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Belle of Nelson Sour Mash Whiskey, 1883

A Kentucky sour-mash brand, drawn a generation before the drought took it.

What

An 1883 advertising lithograph for Belle of Nelson Sour Mash Whiskey, a Kentucky brand from the heart of bourbon country, digitized at very high resolution by the Library of Congress.

Why

The Belle of Nelson mark did not survive the Prohibition era that closed the American whiskey trade; it is a dead brand from before the drought.

Notice

The full poster-scale treatment a whiskey brand could still afford in 1883 — this is advertising art, not a bottle label.

“Sour mash outlasts most things. The brand that made this one did not.”

Format

The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.

Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 27x41" cleanly.

Size

Personalization (title-swap) is coming to this piece — join the house list to hear first.

$29.00

Provenance

The Lost — mark extinguished

Country: United States
Format: Poster (affiche)
Piece published: Belle of Nelson Sour Mash Whiskey — advertising lithograph, 1883
Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · LCCN pga.03041

View the public source record ↗

Scan: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division; no known restrictions. Hosted on Wikimedia Commons.

Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (piece published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the piece’s own publication year, never a brand’s founding year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18. Library of Congress reports no known restrictions; LCCN pga.03041. Date 1883 stated by the archive (no "circa" qualifier). PD on publication year.

Belle of Nelson was extinguished by Prohibition in 1920. Everything sold here is the art, not the drink.