Framed Object Art of fifteen Tokio Cigarette Silks (circa 1920) American Indians. Each measures approximately 2 1/4″ x 3″ and the fifteen are matted into forest green acid free mat and framed in a dark gold Victorian moulding. Overall size is approx. 19″ x 31″ – the colors are stunning, with just a touch of unraveling at the edges (typical, they were never bound at the edges). Perfect for a cabin or the like.
Mama loves object framing, whenever I’m bored – this is what I whip up to get the creative juices flowing again. Set of a dozen modern dance (c1930 screaming art deco) tobacco cards, made by German manufacturer Eckstein-Helpus. The cards are tonal monochrome, and paired with the charcoal mat and chocolate frame are striking. The coolest part is that the second card in is a rare image of Anita Berber. Same era and every bit as high society gossip mill fodder as Mata Hari or Isadora Duncan. Berber became one of the first women to perform nude, and could in fact be found barely clothed most of her life. A short black bob and a mink stole, occasionally all she wore to a party. A drunk and a cocaine addict, she lived a high speed life – muse to many a Weinmar Period artist and early filmmaker in Berlin’s Art Deco boom…before dying of Tuberculosis in 1928 at the age of 29. Each card measures 2” x 2 ½”, the entire piece 16” x 22”.
These cards are called “Arcade Cards” or “Exhibit Cards,” and were manufactured by the Exhibit Supply Company in Ohio from the early 1900s up to the 1950s. They measure 3 1/2″ x 5″ each, are printed in a host of tints and colors on a heavy, trading card stock – and are usually of athletes, or moviestars. Every good amusement park arcade had a machine that dispensed these in the 40s/50s for a nickel a card, so they marketed their fair share of cowboys too;) This is me messing around with the object framing again, Roy Rogers, John Wayne and Wild Bill Elliot in one – and two Lone Rangers cards in the greatest 50s colors in the other, the cards are preserved and still collectable even if for some reason you’d like them out of the frame in the future. 
