19 th Century Salesman's Sample Card - Glass Buttons or Jewelled Sew On Decorations
A 19th Century sample card with 10 tiny sew on mirror glass jewels ( Buttons). The card is in good order and the mirror jewels are in the following colours: silver, amber, light blue, dark blue, deep purple, green, light purple, orangey red, strong red and grey. Each little button or jewel has its colour number alongside it and there is a full catalogue number at the top and other numbers and details. The card itself has lost bits at the top two corners but has nice gold printing of a picture of a factory and two award logos for Paris 1889 - MedailleD'Or and Chicago 1893 Highest Award. There is a further logo to the bottom with the initials A.S. and J.H.J.S. A travelling salesman offering top quality beads, sew on jewels and buttons would have used cards just like this to show his wares to prospective clients in dressmakers and haberdashery shops. This may be a Bohemian sample card as so many of the decorative trims, buttons and glass jewels made in the late 19th Century and the first quarter of the 20th Century came from the Bohemian area. The card itself measures 3inches by 6.5 inches and the little old button jewels measure 3/16ths of an inch in diameter.