When PIGS WERE BRAVE

Once upon a time, not so long ago, little kids loved Cowboys and Indians. A company could probably guarantee a sale of something by gearing it towards Cowboys and Indians. Pigs? Not so much. But maybe I'm wrong.

This card most likely dates from the 1950s. It was published by "Fravessi Lamont Inc." Other than that I know nothing. I purchased it in a stack of cards at the flea market, all to a boy named Ricky.

I always liked multi-purpose cards like this as a child. It's a card and a paper doll. And I would have loved the pig. And a pig with an Indian outfit? Whoa, that would have been a joyous surprise.

Click on images to see them larger.

Continuing with the Indian theme, here are a few other children's birthday cards. The one with the little girl making smoke signals has an actual feather on her headband still intact after over 50 years.

No publisher name given for this card. Click on images to see them larger.

Published by "A Forget-Me-Not Card" company. Click on images to see them larger.

UPDATE: Today I received the following comment and wanted to post it also as an update:

John Lamont said...

I can't tell anything about Fravessi, but Jean Lamont was my grandmother. She was a pretty talented water colorist. I have some of her work in the basement and alas, one of her best pieces was lost in the 9/11 attack (I had an office on the 59th floor and had her painting there.) Jean Lamont divorced and remarried Stanley Dell, who was a major translator of Carl Jung. They settled in Washington, CT, where she died around 1987.

Thank you John for adding this information. It's always so much fun to be able to expand on ephemera. I'm certainly sorry for the loss you suffered. Again, thank you.

UPDATE: From Anna Harding:

Fravessi comes from the first names of: Frances Duncombe, Vera Carlson and Agnes “Essie" Govett, who started the company in 1929. The company was later Fravessi-Lamont, then back to Fravessi (maybe in the late '80s). Fravessi was purchased by Olympia Sales Inc in 2002 and continues today as Fravessi and Fravessipaperstreet. Their retail site is olympiacardshop.com and they do carry vintage designs.

Thank you Anna!