Brief History of Trade Cards
by Ben Crane
Over a century ago, during the Victorian era, one of the favorite
pastimes was collecting small, illustrated advertising cards that we
now call trade cards. These trade cards evolved from cards of the
late 1700s used by tradesmen to advertise their services. Although
examples from the early 1800s exist, it was not until the spread of
color lithography in the 1870s that trade cards became plentiful.
By the 1880s, trade cards had become a major way of advertising
America's products and services, and a trip to the store usually
brought back some of these attractive, brightly-colored cards to be
pasted into a scrapbook.
Some of the products most heavily advertised by trade cards were in
the categories of: medicine, food, tobacco, clothing, household,
sewing, stoves, and farm.
Willimantic Spool Cotton
Front view of trade card
Back text on trade card
The popularity of trade cards peaked around 1890, and then almost
completely faded by the early 1900s when other forms of advertising
in color, such as magazines, became more cost effective.
Although trade card collecting began over 100 years ago, today's
strong interest in trade cards began relatively recently. Trade cards
that were bought for ten cents thirty years ago frequently bring ten
dollars or more in today's market--and some have even sold for over a
thousand dollars.
Related sites:
Trade Card Collector's Association
The Cartophilic Society of Great Britain
About the Author:
Ben Crane specializes in Victorian Trade Cards. Please visit his site,The Trade Card Place for more articles, resources, auctions and his trade card catalog.
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