Original trade card with a color illustration of a young girl wearing a feathered hat. A blue sky and flowering trees are visible in the background. No printed text on back. No date, circa 1880s-1910s. 3 1/4" x 4 3/4." Printer's information in the bottom margin on front: "Gies & Co. Buffalo, N.Y." Trade card is very clean and intact except for a small bump in the lower-right corner, slight age toning on front, and a few bits of paper and discoloration on back. A Very Good copy. Trade card advertising Globe Soap. Globe Soap was manufactured by the Globe Soap Company, which was incorporated in 1881. The company eventually carried other brand names including Export Borax Soap and Pearl Soap. The Globe Soap Company remained in business until 1928 when it was acquired by Procter & Gamble. The printer, Gies & Company, was a prominent printing and bookbinding firm that was founded by two Buffalo lithographers, Charles Gies and George H. Dunston, around 1871. The company had a very diverse product line and prolific output, manufacturing all sorts of printed materials including trade cards, labels, postcards, lithographs, posters, catalogs, pamphlets, and books. Gies & Co. had the most success during the 1870s and 1880s and eventually had locations across the United States and abroad. Gies & Co. remained in business until about 1922. 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.