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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Dr Hoxie! The King of Remedies!...is not a quack.

So, I found this box of old papers....stop me if you've heard this one before.  Yes, Superman has his kryptonite, Achilles had his heel, and I hope to go down in history as being felled by a box of paper. I can't explain my obsession with the past, maybe it is my desire to know it, so I don't repeat it?  Truthfully, I enjoy finding humor in everything around me. You may think that a useful trait, but it just means I spend a lot of time laughing at my own material. This is also the eternal quest for knowledge, or in my case, nocturnal.  As promised, this post is a continuation of the previous post where I began peeling away layer after layer of old paper to discover what had not been tossed in the trash bin a hundred and ten years ago (this eases my mind for all the times I've forgotten to take out the trash). What I found was a small collection of trade cards. 
These are 2 x 2.5 inches and the one on the right is my only clue as to their age. The backs are calendars with a little advertising that has been cropped by my scanner.

Unfortunately, they were part of someone's album and the glue does not want to come off.   This next set were larger.
 Trade cards were all the rage in the later 19th century.  Color lithography was the I-pad of its day in 1865. Interesting to look at, collect, yes even trade. Though I would guess that this is where the misconception of trading cards, and trade cards was born. You could trade trade cards, but these were trade cards because they advertised trades. Whew! Too many trades, I'm dizzy. These became popular by being tucked in products, handed out as gifts by businesses, or just left in small piles by the checkout.

  Their condition keeps them from being a major score for treasure. Though worth something, without the glue marks and stains, they would sell for $15 -$25 each. An ad for Dr. Hoxie is invaluable for the name alone. Hoxie is not a quack, but could he be a hoax? Only his tar & featherer knows...

I've taken the train through Utica, New York and this dry goods establishment may have been amazing, but hardly one of the "real" attractions of the city. Though, in 1890, a place that sells carpet and sacks of rice? It must have been the Costco of its day.


1 comment:

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