Curious Bygone Days

Hmmm… that advertising slogan didn't age well.

Arbuckles' Ariosa Coffee was the go-to coffee in the Old West. In the 1880s, coffee was not a staple commodity. Having to be sold green, it had a short shelf life. It really didn't travel well.

Then two fellows came up with a method of coating the coffee beans with a glaze made from eggs and sugar, which made them last long enough to travel.

But they didn't stop there; they also added other incentives.

Every bag of Arbuikles' had a single peppermint candy, an "instructive, interesting, and Artistic Card," ie, a trading card, and on the back of the package, a coupon that could be clipped out, collected, and turned in for various items found in a catalog you could order from the company.

Gotta Have 'Em All!

Simplicissimus, a German weekly satirical magazine published from 1896 to 1944, then returned from 1955 to 1967.

Cover art by Thomas Theodor Heine

Simplicissimus, a German weekly satirical magazine published from 1896 to 1944, then returned from 1955 to 1967

Simplicissimus, 1915, The Neutral America

The Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum published in 1904. illustrated by John R. Neill.

The Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum published in 1904. illustrated by John R. Neill.

Jack Pumpkinhead, Pip, and The Sawhorse.