Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Perhaps the Most Disturbing Object in My Collection...




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.

4 comments:

  1. 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

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  2. Wow, I couldn't have said it any better.

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  3. Candy, little grrrl?

    Slightly 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.....


    :)

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  4. 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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