This site uses museum, library, preservation, business-history, and marketplace sources to explain methods and historical context.
Primary research collections
- Smithsonian National Museum of American History: Warshaw Collection, Lithography — trade cards, lithographs, bills, price lists, catalogs, and printer records.
- Smithsonian Lemelson Center: the advertising trade card — history of nineteenth-century trade cards and color lithography.
- Library of Congress: U.S. Patent Office Advertising Prints and Labels Collection — commercial prints and labels spanning 1874–1940.
- Library of Congress Graphic Design Collection — advertisements, trade cards, menus, brochures, labels, and printing techniques.
- National Park Service Preservation Brief 25 — historic sign types, significance, repair, and reuse.
Marketplace categories
- eBay Antique Original Advertising Signs
- eBay Original Collectible Advertising Tins
- eBay Collectible Advertising
Source policy: museum records establish context, not automatic authenticity or market value for a privately listed object. Every piece still requires matched physical evidence.