Object of the Day: A Trade Card for Standard Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machines

Trade cards weren’t always just rectangular.  Very often companies commissioned cards of unusual, dye-cut shapes to advertise their products.  This card dates to about 1880 and is shaped like a hand fan—still a fashionable accessory at the time.  Not only that, but the fan is decorated in the Chinoiserie style which was popular.  A portrait medallion depicts a stylish young woman.

This trade card advertises “Standard” Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machines, claiming that they’re the “Best on Earth.”  Very often, these cards were printed so that they were blank on the reverse.  The cards would be distributed to retailers and distributors by the manufacturer.  The blank space on the back allowed the retailer to use a stamp to emblazon the card with their own information.  That’s what we see here.

The reverse—stamped in deep purple ink (now a little faded):

C.W. Kerstetter

Dealer in

Watches and Jewelry, Sewing Machines,

Needles, Oil and Supplies, Agent for

Standard Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machines.

Clearly, by the spelling of “jewelry,” we can see that this card was for an American retailer.  If it had been for a British shop, the word would have been spelled, “jewellery.”  Standard flourished in Cleveland Ohio at the turn of the Twentieth Century.