At the Circus, from the Magic Changing Cards series (N223) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company 1889

This tobacco card, "At the Circus," was made by the Kinney Tobacco Company sometime in the late nineteenth century. Produced using chromolithography, a method of color printing popular at the time, it was part of a series designed to be collected. The appeal of these cards lay in their mass production, and the element of novelty. The printing process allowed for bright, eye-catching imagery, depicting a clown figure. This image also plays with transparency: when held to the light, a hidden image would appear in the blank circle, adding an element of surprise for the collector. These cards reflect the rise of consumer culture and the expansion of industries like tobacco in the late 1800s. Their value wasn’t in artistic expression, but in their ability to circulate widely, advertising a product while simultaneously creating a collectable commodity. This little card reminds us that even everyday objects carry cultural and economic weight, blurring the lines between art, commerce, and popular culture.