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Color lithograph trade card. 10.5 x 6.5 cm. . . Lautz Bros. & Co., Buffalo, New York: The Lautz Company started out as a small candle establishment in the early 1850's, and then incorporated soap manufacturing into their business. The firm was established by an American businessman, Wilhelm (William) Lautz Sr. who emigrated from Germany around 1853. Lautz Bros. & Co. became one of the most important establishments of its kind in the United States. After William Lautz Sr.'s death, his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Lautz, his sons, J. Adam, and Charles, Fred C. M., and his grandsons continued to run the firm under the name of Lautz Brothers & Co., in Buffalo, New York. The 1880 Buffalo City directory lists the company address at 24 to 36 Hanover Street, Buffalo New York. Their firm was well known for manufacturing a variety of soap brands such as Acme Soap, Gloss soap, Towel Soap, Ready Soap, Stearine Soap, Cotton Oil Soap, Best American Soap, Extra German Soap, Irish Shamrock Soap, Castile Soap, Blue Danube Soap, Laurel Oleine Soap, Master Soap, Circus White Spray Soap, Marseilles White Soap, and other products. The Lautz company also went into partnership and invested in other firms such as the Wesp, Lautz Brothers & Co., (Niagara Starch Works), the Niagara Stamping and Tool Company, the Onyx Polishing Works of the Lautz Company. The 1880 Buffalo City directory also lists the Wesp, Lautz Brothers & Co. (Niagara Starch Works), office and salesrooms at 24 to 36 Hanover St., Buffalo, New York. The Niagara Starch Works manufactured the Starch Brands, Niagara Starch, Niagara Corn Starch and Niagara Gloss Starch. This original chromolithographic trade card was printed by the G. H. Dunston Lithographic Co., Buffalo, New York around 1885 for Lautz Bros. & Co., Buffalo, New York. It depicts an exterior scene with a barefoot boy standing by a fence whittling a stick. His image resembles Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn character. The company's promotional text for this soap product reads; "Use Lautz Bros. & Co.'s Pure and Healthy Soaps, Best in the Market". The Lautz Bros & Co. Soap brands were advertised as a pure made soap made with the choicest material that money could buy. Their advertisements encouraged you to give them a try, and if you did, you would agree with them. They defied all of their competitors to produce a Soap equal to ACME. Their Marseilles White Soap brand was advertised as a fine soap composed of cotton seed oil. They guaranteed it was a perfectly clean product that contained no putrid or diseased animal fats and recommend it for washing, kitchen use, as well as for the bath and toilet. They claimed Marseilles White Soap was a laundry soap containing all the qualities of the finest toilet and bat soap would not shrink your woolens or flannels. The Lautz Bros. soap was advertised with several memorable slogans such as, "Use Lautz Bros & Co.'s Pure and Healthy Soaps, Best in the Market", "Best Bar Soap Made", "Best in the Market", "If You Want The Best Bar Soap For Laundry Use Acme, Cut Full Pounds", "Use ACME, Leader in Quality, ", and "The Top of the Heap! Sure to Please! Will do Honest Work! No more Yellow Clothes!". Some trade cards contained offers for free gifts if you mailed them Twenty five colored wrappers of any of their soap brands. Their soap could be purchased at general merchandise retail stores and grocery stores. Seller Inventory # 51-5528
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