This Victorian trade card just might be the most bizarre/disturbing/creepy item in my entire collection. It certainly wasn't the most expensive item, but it's WAY up on the creepy hierarchy. I won't write any commentary, because this truly speaks for itself. As a Trevor Brown collector, I find this piece particularly intriguing.
Oh my God! Even if this weren't an ad for laxatives, the little girl encouraging strangers to pull her hair seems creepily masochistic enough to go in the creepiness hall of fame
ReplyDeleteWow, I couldn't have said it any better.
ReplyDeleteCandy, little grrrl?
ReplyDeleteSlightly creepy victoriana, as were the doctors and pharmacists of the day. The laxative pills were most likely laced with opium or cocaine derivatives, plus a bit of alcohol. The patient was righteously stoned
as she clears her bowels.....
:)
So true about the cocaine usage...there are some old trade cards that explicitly use the word "cocaine" and I've been trying to track some down for our collections.
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