One type of Victorian Trade (advertising) card I’m fascinated by, and could blow my budget on quite easily, is the die cut variety. These were made of sturdy, cardboard-like paper and shaped like real objects – horseshoes, shells and the like, and often very large. The cards I usually feature in this Wednesday column are more the size of business cards or small greeting cards, but some of the die cut can be extremely big.

I thought I’d share a few of my favorites today, and maybe more next week, as they’re quite amazing. This one, for example is  9 1/2″ by 9 1/2″! Here’s the back, with the actual advertising copy. (These are well over 100 years old so sometimes the condition is less than perfect.)
Here’s another horseshoe-themed die cut and then a lifesized shell.  How do you like this gorgeous castle? Makes me want to walk inside and join the ball, which must be going on!

And last but not least, a really amusing one for A&P Tea, that says “Grandmother is in the right boat.”  Not sure about the logic there but I loved everything about the card.

I’ve been saving a little group of special Victorian trade (advertising) cards for this July 4th week!

There, I guess King George will be able to read that. John Hancock

I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet through all the gloom I see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth all the means. This is our day of deliverance. John Adams

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.  Erma Bombeck

Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed – else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.  Dwight D. Eisenhower

I love this card to the right, about the Louisiana Purchase from the late 1800’s!

Where liberty dwells, there is my country. Benjamin Franklin

May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!  Daniel Webster

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth. George Washington

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. Ronald Reagan

It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. Samuel Adams

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect. Eleanor Roosevelt

The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave. Thomas Jefferson

I know not what others may choose but, as for me, give me liberty or give
me death. Patrick Henry

I really like this card from 1879, with Uncle Sam!

In honor of my latest romance set in ancient Egypt, Ghost of the Nile, I’m sharing some Victorian trade (advertising) cards and other ephemera I’ve collected. I refer to my collection of odds and ends as “Egyptiana” – I find it hard to resist anything related to the subject of life along the Nile thousands of years ago. You should see my stack of serious research tomes!

I’m in the throes of an unexpected move, so a lot of my items are already packed, but I found a few things to share today. Here are my four Queens and their pets as visualized by  Royal Doulton in the 1990’s:

And here’s a gorgeous Queen with cape from Royal Staffordshire – I liked it so much, I was inspired to write a scene in Magic of the Nile involving a cloak that has some similarities, although in my novel real feathers were used.

“An old book smells like ancient Egypt.”  Ray Bradbury

“In ‘Plutarch,’ her voice begins to come out; there are actual 2,000-year-old quotes from Cleopatra, and they are sly and saucy.” Stacy Schiff

“I really don’t remember much about Cleopatra. There were a lot of other things going on.”  Elizabeth Taylor

Here’s a clipping I own from an 1899 newspaper, of a well known actress playing Cleopatra:

And some real Egyptiana I’ve shared before, a blue steatite amulet bead from the real Princess of the Nile, Meritamun. I wrote a post about acquiring this little item. Which of course, may or may not be real!

And this late 1800’s drawing based on tomb art was one of the inspirations for Heron Marsh, the estate that figures prominently in Ghost of the Nile.And the key to the Book of the Dead from the movie “Mummy” (one of my all time favorites), which sadly is only a reproduction of the movie prop and doesn’t actually open:

With Mother’s Day coming this weekend, and being a mother and grandmother myself, I figured that was the best topic for today’s Wednesday Whimsy. Oddly enough, I don’t have that many Victorian trade (advertising) cards featuring Mothers. I guess I haven’t been looking for them specifically. I did find a number of historical mothers and children on cards in my collection, so here they are for your enjoyment!

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her. George Washington

The love of a mother is the veil of a softer light between the heart and the heavenly Father. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. Honore de Balzac

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. Mark Twain

Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life. Sophocles

When your mother asks, ‘Do you want a piece of advice?’ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway. Erma Bombeck

I think, at a child’s birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.  Eleanor Roosevelt

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. Sophia Loren

My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I’m a mama’s boy because everything I do is with respect to my mother. I won’t do a movie or a video that would bring disrespect to my mother. Mr. T

Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly. Ambrose Bierce

There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases and its mother’s age. Benjamin Spock

I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog. Sandra Cisneros

And of course here are three of my favorite mothers from the works of Beatrix Potter!