Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Object of the Day: A Trade Card for Whitney & Co. Shoes

 
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No matter how you look at it, this image is not right. This is one of two almost identical cards which I have in my collection of ephemera. Both advertise for small American department stores, but not the same one, so obviously the card was chosen from a catalog of stock trade cards. Each one depicts a male person with his head bursting through a very circus-y paper circle and each is printed in a monochromatic scheme with the business’ information over-printed on the front and further information printed on a plain back.

But, look at the person in the image. Perhaps he’s a child. Perhaps he’s a little person. Either way, his head is dangerously large. It’s not a pleasant picture. I don’t feel a tremendous urge to go buy shoes in the 1890s in Albany, New York. Still, there must have been something appealing about it at one time.

Let’s see what it says.

The front mentions:



R.R. NICKERSON, 
                 MANAGER.
          Shoe Department 
With W.M. Whitney & Co 


I imagine that Mr. Nickerson was very helpful and that he assisted many a person in the selection of the best footwear. I just hope that’s not his picture.

On the reverse, we have:

VISIT 
WHITNEY & CO.’S 
SHOE DEPARTMENT
--FOR-- 
Great Bargains 
DURING 
JULY & AUGUST 
43, 45, 47 & 49 N. Pearl St., 
ALBANY.

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