Opossum, from the Quadrupeds series (N21) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes
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
63.350.201.21.34
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the whimsical world of 19th advertising with *Opossum, from the Quadrupeds seriesN21) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes (1890). This commercial color lithograph, just 2¾ x 1½ inches, captures the marsupial's curious snout and furry form in vivid detail. Produced by the innovative tobacco firm Allen & G, with designs attributed to Lindner, Eddy & Claus it belongs to a popular series of animal trading cards inserted into cigarette packs to entice collectors and stiffen packaging. Chromolithography, the era's breakthrough in color printing, enabled mass production of these eye-catching eph...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter|Lindner, Eddy & Claus
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...