West Australia, from Flags of All Nations, Series 2 (N10) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
1890
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
63.350.201.10.49
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *West Australia, from Flags of All Nations, 2 (N10)*, a diminutive commercial color lithograph by the pioneering tobacco company Allen & Ginter in1890. This tiny, measuring just 2¾ x 1½ inches, captures the flag of Western Australia—a British colony at the time—amid a global series that celebrated national symbols. Part of the revolutionary "N10" set inserted into cigarette packs, it the era's booming trade card craze, where everyday consumers collected these colorful inserts like modern trading cards. Allen & Ginter, innovative mar...
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...