(MICHIGAN) Canfield N Calling card used by an early Michigan

Sale 2404 - Lot 185

Price Realized: $ 438

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 200 - $ 300

(MICHIGAN.) Canfield, N. Calling card used by an early Michigan traveler. Letterpress leaflet, 4 x 5 inches, with decorative border; folds, minor soiling and wear. (MRS) Bronson's Prairie, MI, circa 1840?

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The headline reads simply "A Card," and the text is enigmatic: "Going West to visit a few friends, to shake hands for the last time with those I loved on earth. Thinking I might meet some fellow travelers I may never meet again, I would give this Card that will tell my name and place; my age the snows of winter show." We can find no record of an elderly N. Canfield in Bronson during this period. The card gives no indication of its printer, but would seem to be an early example of Michigan frontier printing. Bronson's Prairie, on Michigan's southern border, was first settled in 1828. The card was found among the papers of Elizabeth F. Houghton (see lot 270), whose family members passed through this area en route from Vermont to Illinois in 1835 and 1840.