Vintage Race Car Advertising Poster
RARE Early 20th Century
Auto Pushball (circa 1910)

JUST ACQUIRED: One our most extraordinary Vintage Poster Art discoveries

While our reputation was built over 35 years in part for vintage movie posters, we have gradually broadened our scope over the past 10–15 years to embrace other visually stunning vintage poster genres, such as antique French advertising, travel, circus, music, magic and other themed works.   What you see offered here is one of the most Rare and extraordinary discoveries we encountered in several years.   Simply a breath-taking turn of the 20th century masterpiece!

This amazing gem is not merely a remarkable antique artwork, but a rare surviving testament to a once-popular sports spectacle and chapter in American history, now absent from modern memory.

Auto pushball emerged in the early 1900s as a spectacular offshoot of the older game of pushball, reflecting the public’s fascination with the newly invented automobile. Played primarily at state fairs, racetracks, and exhibition grounds between roughly 1904 and the mid-1910s, the sport featured teams of early cars ramming and shoving an enormous leather ball—often six to eight feet in diameter—toward opposing goals. It was less an organized sport than a crowd-pleasing novelty, marketed for its noise, danger, and visual chaos at a time when automobiles themselves were still rare and thrilling machines. Auto pushball symbolized the era’s enthusiasm for mechanization and speed, but its extreme risk, frequent injuries, and high cost of wrecked vehicles quickly led to its decline as auto racing became more regulated and safety standards increased, leaving auto pushball as a brief, colorful chapter in early automotive and fairground history.

The blank space on bottom was used to advertise local venues such as fairs and other exhibitions that these Auto Pushball events were being promoted. 

Size:  Slightly larger than a typcial one sheet (27.75x42.5")

RARITY:  Based on extensve research this is the Only surviving example of this 120+ year old poster. 

Condition:  Very Good.  Poster was found intact but expected brittle condition.  Had restoration including touchup to address edge and fold wear, creases, fold and crossfold separation, several tears, and some chips. It now presents beautifully.   Original Colors are amazing bright and unfaded.  Has been professionally linen backed and looks amazing.

Auto Pushball (ca. 1910s). Fine+ on Linen. Advertising Poster (27.75" X 42.5"). 
This vibrant vintage poster advertises "Auto Pushball," a high-speed motorized variation of Pushball-created in 1891 and most popular in the early 1910s-depicting drivers racing to shove a massive six-foot, fifty-pound ball across the field in a thrilling but ultimately short-lived sport abandoned due to safety and damage concerns. 

GUARANTEED ORIGINAL

Note: CVtreasures stamp Not on original