Philadelphia, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
1887
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
63.350.201.6.25
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American ephemera with *Philadelphia, from the City series (N6)*, a petite commercial color lithograph produced Allen & Ginter in1887. Measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, this tiny print captures the flag of Philadelphia, emblematic of civic pride during the Gilded Age. Allen & Ginter, pioneering tobacco manufacturers, issued these cards as promotional inserts in their cigarette packs, transforming everyday smoking into a gateway for collecting. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized printing by enabling vivid, multi-layered colors on a mass ...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
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...