Black Red Game Bantams, from the Prize and Game Chickens series (N20) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 1/2 x 2 3/4 in. (3.8 x 7 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
63.350.201.20.10
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming 1891 commercial color lithograph, *Black Red Game Bantams*, belongs to Allen & Ginter’s “Prize and Game Chickens” series (N20), issued as collectible cards inside packs of cigarettes. Produced by the Gast Lithograph & Engraving Company, the tiny card—just 1½ by 2¾ inches—showcases two vibrant bantam roosters in rich reds, blacks, and golds, reflecting the era’s fascination with competitive poultry breeding and exhibition. Such cigarette cards were among the earliest forms of mass-produced trading cards, designed both to advertise tobacco and to encourage repeat purchases through...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter|The Gast Lithograph & Engraving Company
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...