Trade card, Ferry & Co.'s verbena

Object Details

Date
ca. 1875-1900
Period
Victorian (1837-1901)
Company
D.M. Ferry & Co
Description
Color lithographic print on cardstock. This trade card is for D. M. Ferry & Company, Detroit, Michigan. The card features red, pink, and purple verbena with the caption, "Painted from actual specimens grown on D.M. Ferry & Co.'s Trial Grounds." On the verso is printed information about the verbena with a price list.
Label Text
In the period following the Civil War, the use of trade cards became widespread in America, reaching the height of popularity and design in the late-nineteenth century. The equivalent to the modern business card, a trade card was a means to promote a variety of goods and services, and act as a memory aid used by merchants and traders. Trade cards were usually square or rectangular, made of paper, and sufficiently small to fit inside a gentleman’s pocket or a lady’s purse. Advances in multi-color printing and color lithography fueled increasingly sophisticated designs and made cards more affordable to businesses. Cards usually had an image on one side and the businesses information on the other. Stock cards were available, with a blank space for companies to fill in their own information.
In the late nineteenth century, companies used trade cards as a form of promotion. Businesses distributed these cards to clients and potential customers at exhibitions and fairs, on sidewalks, through the mail, stuffed in packages, or in stacks on store countertops. The attractive and colorful designs and illustrations led to the popular hobby of collecting trade cards in the late nineteenth century. Cards were kept in albums, hung on walls, put in frames, and added to scrapbooks. The passion for collecting led trade cards to become trading cards as enthusiasts exchanged cards among each other.
Mark(s)
D. M. Ferry & Co., Detroit, Michigan
Topic
advertising cards
chromolithographs
ephemera
caricatures
marketing
seed
Seed industry and trade
Trade advertisements
Verbena
Victorian
See more items in
Horticultural Artifacts Collection
Credit Line
Smithsonian Gardens, Horticultural Artifacts Collection.
Data Source
Smithsonian Gardens
Accession number
1987.026.006
Type
Advertising ephemera
Trade cards
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Medium
Paper, lithograph
Dimensions
5 1/4 × 3 in. (13.3 × 7.6 cm)
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/aq4eec4e40a-7c36-4168-8b28-4e84b21c4676
Record ID
hac_1987.026.006
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