This book is OUT OF PRINT! This is our last copy.
Table of Contents
1800 Jewelers Trade Cards form the source material for the most comprehensive compendium of information concerning one of America's earliest and most effective forms of advertising. These cards, many rare and some unique, were selected for their striking lithographic color, unusual designs, or historical significance. The finest lithographers are represented: Prang, Ketterlinus, Donaldson and Currier and Ives. Such cards were a primary advertising vehicle for a broad range of products in the infancy of American industrial expansion. The text explains their history and importance in early advertising art, and gives data, hitherto unpublished, concerning the whereabouts of thousands of artisans in the Jewelers 'fades during the 19th century, especially the period after the Civil War.
The soul of the book centers around the cards. These are representative samples of all types, classified into 39 categories. Boss and Keystone cards command a special interest (and high prices), and the collection contains a large quantity. The lists supply over 10,000 facts. Each Jeweler or kindred tradesman has been recorded in an alphabetical as well as geographical listing and a reference shows if the card is in one of four most important public collections: MMA, MCNY, Smithsonian, or American Antiquarian Society.
A chapter is devoted to watches and clocks, and sets forth trademarks for both foreign and domestic wares up to the turn of the century, as reported by JCK at that time. Specialty collector's items such as Watch Papers, advertising mirrors, and boxes are also illustrated.
The Burdick Collection in the Print Room of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, contains many Jewelers Cards which are recorded in this book. This data becomes a valuable source of material not available in the published Burdick Directories. Similarly, recordation of the Smithsonian and Antiquarian Society's holdings will prove useful to students, dealers and collectors, as access to this information requires special researchers, or time consuming visits to these institutions.
There is a useful and current PRICE AND VALUE GUIDE, as well as thoughtful, accurate and detailed bibliography.
All who share an interest in Victorian Jewelry, silver, gold objects, clocks, watches, and spectacles, will find rich and rewarding material in this book. Horologists and geneologists will also be intrigued. In addition, the arts of printing and lithography, and the development of the advertising arts unfolds in all its many facets.
