosecuted for making Yukon whiskey without a permit. Whiskey makers in Vancouver, Ontario, Montreal all made whiskey bound for the Yukon and called it Yukon Whiskey. It was very popular, and this gold lettered sign is obviously for Yukon Whiskey. A plethora of newspaper clips accompanies this magical, rare, and historic sign.

Approximately 6.5" X 18". Original 1898 wood frame and wood backing with beveled inset gold-leaf lettering spelling out Yukon with black border. Chips around edges of letters and edge of mirror. Mirror has beveled edge. This sign was recovered after the fire!

Date: 1898
Country (if not USA): Canada
State: Yukon Territory
City: Dawson City
Provenance: