Tuesday Treasures -

 Postcards and Photographs and much, much more!  SO MUCH more!

It pays to visit thrift stores often. I also pays to be persistent.  I wanted to stop at St. Vincent de Paul on my way by a few days ago, but drove right past.  I realized right away, and made a detour to go back. There's no such thing as luck, but I feel like my persistence was rewarded!

I always check the postcards first.  Nothing new.  Then I come around the book cases towards the registers and the "Collector's Corner."  This brings me around to glass cases where they occasionally put boxes of ephemera on top.  

This day is was ephemera and postcards!  Vintage and antique postcards!  Linen and Real Photo postcards!  Foreign and domestic postcards!  Not the 5¢ price of their ordinary, and they had them bundled into fours, but organized by place, if they knew.  Like, all four would be from Ireland, or Rhode Island, or Cuba.  

I went hog wild!  Sort of.  I did buy quite a few (okay, quite a lot), however left more than I bought!  

Next to the postcards was a plastic tray of ephemera.  I love that word.  It encompasses so many wonderful old paper items!  I won't bore you with all the little treasures, so... here are just one type.

Trade (or advertising) Cards

Dr. Morses (sic) Compound Syrup was a very popular patent medicine in the 19th century, as it "cured" nearly any ailment!  Not only did Dr. Morse claim it "cures liver and kidney diseases," but it would purify the blood, help constipation, dizziness, and headaches.

If we go by the illustration, your child would be cured and back to grabbing others by the collar and threatening them with a saber!   Actually, this and the print below, were used for various different companies selling various different products.  

Obviously the same artist is responsible for this next trade card, for, not medicine, but fancy willow ware and baskets.   This illustration is so adorable.  

left: Gunther's Confectionary, Chicago

right: J.C. Davis Old Soap, with nine claims of being Absolute and Sweeping, the Paragon of Excellence, on the back.

Jayne's Expectorant, touted as nearly a cure-all for children and adults alike.  Does your child pick his nose, or have a low fever?  Or does she grind her teeth, have flushed cheeks, awake in terror, or even convulsions ("rendering after-life a burden")?  Some, or all of these, plus more, symptoms, according to Dr. D. Jayne and Sons, meant your child had worms.  Adults need not fear taking it as a general tonic along with Jayne's Sanative Pills, to keep ones "bowels open".

Not to be outdone by Dr. Jayne, the Wheat Bitters made by the Wheat Bitters Company was not just good for digestion, but helped with malaria, nervous debility, intermittent fever, insomnia, and more!   Maybe the fact that bitters can be 45% alcohol helped people think they were cured?  These lovebirds have an awfully large bottle on their excursion, perhaps explaining the lady's less than pleased look.

Back where they sometimes "hide" photographs was another plastic tray of photos and more Real Photo postcards, these all of people.  Most are old enough to share, so here are just a few.

 

It seems to have been a "thing" in France at the turn of the last century to create "glamour shots" with children.  I got four different ones, all postcards.  This one reads "Good Year," for a New Year's greeting. 

I got four Carte-de-Visite photos (small photos originally used as calling cards), popular in the 1800s. 

Speaking of glamour shots!  The reverse of this bears a letter written in Polish in 1913.

I should add, I went back the next day, and the day after, to check if they put new things out (no), and get a few more postcards.  There was a sale a month or so ago where a nearby antique store was closing.  The listing showed photos, and some were of postcards and photographs, so perhaps these are some of the leftovers.  I like these kinds of leftovers!