This example of advertising art is not, strictly, an historical artifact that has been mailed.
This advertising card was included in a bundle of vintage postcards I saw recently.
In the US, four-color printing of commercial advertisements increased dramatically in the last decades of the 19th century.
Printing exhibitions at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 popularized the expansion of printing businesses across the US – introducing steam-powered presses, rotary presses (rather than hand-set presses), and the widespread use of color in mass printing of images.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Exposition
From Google:
“The 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia served as a major showcase for high-speed printing presses and automated publishing technology, highlighted by Richard March Hoe’s web printing press and large rotary presses powered by the central Corliss steam engine.”
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Here, we see a girl in a white jacket with a jaunty scarf at her neck.
On her head, she sports a cap of blue cloth.
A wreath of fir and holly, studded with berries and pine cones, encloses her torso.
The wreath may be a nod to the December date printed below.
We read that “G. A. Schlechter” at “6th and Pine Streets” is “Opening December 2nd and 3rd 1891”.
Although the advertisement does not identify the place, we know that this is a business in Reading, PA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading,_Pennsylvania
There is no indication of the card’s printer – the reverse is completely blank.
We may assume that the work was done and distributed locally.
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G A Schlechter was jeweler, a manufacturer of novelties (cases for pens and glasses), a designer of insignia pins (Firemen), and the co-publisher of a pictorial history of Reading, PA.
In a quick internet search, I did not find additional biographical information about Schlechter – I hope that others are better-informed about his life.
Readers did submit additional documentation:
On a website devoted to “Views of American Silversmiths” I found a photograph of Schlechter’s store, circa 1908.
