1870s-1880s Vintage Christmas Gift Package Cards (5) - RI Victorian Album Scraps - Steel Engravings by Farmer, Livermore, & Co. & E.G. Farmer Co. - Providence RI

Collectibles : Paper : Victorian : Christmas : Gift Cards : Steel Engraving : Scraps

 

Five 1870s-1880s Christmas & gift package cards from a Rhode Island vintage Victorian scrap album - each card is an extraordinarily fine steel engraved image. The snow-bound train and the fishing boat in the storm images alone are amazingly fine & highly-detailed - truly works of art. The images of the running stream and violin-playing & flute-playing music "muses" are also very well-done.

All cards are single-sided - the snowbound train measures 5-3/8" x 3-1/4"; the fishing boat & running stream each measure 4-1/2" x 3"; the "muses" each measure 4-5/8" x 3-5/8".

The snow bound train, fishing boat running stream bear the imprint of Farmer, Livermore & Co., of Providence Rhode Island, and date between 1870 and 1878, when the company was reorganized as E.G. Farmer & Co. The music "muse" cards both bear the imprint of the successor company, and date somewhat later. Farmer's companies were the only steel-engravers in Rhode Island, and had a national reputation. Their imprint is frequently found on certificate of stock, bonds & bank notes for many prominent American companies and banks of the era.

PHOTO NOTE: Slight defects are exaggerated by the scanning process, and are much less noticeable when viewed in person.

CONDITION NOTE: All but the violin-playing muse are near mint. This card has foxing and light discoloration over the right most of the card. However, these defects are exaggerated by the scans, and not nearly as distracting in person.

Item ID: 25-0347-L