Victorian Trade Card Garfield Tea Syrup Dressed Pigs Patent Medicine Laxative For Sale

Victorian Trade Card Garfield Tea Syrup Dressed Pigs Patent Medicine Laxative — A comic card of two well-dressed pigs out for a stroll. Approx. 2.40 x 3.35 in.

DESCRIPTION
A comic card of two well-dressed pigs out for a stroll. She wears a flowered bonnet, a yellow dress with puffed sleeves, a white apron and a blue bow, and carries a red parasol; he wears a bowler hat, a tailcoat with a flower in the buttonhole, a yellow waistcoat, a blue bow tie and striped trousers, and leans on a cane. Lettered across the top: \"Garfield-Tea Syrup\" (the final letters run off the right edge, as cut).

The back is printed in black: \"Garfield Tea. Purifies the Blood, Cleanses the System, Restores the Complexion, Cures Constipation and Sick Headache. Garfield-Tea Syrup, A Pleasant Laxative. Best Medicine for Babies and Children.\" It lists a 6 oz. bottle, \"105 doses for infants\", and a 14 oz. bottle, \"40 doses for adults\", and offers free samples of Garfield Tea, Syrup and Headache Powder with the booklet \"How to keep the Baby Well,\" thirty-two pages \"printed on enameled paper, moiré cover, sent free.\"

Approx. 2.40 x 3.35 in.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Patent medicine on parade. One remedy to purify the blood, clear the complexion, cure constipation and headache, and serve as the \"Best Medicine for Babies and Children\": claims like these ran freely before the federal Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Garfield Tea and Garfield Tea Syrup were made by the Garfield Tea Company of Brooklyn, New York, and examples of the products are held in the Smithsonian\'s National Museum of American History.

Pigs in their Sunday best. Dressed animals were among the most popular trade card subjects, and this courting couple, parasol and cane in hand, is a fine example for collectors of pigs and comic animals.

CONDITION
Very good for its age. Front: bright color; a faint vertical crease line near the right edge in the lower half; the card was cut close at the right, so the end of the heading runs off the edge; light toning; corners sharp to lightly worn. Back: light toning; a small grey smudge by \"Cures\"; a small dark fleck in \"Garfield\" in the lower text; a faint round dent in the left margin near the top; partial printing from the neighboring card along the left edge. Please see the photos, which are part of the description.

ABOUT THE PRINTING
This is an original chromolithograph, and it was slow, exacting work. Each color had to be drawn onto its own separate stone by hand — in monochrome, the artist judging how much stipple each area needed so the colors would combine correctly only once every stone had been printed. The sheet then went through the press once for every color it carries, often a dozen or more, and every pass had to register exactly against the last. A pass out of register showed.

Under magnification the image resolves into irregular hand-drawn stipple, each ink carrying its own dot pattern, the colors mixing in the eye rather than on the paper. There is no regular halftone screen and no four-color rosette, which is what a modern reproduction would show. Modern process printing simulates every color from four inks; chromolithography laid each color down as its own.

The back is printed in black type, separate from the color work on the front.

PROVENANCE
From my family\'s estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

ALSO IN OUR STORE
More Victorian advertising trade cards for patent medicines, coffee and baking soda are in our store.

Please visit TF sales Intl: images and any video show the actual item and are part of the official listing description, so please review them closely. Measurements and weights are approximate, and any maker or material we haven\'t confirmed is described as assumed. Questions? Message us; we answer quickly.

Ref# ADV-058