Original Trade Card - "The Great American Tea Company, 31 & 33 Vesey Street, New York City."

Original trade card with a color illustration of a man punching a bartender in the face with the caption, "A Claret Punch. The result of not using The Great American Tea Co.'s Celebrated Teas and Coffees." Includes a gilt background. No date, circa 1880s-1910s. 3" x 4 1/4." Trade card is clean and intact overall on front but there is slight darkening on front and back and several surface chips on back that have led to some loss of text. A Good copy. Trade card for the Great American Tea Company. The text on back offers customers a promotional gift, a special "toilet set," when they buy at least $30 in their teas and coffees. The Great American Tea Company also went by another name, the Great Atlantic Tea Company (A&P), which was founded in 1859 by George Gilman as a tea and coffee store. It was then known as Gilman & Company and had been built upon his father's leather tanning business. Over the years, A&P expanded its product line and eventually became one of the most prominent grocery retailers in United States. A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the U.S. from 1915-1975 and was also the largest of any retailer until 1965. However, new competition, such as Wal-Mart, and the Great Recession led to financial difficulties for A&P. After over a century successful business, A&P finally shuttered its doors in 2015. 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.…