Trade card, Soapine. Kendall Mfg. Co. Donaldson Bros. Lithographers, circa 1870s – 1890s.

Price:  $7.00          Size:  2 and 15/16 x 4 and 1/4″

Kendall Manufacturing Co.’s Soapine, had a very long run, from 1827 to the late 1950s;  here is yet another example of the Victorian Era advertising for the product, one of many that can be found online. The card’s condition is not great, note the crease and there’s a small tear in the top right and a little of the wording torn off of the back, but still it’s a beautiful and imaginative design:  A Tahitian-haired little lady in pink and blue (and love that yellow hat) somehow, lol, blowing a bubble that has the Soapine box inside. Note the iridescence to the bubbles, the lady’s shadow, and the wood flooring. (It always seems like in noticing the details we’re transported back in time; we imagine a sense of the artist’s thought process…..adding in the lady’s bracelets….)

Donaldson Bros., Five Points, N. Y.

Our trade card is the second one we have for Donaldson Brothers, of Five Points, NY. See also B.J. Stone Trade Card, New Haven, CT. And per MetroPostcard, Donaldson Bros. was Frank J., George W., John L. and Robert M. Donaldson, and operated from about 1872 – 1891 before being consolidated with the American Lithographic Company. The 1878 New York City directory shows all four brothers as lithographers, at the address of 4 Mission Place. Five Points was a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, NY.

Sources:  Donaldson Brothers 1872 – 1891 “D – Publishers.” MetroPostcard. (accessed November 4, 2017).

Trow’s New York City Directory, 1878. Vol. 91, p. 356. (Ancestry.com).

Five Points, Manhattan. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Points,_Manhattan (accessed November 5, 2017).