Both salesmen and the merchants they called on were busy people. Appointments were to everyone’s advantage. Mail delivery 1890-1920 was exceptionally good, and first class mail travelled great distances in a day or two for a penny. So salesmen began to send out “Advance Cards” to notify their customers of their pending arrival, and hopefully keeping them from buying competitor’s cigars “just yesterday.”
It appears as if, in most cases, the salesmen designed or had a hand in the design of their own cards. The personalities of the cards may tell us something about the men who used them.
Salesmen’s Advance Cards
A National Cigar Museum Exhibit
© Tony Hyman
This one portrays himself as stupid. 1907
[0603]
He’s a high tech adventurer, flying only 9 years
after the Wright brothers 1st took off. 1912
[0631]
Is portraying yourself as a burglar sending your customers the right message? 1907
[0602]
Salesman portrays himself shocked by the customer’s sexual behavior. Another for the
“Is this really a good idea?” file.
[0605]
Salesman as overweight rich guy.
[0609]
A man of few words follows a basic rule in advertising: show the product! 1906
[0624]
A family man whose gun-totin’ 3 year old twins, Lional & Jerome, give a less than grammatically correct salute to dad’s salesmanship with a swig from the bar. 1915
[0613]
Spokesmodel not included.
Sex sells. Then, now and forever.
[0608]
Cute kids and family values...what a combination!
Card of A.G. Carlson of Hawarden, Iowa.
[0617]
Real photo card of toddlers playing doctor.
Cuteness for its own sake. Did it get noticed?
It got saved since 1906. [0607]
Some salesmen were a little vague about
when they’d be arriving.
[0615]
This wholesale grocery company portrayed its salesman as a strange looking Irishman
driving a vehicle made of its products.
“Always show the product” to an extreme. 1908
[0606]
Salesman portrays himself as a bully.
Can you read what day next week he’s coming?
[0621]
“I expect to call upon you soon.” Another vague arrival. Bennett. Sloan was a large successful wholesale grocer with warehouses in Philadelphia and elsewhere.
[0622]
You’ll find the Bennett Sloan name on a good many ‘custom’ brands, especially book shaped
Christmas boxes, a specialty of theirs.
[0628]
A generic advance card, with arrival information handwritten or stamped. It is the most common advance card because a good sized lot of unused cards hit the market a decade or so ago.
Almost never seen used. [0623]
A foreigner would not be negotiating with a Cuban woman in 1914, but it makes a nice image for an ad. Crane is a wholesaler. This same image is found on signs and postcards with names of other leading wholesalers in different parts of the country. [0619]
How could you not like a guy with that name?
The maker himself went on the road.
[0637]
One of the brands made and sold by
Ernest Person, Fact. 229, Willmar, Minnesota.
Not in the NCM collection.
[w0000]
OWL was the 19th century’s most
heavily advertised cigar.
[0620]
[w444172]
“I will call about Frid or Sat.” 1898 transportation
left some plans vague. The lion is the
trade mark of PLUTOCRAT cigars.
[0614]
Early cards tended to be vague. Sent 1882.
[0626]
One of the Campbells representing Campbell-Lakin Segar Co., a 1911 Portland Oregon wholesaler whose brands included TADEMA, EL GONZALEZ, HAVANA TASTE, SAN LUCIA, PRIME MINISTER, REFUND and PASSPORT. [11870]
TADEMA was a clear Havana previously made in Cuba, but in the 1900’s already moved to Fact. 301 in Tampa by maker Arguelles, Lopez y Hno. Available in many different sizes and shapes.
[5364]
Importer and Dealer in Foreign and Domestic Cigars and Tobacco, and Proprietor of the ELECTRIC Cigar... Our Mr. Vickary will call on you in a few days with a full line of samples. Feb. 1st, 1884 [8267]
Many cards had a place for salesmen to sign their names. This meant more than one was on the road or that turnover was high, a reasonable possibility.
Knowlton was in business in the 1890’s.
[0635]
M.J. stayed home while son went on the road.
Makers of BEMENT’S PEACH and other brands
for at least 30 years, starting in the 1890s.
[0639]
Bement’s number one brand in 1912.
[0676]
Putting your picture on a card became a lot easier by the mid 1890’s. With the flood of salesmen on the road, it seems like a good idea to help retailers remember you. Stern made cigars and jobbed
brands of other makers. [11869]
Stern made TOM HUXLEY and OLD AMERICANS
and possibly STERNADO in Factory 831, 18th district, Cleveland Ohio, and sold PRINCE CONGO, LA FLOR DE L.S., YANKEE CRUISER, MODEL AMERICAN, BELLE DE ESPANA, [2161]
“Wait for the wagon! Which will be at your place on or about 30th with a full line of Whips and Segars. If in want please hold your order and oblige.”
[1157]
POET was their 10¢ cigar, MARKSMAN this
Boston company’s 5¢ offering. Company
started in the 1870’s and lasted for decades.
[0638]
Later version of the company’s card pictures
logo of both brands and the factory.
[0659]
Fact. 235, Massachusetts, 1921.
[3549]
This 1912 card pictures the only factory in Brillion, Wisconsin. With a daily output of only 1,500 cigars, they were keeping a salesman on the road. He probably delivered and ran other errands as well. [0612]
The recipient of this card sent it back with a request for a 1902 price list. Note the offer: With every 1,000 LILLIAN RUSSELL cigars you got your choice of 500 FLORADORA, 350 CREMO or 70# of chewing tobacco free. [0629]
From the famous Engelbrecht factory in San Francisco. Card dates 1881-85 before messages were permitted on the stamp-address side.
“Expect me shortly” rowing a giant cigar.
[11645]
Another rare 1880’s example.
Not in the NCM collection.
“I have sent you by express, prepaid, several sample boxes of my 15, 10 and 25 cent cigars. You will also find matches and a cutter in the package. Should the please you, just drop us a postal and we will send you more samples.” A Satire about the abuse of samples by salesmen and retailers alike. [0610]
