Time is on the Wing - Birds in Advertising - Part 2

Thus, like the miller, bold and free, let us rejoice and sing;

The days of youth are made for glee, and time is on the wing ; 

The first card is a very early engraved calling card, probably circa 1840, so it's not really an advertisement.  But I suppose you could say that calling cards are really a form of personal advertisement. In any case, this one says Time is on the Wing, and there's something very beautiful about its simplicity. Once there was a name written underneath, but it's impossible to read now.

The words are from The Miller of Dee, a traditional folk song. You can read the full lyrics here.

The second card advertises Carters Little Liver Pills, available at Heyne Druggist in Syracuse, New York. Heyne had many beautiful trade cards in the 1880s.

And this card is a rarity, because it's a trade card with a bird on it that's actually advertising a novelty and bird store, Stinard's, also of Syracuse, New York.

More cards from Syracuse, New York. These are from George C. Young & Brothers.

The back of this next card is more interesting than the front, also from a merchant in Syracuse, Kenyon, Potter & Company.

And now for some gratuitous eggs. If you didn't see Birds in Advertising-Part I, you can click here to see it.

Birds in Advertising - Part 1

It's not often that you see birds used in advertising anymore, but back in the 1880s birds were common in advertisements for all things unrelated to birds, everything from dry goods and shoes to liver pills and throat lozenges. The businesses hoped that people would collect the beautiful cards and remember their business that way.

The first one is from American Breakfast Cereals.

 

Then there are these beautiful cards from Solomon Rosenbloom & Sons, shoe dealers in Syracuse, New York. I highly recommend this blog post about the Rosenblooms and Daniel Rosenbloom's house on a blog called My Central New York. Samuel Gruber, the blog's host, has conducted thorough research, included a number of interesting photos, and writes a compelling story.

The last trade card from Liberman & Stevenson, also of Syracuse, take a different approach to advertising, emphasizing humor instead of beauty.

More birds in Part 2, coming soon.

C.H. Remer - Japan and China Tea Co.

I can't vouch for the quality of their tea their tea, but C. H. Remer of Syracuse, New York certainly produced some beautiful trade cards. They also gave away glassware and crockery as incentives. I don't read Japanese or Chinese, but I'm guessing that the creator of these cards took artistic license with the Asian alphabets.

 

Drumhead Cabbage & Friends

Most of us don't have a local seedsman these days where we can buy our seeds. We're more likely to buy them at nurseries or hardware stores. These cards were all produced by Richmond & Co/Clay & Richmond of Buffalo, New York in the 1880s/90s.

More Cats in Advertisiing

Here are some more cats working hard to promote totally unrelated products on circa 1880 trade cards. The first one is especially clever, suggesting that if you don't buy a shoe with a black reinforced tip, it won't even make a safe nest for birds.

If you're near Salina Street in Syracuse, new York, you can head over to G.W. Ingalls & Co. and buy yourself a pair.

Then you can head down the street and buys some fruit vinegar from John Ferguson, Grocer.

Cats in Advertising

Cats have been used to advertise everything imaginable, from shoes, to groceries, hardware, and medicine. Here are two trade cards from the 1880s featuring cats. The first one is an advertisement for Dr. Thomas Ecletric Oil, used all around the world and equally good for man and beast. If that's not enough, it was used for internally and externally for coughs, croup, asthma, diptheria, rheumatism, lame back, and a number of other things. The ingredients included spirits of turpentine, fish oil, oil of tar, and red thyme.

 

 The second card is equally peculiar. The picture , with a caption of Declaration of Love, seems to show a cat swatting a monkey...or is that a dog with a very long tail? In any case, one of them is chained to the wall.

 
If you think this is a strange approach to selling stoves and hardware, check out the back of the card.

Stay tuned for more cat advertising cards next week.

Shoes in the 1880s

I was looking for some old family photographs with shoes for this week's Sepia Saturday and came up empty handed. Nearly every photo seems to cut off the feet and shoes. For all I know they sat for portraits with no shoes on at all. I do have some very nice shoe advertisements from the 1880s though. One of my favorites is the trade card featuring solar tip shoes.

I somehow had this idea that solar tip shoes would be open in the front, allowing the sun to warm your toes. Not so. Instead, they were especially durable tips made by folding the sole leather over the tip of the shoe.

This is one of the few trade cards for shoes that highlights the shoes at all. Many of the advertisements simply showed heartwarming scenes that had nothing to do with shoes, like this one:

And this one:

Many just had their business name printed on stock advertising cards. These could just as well have been ads for a grocery store or watch repair.

So, I had to wonder what the shoes of the 1880s were really like. I know that women's shoes had a high heel and a narrow toe and didn't look comfortable at all. On the other hand, when I went to the Wisconsin Historical Museum's online collection to look at the examples of children's footwear of the era, they not only seem well made, they look soft and comfortable. You can see the shoe collection here.

Step on over to Sepia Saturday to see more posts on shoes.