Contributor |
Wemple & Company, printer. |
Title |
Frank Miller's crown dressing. [graphic] : Well dis chile am 'stonished at his own genius- dat Frank Miller must be a conjuror-shua! |
Publisher |
New York : Wemple & Company |
Publisher |
N.Y. New York. 1870 |
Date |
[ca. 1870] |
Physical Description |
1 print : lithograph ; sheet 8 x 11 cm (3 x 4 in.) |
Description |
Racist trade card depicting an African American man cobbler in a shop setting. Shoes the boy-faced man shining a boot from
a counter lined with shoes and boots. He looks out toward the viewer, and holds a dabber in his right hand and the boot in
his left. To his left is the counter of footwear along the wall. A chest, boxes, and a bag are visible in the right foreground.
In the left are several pairs of shoes and boots strewn in a pile on the ground in front of a counter on top of which a bottle
of Frank Miller's Crown Dressing rests. The cobbler is attired in a collared shirt, striped pants, an apron, and leather shoes.
Frank Miller & Co. was a New York manufacturer of shoe polish based in Manhattan. The company was founded in the 1860s and
continued operating throughout the late 19th century.
|
Notes |
Title from item. |
|
Date inferred from content and genre of print. |
|
Advertising text printed on verso: Frank Miller's Improved French Blacking. Gives a quick, brilliant, and durable polish,
with positive nourishment to the leather. It is different in composition from common blackings, being based upon the French
process, with every valuable feature of the French style retained, while such improvements have been made to insure a dryer
and more durable gloss, with increased pliability of the leather. Frank Miller's Crown Dressing. An invaluable preparation
for restoring ladies' and children's boots, shoes, rubbers, travelling bags, and all black leather goods that are soiled or
worn by age or use, to their original beauty of finish and softness. Frank Miller's Leather Preservative and Water-proof Blacking.
This blacking is not designed to produce a polish, but to render the leather soft, pliable, water-proof, and much more durable.
For more than forty years it has been the reliance of farmers, miners, sportsmen, lumbermen, soldiers, and outdoor laboring
men. It does away with the necessity of using rubbers, which are expensive, uncomfortable, and destructive to health and leather.
This is the only article designed for this purpose which has met with universal approval. Frank Miller's Peerless Blacking.
This article will fully meet the requirements of the consumer, as to quality. It gives a quick, brilliant, jet black gloss,
without injury to the leather.
|
|
Gift of David Doret. |
Subject |
Frank Miller & Co. |
|
African American men -- Caricatures and cartoons. |
|
Polishes industry -- New York -- New York. |
|
Racism in popular culture. |
|
Shoemakers. |
|
Shoe shining. |
|
African American shoe shiners. |
Genre |
Lithographs. -- 1870-1880. |
|
Trade cards. -- 1870-1880. |
Location |
Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Goldman Trade Card Collection - Miller [P.2017.95.126] |
Accession number |
P.2017.95.126 |