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Victorian trade cards are an early form of collectible advertising. Popularized after the Civil War by businesses, they offer a colorful and diverse look at popular culture and society in the late 1800s.
Trade cards originated in England in the 1700s with tradesmen advertising their wares. But the advent of lithography in the 1870s made it possible to mass-produce them in color, leading to a golden age from 1876 to the early 1900s when halftone printed newspaper and magazine ads became more economical...
Trade cards typically had a picture on one side and an ad on the other. There were custom cards printed for specific products, and stock cards which could be used for any product. Trade cards were popular for medicines, sewing, and farm equipment, and a range of other products. Some rare Victorian trade cards are now worth thousands of dollars, for example cards advertising Clipper Ships traveling from the East Coast to California in the 1860s.
How did I start collecting Victorian trade cards? In the late 60s I was a bottle collector, early American bottles … [more]
American advertising has always told a rousing story. What people had and what they could acquire. From the first i… [more]
How did I get started collecting Victorian Furniture? Antiques is in my genes, my mother's family were longtime ant… [more]
I started off collecting comics, and still do, but I’d been given a few early Disney pinbacks as a child and always… [more]
How did I get started collecting advertising antiques? My dad was a lecturer and tutor in graphics and art from the… [more]
Dave Campbell contacted me after reading a post on The Baseball Card blog. He's been collecting baseball cards non-… [more]
I was 10 when the movie came out and I went to the store and bought a couple of packs of Star Wars cards. But I end… [more]
Malcolm Warrington is based 12 miles to the west of Central London. He is a council member of the UK Ephemera Socie… [more]
I liked to collect things even as a child. Things that didn’t cost anything, like different colors of stones. The… [more]
I started collecting in 1986. If you’re in Boston and you’re a baseball fan, the Red Sox may take over your life. T… [more]
Ben Crane's excellent reference site on Victorian trade cards. Includes a scrapbook containing hundreds of beautifu… [read review or visit site]
This classy looking British site features hundreds of high resolution photos of antique porcelain pre-war (enamel) … [read review or visit site]
Tom Boblitt moderates this extremely deep, collaborative site dedicated to non-sports cards (tobacco, gum and candy… [read review or visit site]
John Werry's in-depth blog on rare Victorian Furniture, with detailed, informative and often humorous posts on doze… [read review or visit site]
Duke University's library has pulled together an impressive collection of over 7,000 ads printed in U.S. and Canadi… [read review or visit site]
Attention paper collectors: don't miss Malcolm Warrington's exquisitely designed tribute to Victorian scraps (stamp… [read review or visit site]
From the Nostlagia Factory in Virginia comes this celebration of 'mid-century automotive advertising illustrations'… [read review or visit site]
Malcolm Roebuck's tribute to the ornate silk picture bookmarks and postcards ('Stevengraphs') produced by Thomas St… [read review or visit site]
Ian House's gallery of early 20th Century American package designs. Browse the exhibits in slide show mode or view … [read review or visit site]
Paula Zargaj-Reynolds’ blog, an extensive collection of 20th century vintage advertising, is a visual feast. Scro… [read review or visit site]
Great reference on ephemera... includes examples and descriptions of various ephemera categories, selected special … [read review or visit site]
This gallery of cigarette magazine advertising from the 1940s and 50s contains no surgeon general's warning, just p… [read review or visit site]
Marty Weil's wide-ranging, in-depth blog on ephemera, including lots of great interviews with ephemera collectors. … [read review or visit site]
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