Images(2)

Sign, Advertising

Object number2017.94.35

Manufacturer Permanent Sign and Display Company

Date1930-1957

OriginReading, PA

MediumMetal; Paint; Mercury; Plastic; Foam; String

Credit LineGift of Robert Thomas

DescriptionAdvertising sign with inset thermometer. Rectangular silver metal sign with beveled edges. Front face has red border with white background; Fort Pitt brown beer bottle at left; and rounded blue triangle in top right corner with Fort Pitt Block House inside a red circle above imprinted silver beer brand name. Bottom right corner has inset circular thermometer with white metal face, clear plastic cover, and surrounding red text. Reverse is backed with brown paperboard and has a strip of brown-black foam at top and bottom; top foam strip has black-brown hanging string above. Reverse has circular opening revealing back of thermometer.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 12.938 × 8.938 × 0.5 in. (32.9 × 22.7 × 1.3 cm)
Depth (Actual due to planar distortion): 1 in. (2.5 cm)
InscriptionsFront has imprinted silver text in top right corner "Fort / Pitt".

Front's beer bottle has white text on neck and body labels "Fort / Pitt".

Front has red text surrounding the thermometer "THE FINEST BEER / WE'VE EVER BREWED!"

Thermometer has black numbers decending from "40" to "0" and ascending from "0" to "120" in increments of 10; also has text "ZERO", "FRZ.", and "IDEAL"; and "MADE IN U.S.A." at bottom center.

Front has black text along bottom edge "FORT PITT BREWING CO., PITTSBURGH 15, PA. FPB-14".
MarksReverse has black text along bottom edge "PERMANENT SIGN & DISPLAY COMPANY, READING, PENNA."
Historical NotesFort Pitt Brewing Company advertising sign. Part of a collection of Fort Pitt Brewing Company artifacts that was collected by donor Robert Thomas to document the time his family ran the company (1930s through the 1950s). The donor’s great uncle, Michael Berardino, became president of Fort Pitt Brewing Company two years after one of the original owners and founder, Samuel Grenet, died suddenly in 1935. Grenet had started the business in 1906 with Herman Hechelman. They built a brewery in the suburb of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, survived Prohibition and were set to be the number one brewery in the state when Grenet passed. Berardino began an aggressive sales campaign to turn the company around after lagging sales the year before. The company also bought the Victor Brewing Company of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, but continued to produce their signature Old Shay beer. In the early 1950s due to local strikes and an increase in national brand popularity, Fort Pitt struggled. After Berardino died in 1957, the company stopped brewing at the Sharpsburg plant and expanded into other products and became the newly incorporated Fort Pitt Industries. The rights to the brand were sold to Gunther Brewing of Baltimore. In 2010, the Fort Pitt name was purchased by Mark Dudash who began producing Fort Pitt Ale.

Related institution Fort Pitt Brewing Company (1906 - 1957)

Related person Michael Berardino (died 1957)

Collector Robert M. Thomas

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