Victorian Trade Card – Digestine – The Digestine Co., Lynn, Massachusetts, 1884

A vivid and beautifully preserved Victorian advertising trade card for Digestine, a late 19th-century patent medicine produced by The Digestine Company of Lynn, Massachusetts.
The front features a colorful chromolithograph illustration of a smiling child standing among rows of cabbage, promoting Digestine as “A Positive Relief and Cure for Indigestion, Dyspepsia, Constipation, Nausea, &c.” Printed with rich color and fine detail, this lively scene exemplifies the bold and humorous advertising art of the Gilded Age.

The reverse side is printed in black with detailed product information, emphasizing that the tonic contained “No Opium, Morphine, or other injurious ingredient”—a notable claim in an era of questionable medicinal formulations. Testimonials dated 1884 from satisfied customers in Lynn and Cambridge, Massachusetts, lend a historical charm and authenticity to this early American pharmaceutical advertisement.

Product: Digestine
Company: The Digestine Co., Lynn, Massachusetts
Date: 1884
Advertising Agent: J. J. Reithmann & Co., Denver, Colorado
Dimensions: 54 1/2“ x 2 7/8“
Condition: Good condition with rich, unfaded color, minor toning to reverse consistent with age.

A superb and display-worthy example of Victorian medical advertising ephemera, perfect for collectors of antique trade cards, apothecary history, or 19th-century lithography.

I’ve attached the photos so you can see the condition and details of the items firsthand.

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