Molineux Rifles, Brooklyn, New York Militia, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 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
Burdick 218, N224.304
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American ephemera with this petite commercial color lithograph, *Molineux Rifles, Brooklyn, New York Militia*, from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Military Series (N224). in 1888 to promote their popular Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, this card—measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches—was tucked into cigarette packs as a collectible incentive, captivating boys and young men with its bold imagery of uniformed militiamen wielding swords. These cards capture the Gilded Age fascination with military prowess and local pride. The Molineux Rifles, a volunteer militia u...
About the Artist
Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011
**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...