Toboggan, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) issued by Kinney Bros.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 in. × 1 in. (7 × 2.5 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, N228.139
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Toboggan*, a charming commercial color lithograph from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Novelties series (N, Type 4), produced in 1889. This tiny gem, measuring just 2 3/4 × 1 inches, was designed as ephemera—likely a collectible insert tucked into cigarette packages to entice smokers and spark a collecting frenzy among enthusiasts. Tagged with "Girls," it the playful spirit of winter leisure, depicting young girls enjoying the thrill of tobogganing, a nod to emerging recreational trends in Victorian America. Chromolithography, th...
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...