There are some really wild and wacky images out there. This is a trade card; I have a matching letterhead.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Every once in a while I come across a really interesting cover with overall hand-drawn illustration.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Victorian children going through a family album of trade cards and scraps. Whether they like it or not.
(Collection of George K. Fox)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
1862 billhead of Smith Brothers Company of Boston, agents for the Whipple File Company manufactory in
Ballardvale, Massachusetts. My family moved to Ballardvale when I was 10 years old, and I walked or drove past
that mill building—which still stands—countless times. I am always on the lookout for Ballardvale (sometimes Ballard Vale) items . . . ephemera, real photo post cards and postal history.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A bumper sticker I designed along with all of the show materials for the Washington 2006 international stamp show.
This particular item was never produced, alas.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"woodcut","train","locomotive","patent medicine","boots","Reuben ring","1968","jeppe","flattened can"