THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

Taken from The Hagley Museum and Library Website : Patent medicine promoters pioneered many advertising and sales techniques. Patent medicine advertising often touted exotic ingredients, even if their actual effects came from more practical elements. The producers of many of these medicines used a primitive version of branding to distinguish themselves from their many competitors. Within the English-speaking world, patent medicines are as old as journalism. The marketing of patent medicine formulas fueled the circulation of early newspapers. Newspaper and magazine advertising helped spread the word of these nostrums to the country's most remote corners. Advertising for patent medicines was not limited to newspapers and almanacs. Printed broadsides were major sources of commercial information. Early broadsides dealt with epidemics, providing suggestions to prevent the spread of diseases. In the early 18th century broadside advertisements by druggists and apothecaries began to sur...

Another popular collecting area for billheads is that of oyster companies. I particularly like these billheads as they tend to be elaborate and decorative. The names of the oyster brands are also funny and interesting. Oysters became popular in 19th century America with the rise of oyster houses, oyster parties and oyster cookbooks. As Easterners settled westward, they took their love of oysteers with them. In his Life and Liberty in America , Charles McKay stated that: "The rich consume oysters and Champagne ; the poorer classes consume oysters and lager bier, and that is one of the principal social differences between the two sections of the community." The meet the western demand, oysters were shipped via stagecoach on the "Oyster Line" between Baltimore to Ohio, then via the Erie Canal. Read more on the popularity of the oysters here . Below are some examples of oyster billheads.

There are several sellers on ebay UK that have some nice billheads. I wanted to highlight two of those folks as I think they have some of the nicest stuff out there. I have recently bought a couple of billheads from one of these dealers. When I get them in the mail I will post them for you to see. The first seller is ephemerafly - great, great billheads - lots of nice early ones too. I check back regularly to see what they have. Also usually has nice early examples of trade cards. Here are a couple of items ephemerafly has for sale now: Next is the seller K9pud . I have not yet bought anything from this seller, but I have had my eye on one item that I hope to soon buy. Here are some nice examples from this seller:

Another interesting collecting area for billheads, and one that has a lot of options, is collecting billheads for newspapers or journals. Usually the illustration on these billheads is that of a printing press or printer - store fronts are also popular. Along with doctor and hotel billheads, these use the term "to" instead of "bought of". My favorite of the examples below is the Parsons billhead (last one).

Brewery billheads can bring premium prices. In my hunt for billheads, I have yet to come across one. There is a seller on ebay dmephemera that was quite a few buy it now available. I have pictured some of the seller's items below. Living in Wisconsin you would think I would run into beer billheads - another trip to the Northern Wisconsin paper heaven is in store maybe next weekend. Maybe I will find some - if not, I know I will find some other goodies.

Here are some examples for canal bill of ladings. The first one is for Eddy & Bradley's Line via canal boat for Whitehall dated 1851. Very plain bol. Next up is an example for Jackman & Sherman on board the canal boat "Martha" via D. Bradley's New York, Boston & Western Line dated 1855. The last example has a nice illustration of a boat and is for George Cochran of Pittsburgh.

Here are some examples for railroad billheads - obviously most have train graphics on them.

Typically, each steamship company issued their own bill of lading, sometimes modified for by conditions or customs at the port of destination. Many bear illustrations of the steamships in the left hand margin. Bill of ladings are great historical documents showing what is being shipped. If your interest trends to financial ephemera (as mine does) or transportation ephemera, these are a great collectible area to consider.

From Rickards The Encyclopedia of Ephemera (a must have for ephemera collectors): A bill of lading (BOL) is a term commonly used for a statement of goods loaded for transportation on sea, land or air freight. The document itemizes the goods to be carried and names the the carrier and the places in between where the journey is made. In effect it is a receipt by which the carrier takes responsibility for the goods listed and their safe delivery. The BOL is one of the earliest maritime documents. Style: The BOL in its earliest form typically appears as a printed blank, landscape in format, often bearing an engraved illustration or large decorative initial and having a broad left hand margin. Spaces are left in the body of the text for inseration of details. The document usually opens with the words "Shipped in good order and well conditioned," with the opening word being stressed typographically or by decorative embellishment. The wording in early billheads make frequent...

I was searching through Live Auctioneers the other day and came upon a lithograph sold by William Reese of the store front of the Wetherill firm. Really neat. Thought I would share it with you.