Memories of Mansfield(s) Images of the past by Ralph Finch
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have always loved trade cards, and have often thought that if I could live another 50 years (that would take me to the age of 130) I would start collecting them, too. Here is one I came across recently, and since I also collect hair bottles, thought this would be a nice image to add to the bathroom wall. Also, it reminds me of my favorite bottle show, the one in Mansfield, Ohio. (Also, sadly, it reminds me of the worst, scariest, meanest cat in the world that I got 41 years ago. I paid a quarter for a kitten, sold by Bob Villamagna’s young son, at the Mansfield show. We named it “Mansfield.” Friends and neighbors still remember it, since everyone became afraid of it, aka the Cat From Hell. Away for a weekend, I asked my boss to stop by and feed the cat. She did. And the cat bit her.) Here is a better Mansfield example that I came across recently, and here is what I found out (edited) about a certain Mr. T. Hill Mansfield: “The front of this card depicts a young girl with long blond curly hair wearing a blue bonnet with a feather. On the left top side it states “Everyone can know by using a bottle of Mansfield's Capillaris that it has no equal for the toilet in the wide, wide world.” Beside the girl there is a large brown dog carrying a sign in his mouth that says “Used and Recommended by Physicians and Druggists, T. Hill Mansfield's Capillaris for the Hair, Scalp and Toilet. It has proved itself a positive cure for dandruff, falling of the hair,
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
and all scalp diseases. It contains not one particle of lead, sulphur coloring matter or anything injurious (put up in pomade form only).” The reverse of the card states: “Capillaris. The many persons recommending it, after trying and receiving no benefit from similar compounds, proves it has no equal. See 96 strong reliable testimonials, gratuitously given, on other cards and circulars. The only article now, or ever on the market, that does all that is claimed for it. Its use will give you an abundance of Luxuriant Hair.” Followed by four testimonials. “Presented by T. Hill Mansfield, Proprietor, Portland, Maine. It is sold by Dealers in Medicine and Medicinal Toilet Articles, Price 65 cents per bottle.”
This short, wax-sealed bottle also came, a few years later, with a screw-top version. The wax-top bottle shown above was on eBay for about $4.
Issued by Capillaris Manufacturing of New York, the card dates to 1870-’90. The internet adds: T. Hill Mansfield registered a label for his product in 1882, and the cure was advertised as late as 1930. There are variations of this trade card, and one has also been found as a poster about 30 inches high.
r FYI: For those of you who have a problem with the word “Capillaris,” the internet explains that capillaries are: “The tiny blood vessels throughout the body that connect arteries and veins, in order to distribute oxygen and nutrients to the cells and remove waste substances.”
This trade card comes in a variety of illustrations, as well as a poster (original and repro).
