Trade Card Individuals

Title

Trade Card Individuals

Description

1880? One card advertising Sholes' Insect Exterminator by means of the "Fable of the Ox" on the back of a card; the front of the card tells us to read it. The colored picture shows an emaciated and exhausted ox next to a healthy one who proclaims "25 Cents Worth of Sholes' Insect Exterminator makes me happy and fat." 3" x 4½". $1 either in Sacramento, Dec., '96, or Foster City, Feb., '97.

Some fable! Sholes' is manufactured by the American Chemical Mfg. Co. of Rochester, NY. The card is in poor condition.

1881 One colored card advertising J. & P. Coats Needles and Threads. Copyrighted, 1881, Auchincloss & Bro., NY. 3" x 4½". $5 at Foster City, Feb., '97.

A monkey restrains a cat by means of a Coats thread while he holds a fish before the cat's face. On the back is a table of sewing machines, needles, and threads.

1881? One colored card advertising J. & P. Coats Needles and Threads. 3" x 4½". $15 at Foster City, Feb., '97.

As in the 1881 card copyrighted by Auchincloss, a monkey restrains a cat by means of a Coats thread while he holds a fish before the cat's face. On the back of this card, by contrast with that, is an advertisement for J. & P. Coats which starts "We will not weary you with statistics…." Statistics made up the whole back of the other card! A dealer has noted on the back of the card that it is pictured in Cheadle, Victorian Trade Cards (and now, three weeks later, I cannot find it there!).

1885? One two-color TH card advertising the "New Remington Sewing Machine #3." 2¾" x 4¾". $9 from William Phillips, Lewiston, ME, through eBay, Jan., '03.

The tortoise is carrying the Remington sewing machine on its back. It is hard for me to tell what the hare is doing! The card lists both a Broadway address in New York City and a factory in Ilion, NY. The verso has a stamped message from J. Ernest Hammond, Bauneg-Beg, Maine. The message invites, in part, the submittal of "names and addresses of 20 ladies that you believe would be interested in our goods or act as agents, and The Monitor will be sent you 6 months free." We also read "Ladies desiring to make money easily should send for wholesale lists" of items like sewing machine needles, spooler rubbers, and bobbins.

1885? One three-color card advertising the New Home sewing machine available at Leavitt & Brant in Boston. 3" x 5". The card is titled "The Monkey and the Cat's Paw." $3.50 at Foster City, Feb., '97. One extra copy advertising L. W. Thompson, Cherry Valley, NY.

The monkey works the foot-treadle with "New Home" clearly stated in its metal-work. The cat sits atop the sewing machine. Is his paw caught in the machine? A Victorian woman enters the room with an arm upraised; her small son is behind her. Blank back; no text. Perhaps three inks were used: blue, brown, and red. For a French trade card for New Home sewing machines, click the link!

1885? One three-color card advertising the New Home sewing machine. The card is titled "The Monkey and the Cat's Paw." 3" x 5". Unknown source and cost.

As in the other card with this design, the monkey works the foot-treadle with "New Home" clearly stated in its metal-work. The cat sits atop the sewing machine. Is his paw caught in the machine? A Victorian woman enters the room with an arm upraised; her small son is behind her. Blank back; no text. Perhaps three inks were used: blue, brown, and red. By contrast with the other card, this card lacks mention of a specific retail outlet. The reds in this copy are much stronger, for example, on the wallpaper. The floor coloring extends through the title at the bottom of the card.

1885? One three-color card advertising the New Home sewing machine. The card is titled "The Monkey and the Cat's Paw." 3" x 5". Unknown source and cost.

As in the other cards with this design, the monkey works the foot-treadle with "New Home" clearly stated in its metal-work. The cat sits atop the sewing machine. Is his paw caught in the machine? A Victorian woman enters the room with an arm upraised; her small son is behind her. Surprisingly, the manufacturing company is now located not in Union Square in New York but rather in Orange, MA. The verso advertises L.W. THompson of Cherry Valley, NY as a seller of the New Home Sewing Machine. Again in this card as in the Union Square card, the reds of the wallpaper and the floor stand out.

1890? One colored card advertising J. & P. Coats Thread. 3" x 4½". $25 from The Cartophilians, Cheshire, CT, March, '98.

This is one of the most dramatic trade cards I have. The lion is bound up with threads, and the mouse sits perched on a spool of J. & P. Coats Best Six Cord thread. The other side of the card gives the fable and a long application, both apparently taken verbatim from Croxall. The card's picture is in a style different from all other Coats cards I have found, especially when it inserts three colored boxes to give information: "Spool cotton," "For hand and machine," and "See the other side for fable."

1911 One two-color folded 1911 calendar card advertising Pastilles Poncelet. 3½" x almost 4½" folded and 3½" x a little more than 7" unfolded. €9 from Brie Comte Robert at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05.

This is a delightful, well-preserved card. The folded view is a traditional one of FC. Open the fold and you will find that the crow has not a cheese in his claw but a box of Poncelet cough drops. "I let go of the cheese the other day, but I am hanging on to my Poncelet cough drops!" The well-dressed fox weeps. This piece of ephemera has lasted wonderfully for almost one hundred years!

Date

1880?

1881

1881?

1885?

1890?

1911

Source

$1 either in Sacramento, Dec., '96, or Foster City, Feb., '97.

$5 at Foster City, Feb., '97.

$15 at Foster City, Feb., '97.

$9 from William Phillips, Lewiston, ME, through eBay, Jan., '03.

$3.50 at Foster City, Feb., '97. One extra copy advertising L. W. Thompson, Cherry Valley, NY.

$25 from The Cartophilians, Cheshire, CT, March, '98.

€9 from Brie Comte Robert at the Paris Post Card Exhibition, Jan., '05.

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Trade Cards
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Trade Card Individuals
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