Object of the Day: Buckeye Lawn Mowers

Click on image to hop aboard.

Ah…it’s October 29, so let’s get ready for Halloween. In honor of today’s spoooooky treat of the week, let’s look upon the insect world and some of the little buggers who make our skin crawl more than most ghosties and ghoulies.

Today’s trade card comes to us all the way from 1883 and sings the praises of “Buckeye Lawn Mowers.” The manufacturer wants us to know that their mowers are “imitated, but not equaled.”

What better image to put us in mind of buying a mower than imagery of a child riding what I’m supposing is a grasshopper. I’m an etymologist, not an entomologist. And I like Entenmann’s donuts.

Let’s think about this for a moment, shall we? The little tyke—a girl, perhaps?—is riding this bug. That’s all fine and good, I suppose. He or she is wearing a loose, ethereal, sapphire blue drape and has accessorized with a matching blue hair band. Is this child really small—some sort of tiny fairy monster? Or…is the insect really big? We’ll never know. Since Victorian commercial artists loved to play with proportion, it could be a bit of both. There IS some grass there. Just a bit, but it’s tall. Or is it? We can’t really compare it to the sizes of either the bug or the child since we can’t be sure just how big they are. At any rate, it’s grass and it wants mowing.

So, now I want an 1883 lawn mower. Well, ideally, I’d like a new-fangled one from the impending 1884-1885 season. Whose lawnmowers are the best? The card tells us that I should look for a mower made by:

MAST, FOOS & Co. 

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MANUFACTURERS OF 

IRON TURBINE WIND ENGINES 

BUCKEYE FORCE PUMPS 

LAWN MOWERS, IRON FENCING &c. 

SPRINGFIELD, OHIO 

Hmmmm…Springfield. I wonder if the Simpson family ever married into the Foos Family. Oh, but they’re not in Ohio. Or are they?

What does the reverse tell us?

OH, thank goodness, there’s a price list for the 1884-1885 model mowers. Well, that’s pretty nifty. I can get a 28 pound mower for $21.99. And, that’s a senior! If I want a junior, the most I’d pay is $15.00. Now, all I have to do is perfect time travel and I can go back to 1883 Ohio. Then all I have to do is fight off the giant bugs or tiny children or vice versa or both.