Recent interesting finds #3
A photographic identity card exhibitor’s pass to the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, produced by one of the security bank note companies (identity at bottom not quite legible). Said to be the first usage of a photo ID in the USA. The written note on the back relates that this exhibitor had a line of custom boots and shoes, and that he then sold the whole line to Wanamaker of Philadelphia.
On June 26, 1922 Lawrence McDuff and Horace Negus set off from Amherst, Nova Scotia to roll these barrels clear across Canada to Vancouver. Each of the barrels weighed 90 pounds. Their progress was reported periodically in the Canadian press.
Dr. E.F. Townsend of Providence (and other quacks) came up with the ultimate cure-all: air with oxygen in it!
Dr. Blood ( ! ) of Boston claimed that he was the inventor of oxygenated air.
Keep Manufacturing Company of Boston seems (no pun intended) to have invented this do-it-yourself shirts concept. “Warranted to fit perfectly.”
A related Keep Manufacturing Company advertising note recently seen on eBay.
A booklet cover with a fine view of factories in Florence, a village of Northampton, MA. I am told the buildings look about the same today.
A trade card on gloss coated porcelain stock, used as a carte de visite backing card.
A 1909 French photo identity card which combines several interesting elements, including a a stamp-like perforated seal.
An unusual pioneer postcard with full color advertising for the Bucket Pump on its front, mailed from Cincinnati. This is actually a trade card that was set up with address lines for mailing. On May 19, 1898 Congress granted private printers permission to print and sell cards that bore the inscription “Private Mailing Card” (PMC), which could be sent for 1¢ in postage. Earlier, only Government-issues Postal Cards could be sent for 1¢; private cards were required to have certain wording on the address side and could be sent for 1¢, This item does not bear the required 1898 PMC legend, has an advertising message on the front contrary to regulations, and bears a 1¢ stamp issued from 1890 to 1893. This card might possibly have been mailed prior to 1898.
Well, Dr. Townsend’s consultation was free. I’m sure his device and any air he offered was not. (From 1874 Providence City Directory.)
Such a wonderfully silly-seeming concept . . . partly-made shirts. Sew them together yourself.
Overall design on the back of a mailed advertising cover.
This great elephant stock cut—with and without boots—can be found on all sorts of 19th century ephemera. Adjoining are a couple of examples.
Unused Civil War patriotic cover.