Forster, Shortstop, Milwaukee, from the Gold Coin series (N284) for Gold Coin Chewing Tobacco

Art Historical Context

This charming 1887 color lithograph belongs to the Gold Coin series (N284), a set of promotional inserts produced by D. Buchner & Co. of New York for their Gold Coin Chewing Tobacco. Measuring just over three by one and three-quarters inches, the tiny print depicts Forster, shortstop for the Milwaukee baseball club, and was intended to be collected, traded, or pasted into albums by enthusiastic fans. Such ephemera helped popularize the growing sport of baseball while serving as clever marketing for everyday consumer products. The commercial lithographic technique allowed for bright, affordable color reproduction that captured the energy of athletes in dynamic poses. These cards mark an early chapter in the history of sports memorabilia and mass-produced imagery, bridging popular culture with the emerging world of professional athletics. Today, this piece from the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection offers visitors a delightful glimpse into late-nineteenth-century American leisure and the inventive ways companies connected with the public through art and advertising.

About the Artist

D. Buchner & Co., New York · 1850–1900

D. Buchner & Co. was a New York-based tobacco manufacturer prominent in the American market during the 1880s, best known today for its Gold Coin Chewing Tobacco brand and the vivid trade cards the company inserted into its product packaging to drive consumer loyalty. The firm was one of numerous tobacco companies that, during the boom years of American commercial printing, recognized the marketing...