The displays were used by Tooth and Co. for Tooths Beer advertising from the mid 1930s to 1969. Over 6000 were made, today only a handful remain.They were often commissioned and completed for a particular hotel, depending upon its location or desired image.

The subject matter and appearance varied extensively. These works were not mass-produced advertising graphics. They are considered more as a unique, small-series works of commercial art in a popular style.