Women's Hat Fashions Late 1800's

From the June 1898 issue of The Delineator magazine this color plate shows 7 styles of women's hats with incredible detail. The page is titled Fashionable Summer Millinery.

The Delineator was a favorite for women to find the latest fashions and to order patterns to make the items themselves or to have the items made for them by their favorite seamstress or milliner.

The pages from these old magazines look lovely framed and hung in any room. This particular page would look stunning hung with a hat collection!

Justice League of America or JLA

The JLA (Justice League of America) goes back to the Silver Age of comics for it's inception. First shown as a team in 1960 the original members included Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. Throughout the decades a variety of other Superheroes have joined the team to right the wrongs of the world. I particularly like the JLA comics in the graphic novel format from the 1990's that Grant Morrison worked on.

Tonto - Lone Ranger's Buddy

Tonto, the Lone Ranger's pal and companion got his own story in comic book form beginning in 1951. The story line lasted for 31 issues and was published by Dell. The cover on this comic doesn't look anything like the Tonto I remember played on TV by Jay Silverheels back in the 1950's.

Did you know that back in 1939 when The Lone Ranger first became a radio show that Tonto saved The Lone Ranger after he was left for dead by outlaws and nursed him back to health? Turns out that Tonto and The Lone Ranger were childhood friends and that The Lone Ranger had saved Tonto after a massacre of his tribe when he was a child. Tonto gave a ring to the masked man and that was the way that he could always make sure that it was his friend.

Babies a Favorite theme in Advertising

Babies, toddlers, and children in general have been a long time favorite to illustrate in advertising many different products. Perhaps the theory was to appeal to mother's with adorable children in order to sell their products. I know when I see an ad with a cute little baby, rambunctious toddler, or child in it I take notice of what is being sold. Many artists became famous for their depictions of children. I find this vintage ad for Karo Syrup from 1942 just adorable. Don't you just want to squeeze those rosy pink cheeks?

Hoosier Beer Advertising Crate

I wanted to take some time today and steer a little away from ephemera and show an unusual advertising collectible that is considered a cross-over. This wonderful old wooden crate style box fits into the advertising collectible category because it has the Hoosier Beer logo on it. It would also be desirable to a collector of breweriana because it was used for Hoosier Beer, hence the cross-over. A third category would be from us silly people in Indiana who collect items made in our state or have the name 'Hoosier' on them. So this old advertising box would be in at least three categories of collecting.

Hoosier Beer was brewed in South Bend, Indiana during the 20th century by South Bend Brewing Company. I couldn't find specific dates as to when it began and ended. I do know that an association was formed to market and brew Hoosier Beer from 1900 to 1949. The company was called South Bend Beverage & Ice Company. During the prohibition era that company made Hoosier Cream Soda. My guess is that the box pictured is after 1949 as it held 24 - 12 oz bottles of beer and it has South Bend Brewing Company instead of the Beverage and Ice name. If anyone out there knows more of the history, I'd be fascinated to know.

Dionne Quintuplets

Numerous pieces of ephemera can be found with the pictures or a likeness of the famous Dionne Quintuplets of Ontario, Canada. Pictured here is a magazine advertisement for Kre-mel Desserts, a pudding mix, with Marie the smallest of the Quints at birth.

The Dionne Quintuplets were born on May 28, 1934 in a rural area of Ontario. They are the first known quintuplets to survive their infancy. The quints were also identical which is a one in 57 million occurrence. The Canadian government took the children away from their parents after having learned of a contract with the parents to exhibit the babies at the Chicago World's Fair. To protect the sisters from exploitation the government provided a home with a nursing staff and doctor in residence. Unfortunately, the Canadian government proceeded to exploit the girls for their own financial gain and used them and the doctor in commercial ads, books, and other things. I believe that only two of the five sisters are still alive today.

Maud Humphrey Lithographs

One of my very favorite types of ephemera are the antique lithographs by illustrators like Maud Humphrey (Bogart). Maud is famous for her illustrations of babies and children dressed in Victorian style clothing. She is also famous for being the mother of actor Humphrey Bogart. It is reported that one of her favorite baby models was her son Humphrey. He was used to model for an advertisement she did for Mellin Baby Food. Maud's career spanned from the late 1880's up to the 1920's. She did illustrations for advertisements, calendars, cards, and books during her career. Pictured is a litho dated 1888 published by Frederick A. Stokes & Brother of New York.