French Gold

Title: French Gold
Description: 1880? A full set of twelve gold-background cards with La Fontaine scenes and French titles. 2½" x 4". The scenes are again identical with those pictured on cards by Charles Wemple and Martin Kronheim of NY.

Several years ago I found a full set of Wemple/Kronheim cards with green backgrounds after struggling to find eight individual cards. They bear no markings besides the fable's name in French. The card lacking from the second set is FM. The gold background invites scratches. Some of the printing here is not exact. The versos are all blank.; 1880 3 cards (below) picturing La Fontaine fable scenes against a gold background. 2½" x 4". Two advertise, respectively, Lowell Lake, Chester, VT, and Bousquin, "Le Meilleur Déjeuner des Enfants." The third is untitled and unmarked. The Bosquin card was printed by Bognard in Paris.

The Lowell card pictures "Le Lièvre et les Grenouilles." Its back side gives dates for the season from 1880 through 1884, the proprietor's name, and the post office address. It mentions "Billiards, Bowling, Boating and other amusements that are usually found at summer resorts." Why would a resort like this hand out cards with a title in French? The Bousquin card, "Les deux Chèvres," praises its children's food products and gives the numbers for its address in Galerie Vivienne both before and after the place name.
Date: 1880?
Subject: Cards See all items with this value; Trade Cards See all items with this value; Stock See all items with this value; Stock Series See all items with this value; Wemple and Kronheim-WMF See all items with this value; French Gold See all items with this value; Gold See all items with this value; Two Goats See all items with this value; The Crow and the Eagle See all items with this value; The Fox and the Crow See all items with this value; The Frog and the Mouse See all items with this value; The Hares and the Frogs See all items with this value; The Lion and the Mouse See all items with this value; The Fox and the Stork See all items with this value; The Tortoise and the Hare See all items with this value; The Heron See all items with this value; The Dog with His Master's Lunch See all items with this value; The Two Dogs See all items with this value; The Wolf and the Lamb See all items with this value

Item sets: Carlson Fable Collection