Object of the Day: A Trade Card for McLaughlin's XXXX Coffee

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McLaughlin’s Coffee began in 1852 on Chicago’s State Street. Like most business of the day, the coffee concern relied on trade cards as advertising tools. Here’s one which I recently acquired which I’d date to about 1880.

The card is unusually thick, printed on very heavy card stock. The boys at McLaughlin’s really wanted their cards to last. The front shows the usual Victorian trade card stuff—kiddies being cute (and alive—a novelty of the era). In this case, a little girl and a little boy are playing “train” with a toy locomotive and a wooden crate from McLaughlin’s XXXX Coffee. Behind them, a table is conveniently set for coffee with a red cloth which happens to be printed with the product’s name. I wonder why it’s called quadruple-x.

Let’s see what reasonable claims this one makes:

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is called to the continued success of and satisfaction given by 

Mc LAUGHLIN'S 

ROASTED COFFEE 

Which proves the advantage of buying this Coffee. 

     Its particular merit is in its drinking quality, and this is admitted as 

the best in the market. The advantage of a brand put up and guaranteed 

by a house doing an extensive business, enabling them on a large 

scale to devote themselves in a special manner to the business, is much 

greater than the general method of buying in a limited way by different 

persons and in various lots, with no opportunity or possibility of 

strictly maintaining a standard. The package insures full weight, uniform 

quality, and also preserves it from contact with the air, moisture 

or anything else which may affect its strength or flavor, Coffee 

being very sensitive and a good conductor. 

(Sold only in 1 pound packages.) 

Well—that makes me want a cup of coffee. Nothing says, “Good to the last drop” more than a bunch of gibberish about general methods of buying and the ability of a product to conduct moisture.