Original trade card featuring a color illustration of flowers on a gray background. Likely doubles as a bookmark. No date, circa 1880s-1910s. 6" x 2." Trade card is very clean and intact except for slight age toning on back and a diagonal wrinkle measuring about 1 3/4" from the bottom edge. A Very Good copy. Trade card for Akehurst's, a store specializing in school stationery in Utica, New York. Trade cards are antique business cards that first became popular during the late seventeenth century in Paris and Lyon, France and London, England. Trade cards were often given by business owners and proprietors to patrons and customers as a way to promote their businesses. Prior to the use of street addresses, trade cards had maps so clients could locate the associated business. Many of these cards also incorporated elaborate designs, illustrations, and other decorative features. Trade cards became popular in the United States during the nineteenth century in the period after the Civil War. The late nineteenth century also saw the advent of trade card collecting as a hobby. While they are no longer in use, trade cards influenced the formation of trading cards and were the predecessors of modern-day business cards.
Title: Original Trade Card - "Akehurst's, School Stationery, 166 & 168 Genesee St., Utica, N. Y."
Binding: No Binding
Book Condition: Collectible-Very Good
Type: Ephemera
Categories: Education, Business and Finance, Trade Cards
Seller ID: 023420
