NON-COFFEE CARDS
The Arbuckle companies didn't just make and sell coffee. At various times in their history they were also producers and/or wholesalers of sugar, tea, spices, canned fruits and vegetables, and other grocery products. Trade cards were printed and distributed for Arbuckles' Rolled White Oats, "Vesta" Laundry Soap, Ceylon Tea, and Candies.
The cards issued for Arbuckles' Rolled White Oats appear to be common stock cards, on the backs of which Arbuckles imprinted various advertising messages (see examples). Since the intent of each message is to induce the consumer to try Arbuckles' Rolled Oats, it would seem that these weren't "insert" cards (at least not in rolled oats packages), but rather were handed out as "counter" cards. One other intriguing possibility, however, is that these could have been used as insert cards in Arbuckles' coffee packages as a cross-promotional marketing tool. One of the varieties states that "The grocer that sold you this package of coffee has it or will get it for you."
According to information supplied by Greg ArBuckle (who has also supplied nearly half of the images in this category), the Rolled White Oats were produced by the original Pittsburgh location of Arbuckles & Co. from the 1890s to the 1920s.
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The cards issued for Arbuckles & Co.'s "Vesta" Laundry Soap also advertise Arbuckles' Rolled Oats, so I suppose I could include them in the group above, but I'd prefer to treat them as a separate category. Once again, these cards appear simply to be common stock cards, on the backs of which Arbuckles imprinted what seems to be a standard advertising message, although in slightly different formats (see examples). These cards are all larger than the Rolled Oats cards shown above, and the regular coffee insert cards, as well. In all probability, they qualify as "counter" cards, or point-of-sale handouts, but since the sizes of most are still within the dimensions of an Ariosa coffee package, I can't rule out the possibility that some might have been distributed as "insert" cards.
Since I only have seven of these cards in my own collection, the remainder of the cards you see here are from the collection of Greg Q. ArBuckle.
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Arbuckle Bros. sold several different brands of tea, under labels such as "Anona", "Russian", and (apparently) "Ceylon", for which the card shown below was issued. Based on the wording at the bottom of the card, I'm guessing that it may have been intended for distribution at restaurants that served this particular brand.
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| CEYLON TEA |
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Another possibly related Arbuckle company that put out trade cards was Arbuckle & Co., of Burlington, Vermont, a candy maker.
According to Greg ArBuckle (who also supplied over half of the card images shown here), this was an existing small company that was apparently taken over by John Arbuckle and enlarged. Although it clearly had a line of candies sold through retailers, as evidenced by these cards, Greg believes that it was also the supplier for the peppermint sticks included in each one pound bag of Arbuckles' Ariosa coffee.
| NOTE: Despite Greg's assurances that this is a related company, I'm not entirely convinced of the association. Thus far, I've not actually run across any documentation connecting Arbuckle & Co. with either Arbuckle Bros. of New York or Arbuckles & Co. of Pittsburgh. On the other hand, I have run across newspaper articles from the mid-1890s making brief references to Arbuckle Bros. use of the second floor of their Jay Street factory in Brooklyn "for the manufacture and packing of candy which the firm distributed with its coffee". It would seem, then, that additional research might be in order. |
These cards generally appear to be "counter" or point-of-sale handout cards, based on the wording of the text. They also appear to be stock designs that were simply imprinted with Arbuckle & Co.'s advertising message. In fact, the picture portion of the first seven cards shown below were printed on heavy paper and then glued to the underlying card stock which bears the text. All the cards have blank backs.
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| ARBUCKLE & CO. CANDIES | ||||||
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