This Old Paper

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Certainly seems silly to explain the joke.  The gentleman asks “My hair keeps falling out.  Can’t you give me something to keep it in?”  and the pharmacist responds “Yes sir– How will this do?” while holding up a cardboard box.

This doesn’t technically count as a patent medicine trade card, but I’m keeping it in the permanent collection because it’s just so darn appropriate.

The notation along the side on the back of the card reads ‘Bamforth & Co. Publishers Holmfirth (England) and New York. No. 1747, Copyright 1911, by Bamforth & Co.’  And the front bottom right hand corner has a little circular logo of the same company.  Information about the history of Bamforth postcards can be found here — this company is probably known better for its later ‘Saucy Seasides’ series which was cartoonish and full of slightly blue humor.

Also, it looks like this card is made via a colorized photograph, and its just barely possible to make out a few brand names!  How cool is that?

Up first, ‘Fazenda’ (lit. Portugese ‘farm’) which is a word for the coffee plantations of Brazil, but also the name brand of the product of same.  The reference linked just there leads one to think the apothecary depicted in this card is somewhere in the UK.

Menthol cones were also a common topical ‘cure’ for headaches and neuralgia.  Menthol is a crystalline compound that was traditionally extracted from the Mentha Arvensis plant.  The Japanese had used menthol in traditional medicine for quite some time, but it wasn’t until the late 18th century that it was introduced to the West.  An 1886 report from the American Pharmaceutical Association gives some good background.  Some druggists made the cones themselves (instructions here), but many bought them wholesale from some manufacturer.  As is a common theme among patent medicines, the purity and quality of menthol cones made by commercial suppliers was questionable, some being cut with parrafin, spermacetti, or other sundry substances.  There was also an issue about whether and which kinds of menthol cones would be subject to the revenue stamps for proprietary medicines.  Today menthol is mostly synthesized chemically, and continues to be widely used for various medicinal purposes.

‘Fairilene’ and ‘Doricene’ are also visible on the top left and right hand corners of the card, respectively.

‘Fairilene’ seems to have been an ‘anti-filth’ preparation, what we might nowadays call shampoo?  Again, this source is British.  As for ‘Doricene’ I couldn’t seem to come up with anything.  Any ideas?

Also, the drawers that line the back wall have labels that are just almost readable but not quite.  Darn.

Final thought:  Were men as sensitve about hair loss in 1911?  Possible that sending this card to someone could have been a cruel joke.