Nine 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
63.350.204.84.63
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Nine Diamonds*, a diminutive chromolithograph from. Duke, Sons &.'s Playing Cards series (N84), produced in 1888 to promote their Turkish Cross-Cut Cigarettes. just 2¾ x 1½ inches, this commercial print captures the Nine of Diamonds in bold, jewel-toned colors, mimicking a real playing card to entice collectors. Tucked into cigarette packs as a premium insert, it exemplifies the era's clever marketing tactics. W. Duke, Sons & Co., led by tobacco magnate James Buchanan Duke, revolutionized the industry during America's Gilded Age by...
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...