Card Number 93, Miss Sadie Martinot, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American pop culture with *Card Number 93, Sadie Martinot*, from Actors and Actresses series (N145-2). Issued by W. Duke, & Co. in the 1880s to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes, petite albumen photograph captures the poised elegance of Sadie Martinot, a celebrated of the era. Measuring just 2 5/8 × 1 7/16 inches, it was designed as a collectible insert in cigarette packs—part ephemera, part promotional gimmick—inviting smokers to amass sets featuring theater stars. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whites and sensitizing it with silver salts, were the gold standard for sharp, detailed photography in the 1880s, perfectly suiting these tiny portraits. Duke's cards democratized celebrity imagery, turning everyday tobacco users into avid collectors and fueling a craze for actors and actresses amid the Gilded Age's theater boom. Martinot's inclusion highlights women's rising prominence on stage, from burlesque to legitimate drama. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a treasure trove of such printed ephemera—this card offers a snapshot of commerce, fame, and photographic innovation, reminding us how everyday objects preserved cultural icons.

About the Artist

W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920

**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...