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Mark Twain Whisky Trademark Patents (113208)

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Bottles & Insulators Start Price:250.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 1,000.00 USD
Mark Twain Whisky Trademark Patents  (113208)
SOLD
800.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2020 Aug 28 @ 12:25UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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Lot of two US patents filed by Ralph W. Ashcroft, business manager of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) in 1908. Patents 67.086 and 67.087 trademarking the name "Mark Twain" as well as Twain's likeness and autograph for use on whisky products. 8 x 12" According to notes in the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume III, Ashcroft was worried about Clemens likeness and name being used for profit and convinced him to take steps to protect them. In Nov. 1907, Ashcroft filed these two patents (as well as two for tobacco) to protect his name, likeness, and signature from being used on liquor or cigar products. To satisfy and keep the patents valid, Ashcroft said "one bottle of whiskey and a few cigars would be turned out."(New York Tribune, Jan. 6, 1908). Ashcroft also convinced Clemens to further protect his intellectual property by creating the Mark Twain Company in 1908 and transfer rights to his literary name and works to that corporation. There does appear to be some debate as to why Ashcroft filed the patents in his own name. According to the Mark Twain Project, Clemens fired Ashcroft and his wife (Clemens' former secretary) in 1909 for mismanagement of his affairs. These original historic documents belong with an advanced Twain collector or in an institutional collection! Comes with photo print of Twain.

Date: 1908
Country if not USA:
State: New York
City: New York
Provenance: Fred Holabird Collection