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Chocolate Premiums
In the late 19th-century, when you bought chocolate, the grocer dropped a delightful prize into your bag, a trade card to save and share. The Chocolat Pupier brand was created in Saint-Étienne, France, in the 1860s. The founder, Jean-Louis Pupier, handed over the company to his son Joseph in 1895. His grandsons Adrien and Marcel…
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Cigarette Cards
Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible cards with their packages of cigarettes. Cigarette card sets document popular culture from the turn of the century, often depicting the period’s actresses, costumes, and sports, as well as offering insights into mainstream humor and culture. This early card was issued by H. Ellis &…
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Easter Cards
This spring themed card is an example of a stock card- printed by a publisher and featured in catalogs for educators for use a reward or recognition cards, or businesses for trade cards with an imprinted back. Postcards were often produced in series – this example shows a young mother enjoying an afternoon in the…
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Birthday Card Postcards
A short history of the birthday card – Deltiology, or the collecting of postcards, including many “specialties, including holiday greetings and birthday cards. A short history of the birthday card – Sending a birthday card is an act of communication. As families grew and moved on, sometimes across oceans or continents where travel was lengthy…
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Puzzles
These are postcards from the novelty category – picture puzzles – the sender would write out the back, then break the pieces apart and put in the envelope for mailing. These are 2 examples – the black is originally from the Beck Collection. Wood block puzzles were very popular in the end of the 1800’s.…
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Currency & Financial Papers
Printed Receipts first appeared specifically in the levying of taxes. The printed receipt provides a measure of accountancy control greater than a handwritten slip. These receipts are from a counterfoil booklet, these were introduced in the late 1800’s and consisted of a booklet where a receipt was completed and had a corresponding tab that was…
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Lewis & Clark First Day Covers
A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority. From 2004-2006 the United States celebrated the bicentennial of the Lewis &…
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Real Photo Post Cards
Deltiology, the collecting of postcards, is the third largest hobby in the world. Real photo post cards were popular at the turn of the 20th Century. Dating these post cards is made easier by information printed on the reverse of the cards. Sometimes, however, the job is made far easier when a card has been postally used…
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Trade Cards – Famous Lithographers
Thomas Calvert, born in Yorkshire (1828) and immigrated to America when he was 21. He worked for several printing companies before moving to Detroit and starting his own firm in 1861. Calvert was a major producer of trade cards from the late 1870’2 to 1900. Thomas Calvert became one of the leaders of the American…
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Cabinet Cards
Cabinet cards are photographs mounted on stiff pieces of cardboard. They were introduced in the 1860s and gradually superseded the smaller carte de visite format.The front of the card is usually printed or embossed with the photographer’s details, and the back of the cabinet card is often printed with elaborate designs Cabinet cards with scalloped…
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Stock Trade Cards
By the mid-1870s multicolor trade cards had fully emerged as a popular form of advertising for a wide variety of manufacturers and retail establishments, stimulating a vigorous, competitive business for the printing industry. Advertisers could overprint their promotional information in spaces on the front or have it stamped on the reverse. Some stock trade cards…
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Carte de Visite
A carte de visite is a photograph mounted on a piece of card the size of a formal visiting card—hence the name. The format was patented by the French photographer Andre Adolphe Eugene Disdéri (1819–89) in 1854. Realising that there was a market for a process which could produce a large number of prints very…
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Souvenir Sheets
A souvenir sheet or miniature sheet is a postage stamp or a small group of postage stamps still attached to the sheet on which they were printed. They may be either regular issues that just happen to be printed in small groups (typical of many early stamps), or special issues often commemorating some event, such…
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Tintypes
A tintype is a direct positive with a lacquered iron support, collodion binder layer, and silver image layer. Tintypes are most commonly found in the carte-de-visite size (approx. 2 ½” × 4″ to 4 ¼” ), although they were also produced in smaller sizes. Most tintypes can be thought of as an underexposed image having…
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Studio Props
A post card with an image of two girls with a pull toy Newfoundland. Written on the reverse is: July 7, 1914, tall girl is Lavera Armstrong, Sardinia NY. Looking her up I found her on census’ in the same town for her whole life. She was born Lavera Marie Tarbell on April 7, 1902.…
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Alta Leet
Sometimes serendipity plays a role in collections. Acquired this cabinet card. On the reverse is handwritten “Alta Leet”. The photographer information was JT Strouse, Ithaca MI. Some searching on genealogy sites found Alta Leet was born in Ithaca MI on 8/6/1884. She was married in 1901 and her husband died in 1904. She moved to…
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Why Ephemera?
People collect many different things. Sculptures and figurines, paintings and jewelry. Collecting ephemera, or “little scraps of beauty” as Nick Waters calls them has become a passion (obsession?) that links my love of Newfoundland Dogs and my love of history, as each card or photograph provides a little window into the culture and activities of…