Vintage 1950s Bear Pitch Carnival Game Sign 5¢ 10¢ Wildwood NJ Boardwalk 24 x 32 For Sale

Original hand-painted mid-century Bear Pitch carnival game sign, approximately 23 1/2 inches by 31 1/2 inches. Painted on board with bold period lettering advertising 10¢ play, with instructions explaining the prizes for landing a dime in the plate. Particularly interesting is the sign’s earlier lettering still plainly visible beneath the later paint: “NICKEL IN PLATE.” The price medallions also appear to have been updated, showing that this working concession sign was altered when the cost of play increased from a nickel to a dime.Bear Pitch has a fascinating connection to Wildwood, New Jersey amusement history. The game was specifically at issue in the 1957 New Jersey Supreme Court case Carll & Ramagosa, Inc. v. Ash, concerning amusement-game operators along the boardwalk in Wildwood and North Wildwood. In its decision, the Court described Bear Pitch as a game in which a player pitched a nickel from approximately 4½ feet onto a saucer, winning a prize when the nickel landed and remained on the saucer—the same nickel-and-plate form of Bear Pitch reflected in the original lettering preserved on this sign.This sign was acquired locally in southern New Jersey, approximately 15 minutes from Wildwood. Given its local acquisition, period construction, Bear Pitch subject matter, and surviving nickel-era wording, it is a wonderful artifact of the same mid-century Jersey Shore amusement tradition documented in the 1957 case. The sign shows authentic age and working wear consistent with its history, including surface wear, paint loss, marks and the visible period alteration of its lettering. There is some losses to the board in the left hand corner where a hole was made for hanging. Please see photographs for condition and details.

---

---