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The cards in this series carry no identifier of manufacturer or publisher, nor any numbers to indicate their order in a set. They have a three-quarter divided back design which means that the message space on the back is squeezed into about a quarter of the card. This is a transitional phase between undivided backs and evenly divided backs. It probably dates the production of these cards to very early in the divided-back era -- early in 1907. I have the following cards in this series:
"Robertson Drug Co., Dispensing Pharmacists, SALEM IND." is known to me through a stamp on an Aladdin knife sharpener:
Here's a closer view of the text. It looks like the copy was rubber-stamped onto the porcelain sharpener, and it has bled and faded over the years:
The Robertson establishment was located at 44 Public Square -- the east corner of the square and South Main St. It was operated during the 1950s and '60s by Don Williams. It's now the Danmar Pharmacy. This card was postmarked from Salem on August 2, 1909 and addressed to Miss Cressy Thomas, Kokomo, Indiana (evidently Miss Cressy Thomas was very well known or Kokomo was then a very small town, because no further address was apparently required). The message, in a tiny, spidery hand, says, "We have been to[o] busy on the farm to do anything lately but are about through with harves and then we can rest awhile. Don't drive that sorrel horse too hard. I would enjoy a 'grey mule' ride immensely but can not afford the mule." It is signed "CBN". I have another copy of this card that was sent to "Bessie Cauble, Salem, Ind., RR 8, Box" and postmarked from Salem at 5 p.m., Jan 21, 1908. The message on the back is even more cryptic than the above. It reads, in its entiretly, "L.Z." (Updated 10/29/00 with the knife-sharpener information, 5/18/04 with the new copy of the card) |
