Pictorial letterhead advertising Japanese tea with postally used pictorial envelope
- Peoria, IL / Shizuoka, Japan: Oakford & Fahnestock, 1935
Peoria, IL / Shizuoka, Japan: Oakford & Fahnestock, 1935. Very Good. Peoria, IL / Shizuoka, Japan: Oakford & Fahnestock, 1935. Printed and pictorial letterhead for this midwest grocery wholesale company addressed to a D.L. Wilger of Sterling, IL, and signed in text by the company's Japan-based agent K. Nagashima, advertising the company's latest batch of tea. Previous mail folds, uneven and sometimes quite dark spotting along right-hand edge, else Very Good, still bright and sound.
Letter opens a bit threateningly ("A large Tea consuming season is approaching now and you have to deal with Teas in accordance wth the contracts you made during the season of 1934") but then moves on to highlight the quality of the newly harvested tea-leaves that have been selected. "Whether you will rather demand the Blue Ribbon Brand, which is our finest selected grade, or the Wildfire Brand, which is our lowest priced Tea, our careful selection is equally made for both grades and either brand does not have a superior."
The letter goes on to explain that "This is the month of the Boys' Festival in this country. The picture shown on this paper represents the Boys' Festival. Many different colored carp fish banners [koinobori] are hoisted up in the sky everywhere--this means to bless the growth of the boys as the carp is considered to be the most lively and courageous."
The letter, sent from Shizuoka, Japan, provides Oakford & Fahnestock's information in red along the top edge (main office in Peoria, Illinois), while the bottom half of the sheet has a very lovely pastoral illustration of a Japanese village nestled in the mountains, three koinobori attached to a tall pole blowing in the wind. The accompanying envelope is illustrated with a view of Mount Fuji and franked with a 2-sen green Mt. Fuji stamp.
Letter opens a bit threateningly ("A large Tea consuming season is approaching now and you have to deal with Teas in accordance wth the contracts you made during the season of 1934") but then moves on to highlight the quality of the newly harvested tea-leaves that have been selected. "Whether you will rather demand the Blue Ribbon Brand, which is our finest selected grade, or the Wildfire Brand, which is our lowest priced Tea, our careful selection is equally made for both grades and either brand does not have a superior."
The letter goes on to explain that "This is the month of the Boys' Festival in this country. The picture shown on this paper represents the Boys' Festival. Many different colored carp fish banners [koinobori] are hoisted up in the sky everywhere--this means to bless the growth of the boys as the carp is considered to be the most lively and courageous."
The letter, sent from Shizuoka, Japan, provides Oakford & Fahnestock's information in red along the top edge (main office in Peoria, Illinois), while the bottom half of the sheet has a very lovely pastoral illustration of a Japanese village nestled in the mountains, three koinobori attached to a tall pole blowing in the wind. The accompanying envelope is illustrated with a view of Mount Fuji and franked with a 2-sen green Mt. Fuji stamp.