Before Happy Meals, before Cracker Jack, there were trading cards. These charming images served as a gimmicks for one product or another, this one produced for Hood’s Sarsaparilla. The reverse side would have an advertisement about the benefits of the product. This one evokes the charm of childhood with the elegance of English country life. The girl is dressed in proper attire for a fox hunt; the presence of the hounds reinforce this impression.

Artist Unknown – Fox Hunt

Hood’s used many images of young girls in their advertisements, trade cards and calendars from the 1890s to 1910s. Here is an example of one of their calendars.

(Artist Unknown) – Hood’s Sarsaparilla Calendar (1898)