Hat, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) issued by Kinney Bros.

Art Historical Context

This charming miniature print, titled *Hat*, comes from the Novelties series (N228, Type 4) issued by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company in 1889. Produced as a commercial color lithograph, it measures just over an inch tall—small enough to have been tucked inside a cigarette package as a collectible novelty. Such ephemera were popular marketing tools in the late nineteenth century, turning everyday tobacco purchases into opportunities for gathering colorful, themed sets. The Kinney Brothers, known for their innovative advertising, used vibrant lithography to depict everyday objects like hats with crisp detail and bright hues. This tiny sheet reflects the era’s growing print culture, when advances in color printing made attractive giveaways affordable and appealing to a broad audience. Today it resides in the Metropolitan Museum’s Drawings and Prints department as part of the Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, preserving these once-disposable items as valuable records of American commercial design. Though modest in scale, the print captures the playful spirit of Victorian-era collecting. Its simple subject and precise execution highlight how even the smallest pieces of printed ephemera can reveal much about the visual tastes and marketing ingenuity of their time.

About the Artist

Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011

**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...