Five Diamonds, from the Playing Cards series (N84) to promote Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes for W. Duke, Sons and Co.
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
63.350.204.84.59
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like W. Duke Sons & Co. revolutionized by inserting colorful collectibles into cigarette packs, turning smokers—and often children—into eager collectors. This tiny chromolithograph, *Five Diamonds* from the N84 Playing Cards series (1888), promoted Duke's Turkish Cross-Cutarettes. Measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches, it mimics a diamond-suited playing card, part of a larger set designed to captivate audiences with vibrant, card-game familiarity. Produced via commercial color lithography—a cutting-edge technique for mass-producing vivid hues on pa...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...