Business cards, c.1850.

Business cards. These are 4 business cards from, I think, c.1850. They advertise Peter Robinson, who sold silk shawls from Oxford Street. On the other side is a chromo-litho print of a bunch of flowers and there are 3 different designs which makes me wonder if they were intended to be collected. Each one measures 85x60mm and they are in very good condition. Would they have been handed out in Oxford Street? Or would ladies pick them up in other shops?
I bought them together as a group from my friend who’s a retired auctioneer: he likes ephemera too.
This is the sort of thing that I used to collect. It’s unlikely that I’ll see any more and I love advertising from another period. I love ephemera and there are other things that I’ve listed on this website. Fold-out cards, c.1910.  Most of all I like cards: Valentines, Christmas etc. I plan to list a lot more because I have a collection and they’re easy to post/ship.

I always think of Robert Opie when I see any sort of advertising http://robertopiecollection.com and I was very pleased to see that he has what looks like a very successful website. One of my childhood heroes who’s still going strong.