Object of the Day: A Victorian Trade Card for Whisker Dye

I purchased this trade card along with a job lot of antique ephemera recently.  It dates to about 1880 and advertises Buckingham’s Dye for the Whiskers.  Around the dawn of the Victorian Age, it became acceptable for men to admit to being as concerned about aging as woman.  Whereas in earlier centuries, men were actually encouraged to look older, in the mid Nineteenth Century, druggists and designers began to emphasize a youthful appearance for men, and gentlemen all over the world began to find little tricks that would take years off of their appearance.

Depicted here is a youthful looking man—trim and handsome—presenting a box of Buckingham’s Whisker Dye to an older looking man—portly and disheveled.  The implication is that by using the dye he’ll look as good as the man on the right.  The slogan simply states “Use this dye and prevent the unwelcome marks of age.”

The reverse of the card is equally interesting.  It reads:

Buckingham’s Dye

For the Whiskers

Is, in four respects, Superior to any Similar Preparation.

1^st.  It will uniformly color the whiskers and mustache a rich and natural brown or black as may be desired.

 

2d.  The color so produced cannot be rubbed or washed off,--it is permanent,--and when the whiskers are dry they will not soil anything with which they come in contact.

 

3d.   It is a single preparation, more convenient to apply, and much cleaner, than any other whisker dye.

 

4^th.  It contains no deleterious ingredients, and is absolutely safe and harmless.

 

Prepared By

R. P. Hall & Co., Nashua, N. H., U.S.A.

 

Sold by all Druggists.