Card Number 23, cut-out from banner advertising the Opera Gloves series (G29) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of late 19th-century advertising *Card Number 23*, charming cut-out from a banner promoting Allen & Ginter's Opera series (G29) cigarette cards. Produced around 1890 by the innovative American Tobacco Company, this commercial color lithograph (just 3 1/8 x 1 3/4 inches) captures the elegance of women's fashion, showcasing stylish gloves perfect for opera evenings. These ephemera were part of a booming trend in collectible inserts tucked into cigarette packs, enticing smokers with colorful, themed series. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized mass printing with its vivid hues and fine details, making high-quality images affordable and widespread. Allen & Ginter pioneered these cards in the 1880s, blending commerce with art to build brand loyalty—collectors traded them like modern trading cards. This piece reflects Gilded Age consumer culture, where glamorous depictions of women promoted tobacco to men, while highlighting opera gloves as symbols of refined femininity. From The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it offers a window into how everyday objects became coveted treasures, preserving a slice of advertising history.

About the Artist

Allen & Ginter|American Tobacco Company

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...