The Dingman’s triple arch backbar was built by the Weiss-Sontag Company, located on East Washington St. in Chicago, Illinois. Weiss-Sontag was a competitor of Brunswick, Balke, Collender and Co., which were perhaps best known for building this type of bar, as well as for their billiards tables.

This model, number 600, was called “The Chicago” and was the premier backbar in Weiss-Sontag’s line of bars. In their catalogue, it was originally available with a beveled glass partition, with columns, and even a matching liquor cabinet finished in the same wood. The company also offered “workboards” (the same as the underbar counter here) in copper and even zinc. Weiss-Sontag produced various other bars, cabinets, cases, and barroom partitions from the 1890s through the 1920s.

The growth of the bar business directly followed the great waves of immigration in this country. Eventually, along came Prohibition and, of course, the Great Depression, which dramatically changed the bar manufacturing business. Following World War I, the great wooden backbars of this style were no longer in fashion.

This backbar is believed to have originally come from a saloon in the Midwest, though little is known of its earliest history. It features two full cabinets and five center drawers with multiple shelves to store plenty of bottles. The bar includes a slew of bar equipment, such as pitchers, glasses, cups, stirrers, shakers, and much more. There is also a stainless prep surface and double-sink set-up, along with a refrigerator, ice maker, wine fridge, and top-loading fridge, as well. Furthermore, the bar includes a kegerator for draughting one’s favorite brew. It is offered from Michael Dingman’s private collection and includes the requisite glassware, drinking ephemera, as well as six stools for when you want to go where everybody knows your name.