Original Trade Card - "Farther Than the Sun at Morning Was the Star That Told His Birth"

Original trade card with a color illustration of the Three Wise Men. Includes a gilt background. No printed text on back. No date, circa 1880s-1910s. 4 1/2" x 3." "Goodall Trademark" printed on back with Charles Goodall & Son's signature emblem of a heart, spade, clover, and diamond. Trade card is very clean and intact except for slight discoloration at the edges and a few small wrinkles. A Near Fine copy. Trade card for an unidentified company. The trademark on back belongs to Charles Goodall & Son, a manufacturer of playing cards that was based in London. Charles Goodall (1785-1851) founded his company in 1820. His two sons later joined the business. Charles Goodall & Son enjoyed much success and produced about 2/3 of all English playing cards by the mid-1800s. Over the years, the firm also introduced new products such as stationery and games. The company is also notable for popularizing the court card faces on playing cards as they are known today. Charles Goodall & Son had many more decades of success, but the economic hardships brought about by World War I and the lack of successors resulted in the company being sold to its competitor, De La Rue, in 1922. The Goodall brand name continued to be used years after the acquisition. Trade cards are antique business cards that first became popular during the late seventeenth century in Paris and Lyon, France and London, England. Trade cards were often given by business owners and proprietors to patrons and customers as a way to promote their businesses. Prior to the use of street addresses, trade cards had maps so clients could locate the associated business. Many of these cards also incorporated elaborate designs, illustrations, and other decorative features. Trade cards became popular in the United States during the nineteenth century in the period after the Civil War. The late nineteenth century also saw the advent of trade card collecting as a hobby. While they are no longer in use, trade cards influenced the formation of trading cards and were the predecessors of modern-day business cards.…