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Standard Oil Company : Original Trade Card - "Use El Dorado Castor Oil on Farm Machinery; It Makes Easier Work for Horses; For Sale by Standard Oil Company, Portland, Oregon."

Original trade card with a black-and-white illustration of "[a] 'torpedoed' oil well in Penna. oil region." A series of oil wells are shown in a forested Pennsylvanian landscape. No date, circa 1880s-1910s. 3 1/2" x 5." Trade card is very clean and intact overall except for slight age toning and a few small spots on front and back. A Very Good copy. Trade card for the Standard Oil Company in Portland, Oregon. The product being promoted is El Dorado Castor Oil for lubricating farm machinery. Promotional text on back describes what equipment and machinery can be treated with the oil such as engines, shafting, saws, planers, mowers, reapers, threshers, flouring mills, and "even a grindstone." Trade cards were antique business cards that first became popular during the late seventeenth century in Paris and Lyon, France and London, England. Trade cards were often given by business owners and proprietors to patrons and customers as a way to promote their businesses. Prior to the use of street addresses, trade cards had maps so clients could locate the associated business. Many of these cards also incorporated elaborate designs, illustrations, and other decorative features. Trade cards became popular in the United States during the nineteenth century in the period after the Civil War. The late nineteenth century also saw the advent of trade card collecting as a hobby. While they are no longer in use, trade cards influenced the formation of trading cards and were the predecessors of modern-day business cards.. Ephemera. Book Condition: Collectible-Very Good. Binding: No Binding

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