Amiens, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
1887
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 3.8 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.201.6.35
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, tobacco companies like Allen & Ginter revolutionized marketing by inserting collectible chromolithograph cards into cigarette packs. This tiny card, *Amiens, from the City Flags series (N6)*, issued in 1887, showcases the flag of the historic French city of Amiens—known for its soaring Gothic cathedral. Measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, it was designed to stiffen packages while sparking a collecting frenzy among smokers and children alike. Produced via commercial color lithography, a breakthrough technique that enabled vibrant, mass-reproduced images with layered inks, ...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...