A great piece of lithographic art and advertising genius from 1885. The anthromorphic violet lady trade card for Prof. Fair's Hair Care. The gold on this card has an excellent shimmer to it. The Hanging Brass Frame would display this nicely.
Please refer to photos for condition.
Measures 2 7/8" X 4 3/8"
Trade cards were extremely popular with the public in their heyday from the 1870s until about 1900, fueled by the development of color lithography. Distributed by businesses of every kind, from thread to stoves to tobacco and medicine, they were often inserted into product packaging as a prize or bonus. Color printing was still very much a novelty, and the cards were valued for their radiant images. Thanks to the Victorian penchant for preserving keepsakes, many people began to actively collect trade cards, frequently mounting them in albums and scrapbooks. Cards were often issued in sets pertaining to a single subject—famous buildings, great composers, birds and animals, even women’s hair styles—and collectors swapped cards with one another to complete their sets, the likely source of the term “trading cards.”
