Metropolitan Printing Company - The Great Kentucky Rifle Team, Champions of the World - n.d. - T-Shirt

This chromolithograph celebrates a team of marksmen proclaimed "Champions of the World," shown in a rugged frontier setting that turns a shooting triumph into a spectacle.

Visual Elements & Composition

Deep maroon takes up most of the print, with cream, sage green, slate blue, and tan filling the rest. The design sits inside a rectangular poster with a bordered panel and vertical side text. Large block letters spell FRAYNE, formed from tree trunks and foliage, and smaller lines announce THE GREAT, KENTUCKY, CHAMPIONS, and OF THE WORLD. Below them, the scene shows a rifleman taking aim, a man on horseback, a boy with a gun, and saloon-front buildings of a frontier town.

Meaning & Symbolism

The print comes from the Metropolitan Printing Company of New York, a commercial publisher of the late nineteenth century known for vivid posters, theatrical advertisements, and commemorative prints. It documents the Gilded Age craze for competitive rifle shooting, which drew crowds and fueled regional pride after the Civil War. The Kentucky rifle stands for precision and frontier skill, and calling the team world champions places American marksmanship at the center of the national imagination. The phrase "The Great Sensation of the Age" shows how the printers sold the event as entertainment as much as sport.

On This Tee

Printed artwork on a tee is seen up close and from several angles as the wearer moves, so the poster's border, block lettering, and tiny figures stay readable at arm's length. The bordered panel reads as a clear front-facing graphic, and the maroon field gives the piece a bold base. Wearing it puts a century-old advertising poster back into everyday circulation.