Vintage RCA Nipper Metal Ad Tray

This wonderful RCA Nipper Ad Tray was designed and manufactured by FabCraft in Frenchtown, New Jersey during the 1970’s.
It measures a full 11 1/2″ tall x 14 1/2″ long, and it is in great condition.

The story of “Nipper”, the dog that is associated with RCA, is an interesting one. In short, “Nipper” was a real dog, part Bull Terrier and part Fox Terrier, born in Bristol, England in 1884.

Nipper got his name because, like many puppies, he liked to “nip” at the backs of peoples legs. Mark Barraud, Nipper’s owner died in 1887 and Nipper was raised by Mark’s brother, Francis, who at the time, was a struggling painter. One day, so the story goes, Francis saw Nipper looking quizzically at the phonograph, with his head tilted, trying to understand where the sound was coming from. Barraud committed that image to memory, and it wasn’t until three years after Nipper’s death in 1895, that he painted it.

After many unsuccessful attempts to offer it for reproduction for advertising, the Gramophone Company asked him to paint a gramophone horn into the picture, and it became their registered trademark in 1910. In that classic, now, well-know pose, this image of Nipper sits with one ear raised and his head tilted.

While this classic tray would look fantastic hanging on a wall, it is also in great shape to serve as a bar tray.