Light cardboard trade card for Chapin's Buchu-Paiba; front: colour chromolithograph shows straw basket, filled with flowers and suspended by a ribbon, which also encircles the basket; very feminine; "Chapin's" is written on a pennant-like ribbon; back: EPH. S. Wells advertising his other products (…
Light cardboard trade card for Chapin's Buchu-Paiba; front: colour chromolithograph shows straw basket, filled with flowers and suspended by a ribbon, which also encircles the basket; very feminine; "Chapin's" is written on a pennant-like ribbon; back: EPH. S. Wells advertising his other products (Wells' Health Renewer, Rough on Rats) with their costs, plus advertising items which can be bought through the mail, i.e.: 10c for "Rough on Rats" Iron Holder, 15c chromo, 13x21" of "Household Troubles", 10c for large size scrap book cards, 35c for song and chorus of "Rough on Rats", etc; black lettering, quite large (bigger than a postcard).
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Purchased by Dr. M. Chiong for his patent medicine collection, July 15, 1995 (before).
Front: "CHAPIN'S // Buchu-Paiba // THE GREAT // Kidney Cure"; back: "LADIES // IT'S JUST LOVELY"; lists all of the items one could get through the mail from E.S. Wells; then it has in bold 9 problems all of which can be cured by "Rough on Rats", Buchu-Paiba, or "Well's Health Renewer"; "The above Goods Sold by Druggists and Medicine Dealers // throughout the world"; proprietor's name and address
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-G Chiong Trade Cards Binder A
Dimension Notes
Length: 17.8 cm. x Width: 12.8 cm.
Condition Remarks
The paper is quite sun-aged; front: a small wedge is missing from the right edge (1/3 of the way down); back: stained all along the edges
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Book
Reference Comments
"The Snake-Oil Syndrome, Patent Medicine Advertising" by A. Walker Bingham, colour insert # 5 and p. 148; "Step Right Up" by Brooks McNamara, colour insert # 1 -- identical picture; "Nineteenth-Century Proprietary Medicine Trade Cards" by William H. Helfand, slide # 24
Research Facts
Same company which produced Well's May Apple Pills, Rough on Corns, Rough on Rats and BuchuPaiba, often advertised together. Buchu-Paiba was an herbal remedy for kidney and bladder problems; Buchuplant (Barosma betulina) first imported to England in 1820's as a diuretic; EPH.S. Wells has some relationship with Wells Richardson & Co; believe it is the same company