Trade Card for "Best Tonic," Philip Best Brewing Co., 1870-1900

Summary

In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

Artifact

Trade card

Date Made

1870-1900

Subject Date

1870-1900

Creators

Philip Best Brewing Company 

T.H. Hinchman & Sons 

Blair & Downer 

Place of Creation

United States, Michigan, Detroit 

United States, Wisconsin, Milwaukee 

United States, Michigan, Morenci 

Creator Notes

Product made by Philip Best Brewing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sold by T. H. Hinchman & Sons, Detroit, Michigan.

 On Exhibit

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

90.0.281.48

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Color

Multicolored

Dimensions

Height: 5 in

Width: 2.75 in

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