Object of the Day: A Trade Card for Boston's Belden & Co.

Today has already shaped up to be a very busy day, so I’m slow in posting this morning.  Let’s begin with another of the many trade cards which I recently added to my collection.  When I purchased this lot, I discovered it was a very random assortment of both American and British trade cards and other bits of ephemera.

Here’s another card from the U.S. which was printed in the late Nineteenth Century.  This one advertises a Boston, Massachusetts-based dry goods and import business and illustrates the concern’s activities with a lovely color lithograph of beautiful ships at sea.

The text on the obverse reads:

BOSTON DRY GOODS HOUSE

192 Frankstown Ave., East End

CARPETS, OIL CLOTHS & RUGS,

DRESS GOODS, TRIMMINGS

Small Wares & Notions,

J.E. BELDEN & CO.

The reverse is, curiously, unprinted.