Card Number 773, "The Highest Bidder," from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-7) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

"The Highest Bidder," a trade card from the 1880s, is part of the "Actors and Actresses" series produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes. The image, likely a posed photograph, features a man and a woman, perhaps a couple, with their hands clasped. The woman wears a large hat, while the man holds a flower. The card, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, embodies the trend of using celebrity imagery to advertise products, a popular strategy of the late 19th century. Trade cards like this illustrate the historical intersection of advertising, social customs, and visual arts.