Al Buell for The Osborne Co., c. 1940s, source: eBay

One of the funny things about pinup advertising ink blotters is that they sometimes cross over into other collectible realms such as Marilyn Monroe collectibles, train memorabilia and in this case vintage beer brand collectibles or “breweriana.” This foursome of ink blotters advertising Heigh-Ho beer and featuring artwork by Al Buell sold for a whopping $215.85 at auction on eBay recently (about $54 each). A similar group of four ink blotters not advertising a vintage beer brand sold for just $34.33 ($8.58 each) the next day! This lesser valued foursome included two blotters featuring Buell’s art (including “Southern Exposure”) as well as a Gil Elvgren pin-up and another by Zoe Mozert (see below). What possessed two bidders on eBay to run the price of the Heigh-Ho beer blotters to such astronomical levels? Personally, I think the Heigh-Ho font is fantastic making these some of the better looking blotters I have seen, but I am not sure the aesthetics alone drove the price as much as the breweriana pinup crossover factor did.

Source: eBay. “Southern Exposure” and “Plane To See” are by Al Buell, “A Lad-Her Problem” is by Gil Elvgren and “There must be something wrong with my line” is by Zoe Mozert. All date in the 1940s.