Color 42 x 31.5 lithograph entitled Custer’s Last Fight, printed circa 1934–1936. Twenty years after the Battle of Little Bighorn, Anheuser-Busch appropriated this image by Otto Becker to promote Budweiser, a beer founded the same year as the fight. Depicted center is General Custer wearing fringed buckskin. The majority of the dead appear in the foreground, with the most famous noted in the text in the lower border. Also in the lower border are the General’s various medals and banners alongside a small scene of a Native American on horseback in front of a monument. Housed in a period frame with an overall size of 46.5 x 36. In very good condition, with some scattered light toning, soiling, and wrinkling, and a few trivial spots of surface loss. The colors remain quite vibrant. Anheuser-Busch commissioned the original painting, which was done by Cassilly Adams in 1884, and a lithograph was then prepared by F. Otto Becker in 1889. The litho was first printed and entered into copyright in 1896, as noted in the lower left below the image, and Anheuser-Busch sent it to bars and distributors as an advertisement for their product. It has been reprinted numerous times throughout history due to its immense popularity, and is one of the best-known depictions of Custer's Last Stand. RR Auction COA.
