When Duke released its popular first series of their 1888 N70 Costumes of All Nations tobacco card insert set, this stunning ad piece heralded the new set's arrival. The large central image of this banner is one of those elusive, over-sized beauties from the mail-away premium album that collected the set's images. The depicted lady was one of the leading female performers of the era—the English actress known to the world as Mrs. Lillian ("Jersey Lil") Langtry. All 50 of the attractive portrait images from the N70 series are also reproduced here. Yet it must be stated, as beautiful as this set's cards and special album artworks actually are, they all pale next to this very special ad piece. This ad banner was produced during an age when the printing industry was the only nationwide communication form, and the chroma lithographers of the day were the reigning monarchs of that medium. This banner stands as a physical representation of the printer's state of the art for the period, with colorful content that is unimprovable in registration and with rich depths of color-blending (possibly as much as a 14-plate process). Even the bold choice of colors that the item displays is exceptional. The decision to use a pricier metallic gold ink for the banner's background adds greatly to the work's level of impact, sharply dividing each integral element of the graphic and punching up every unique portrait and separate element for maximum viewability. Measuring a full 13-7/8" x 28-1/2" in size, the banner is nicely mounted within a matte and frame presentation that allows for viewing of all edges and the original brass trim rods at the upper and lower extremes (very minor wear around the extreme forward edge of the frame). A modicum of horizontal and angled creases appear above and to either side of the banner's large titling, but the text remains largely unaffected, reading: "OUR LEADING ACTORS & ACTRESSES IN - The COSTUMES of all NATIONS - FROM 500 B.C. TO 1888 A.D." A few other areas of imperfection are also detectable, including some other, less-pronounced surface creases and a darkening (probably from hand oils) in the gold inks that encircle the word "The" within the title. Yet nary a fingerprint can be seen on the vulnerable gold inks!  While we can't tell without taking the entire presentation apart, we suspect that conservation work has been performed to the back, possibly in the form of a preservative rice paper backing. But we should stress that this item's incredible level of frontal beauty appears to be all its own, displaying no evidence of restorative work of any type. This is as nice an example of any of the tobacco banners as we have ever seen, and its graphic will stand up to them all. EX/MT condition with an even crisper look.

Price: $4,500.00

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