Once upon a time in a small region of France called Landes the people all walked on stilts. Ground walkers were looked down upon by their elevated stilt walking cousins.
Buffalo Bill went from being a buffalo hunter, scout and Indian fighter on the classic American West to an international celebrity that toured the world and met heads of state. In 1905 Buffalo Bill Cody and his entourage of American Indians and personalities from the Old West travelled to Paris, the City of Lights, where they impressed crowds with reenactments of the Indian wars as well as feats of horsemanship.
Buffalo Bill Cody
Buffalo Bill’s visit to Paris was recorded in a French magazine called. L’Illustration, which featured photographs of the political and social events of the day.
Before the invention of disposable ballpoint pens, fountain pens were the writing instrument of choice. They were expensive, and one might use the same fountain pen for years, so choosing one that fit your style and budget was important. When America still had an industrial base, there were hundreds of small manufacturers of fountain pens competing for business. Here is an ad from the late 1800s which is typical of the claims made by these now forgotten fountain pen makers:
A Magazine Advertisement for a Fountain Pen
The text of the advertisement reads:
“The Best is Cheapest
Crown Fountain Pens
Crown Gold Pens
-Received Highest Awards at World’s Fair, Chicago 1893
All Sizes and Styles / Every Pen Guaranteed
Crown Pen Co. Manufacturers
All Makes of Fountain and Gold Pens Repaired”
This is a photographic journey back to British India.
India in 1912 was still a colonial possession of the British Empire, the jewel in its crown. Its vast population, strategic position and resources made the subcontinent one of the Empire’s greatest possessions. But compared to other up and coming British colonies such as Canada and Australia, India was economically backwards and undeveloped. There were few industries, and most people lived an agrarian lifestyle, their traditions largely undisturbed by the British or other Europeans.
Not that the British and North Americans did not try to remake India in their own image. The late 1800s and early 1900s saw a wave of Christian missionaries from America and Great Britain go to India.
The pictures below were published in a book entitled India and Daily Life in Bengal by Reverend Z.F. Griffin, a Baptist missionary in India for 15 years. The pictures record the way life was in India in 1912. Some things have not changed that much in some of the more rural areas, while in many other ways the India of today would be hardly recognizable to Reverend Griffin.
An Indian Boy Herding Cattle
Bringing Pottery to Market
Hand Powered Saw Mill
A Sweeper
Day Labourers in Calcutta
The Bank of the Ganges, the Holiest River in India
Temple on Bank of the River at Benares
The Faithful by the Ganges
Boat used by the Christian missionaries
Cremation on the banks of the Ganges
Hindu Devotee With Arms Rigid
Hindu Pilgrim Preparing Cakes by the Way Side
This devout man is traveling a great distance to a holy shrine by prostrating himself, rising, and then prostrating himself again.
A person of means being transported in a litter on the backs of two men.
These men are returning from the river where they have washed the clothes.
A wandering holy man: note the leopard skin.
We’ve all seen the ads encouraging us to send our old, unwanted gold and get cash back. With the price of gold at an all time high, we are promised oodles of money if we just turn in our old wedding rings from our first, second or third marriages, and perhaps even our unwanted jewelry or grandpa’s fillings.
You might think that this annoying phenomenon was the product of the Age of infomercials, but you would be wrong.
Perhaps as further proof that there is really nothing new under the sun, I recently came across an example of the cash for gold business model in an ad published in the 1916 edition of the World Almanac.
Here it is:
Send unwanted gold, jewelry, false teeth, wedding gifts and get money!
The text reads: TURN INTO CASH. Your old gold, silver, platinum, duplicate wedding gifts, diamonds, etc which you don’t use; also discarded false teeth, broken or otherwise, with or without gold; will send you cash same day that goods are received and hold your shipment for 15 days. If the amount sent is not satisfactory will return your goods at my expense. ALEX LOEB. Jeweler and Smelter.
Note the striking similarities to today’s version of the same business model. As with the modern TV ads, this ad 1) asks you send gold by mail 2) pays you immediately 3) will return the items if you are not satisfied. Note also that the advertiser claims to be a smelter of gold. This is similar to certain ads now on tv where the advertiser says they operate their own refinery.
The only difference, in 1916 if you did not like the price they offered you for the gold, they would ship it back at their cost. Today, if you don’t like what they offer you you have to pay for the shipping, and because most people don’t want to be bothered with the extra shipping cost they usually agree to the price offered to them.
There is not much new in the world of advertising or money for gold.
