Coal bucket, from the Novelties series (N228, Type 5) issued by Kinney Bros. 1889

This "Coal Bucket" novelty card was made by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company, likely around the turn of the 20th century. Printed on a small piece of cardstock, it features an image of a woman within the outline of a coal bucket. The card’s appearance – shiny, gold, and embossed – gives a sense of luxury, but it was actually a mass-produced item, distributed to promote tobacco sales. The printing techniques used here, like chromolithography, were part of a burgeoning industrial process that made colorful images widely accessible. The amount of work involved in the design and production of these cards is significant, reflecting the scale of the tobacco industry at the time. This little card embodies tensions between handcraft and industrial production, luxury and everyday life. Thinking about the materials and processes used in its making helps us to understand the complex social and cultural context in which it was created.