So we had a double card here, and, thanks to Mr. Price, we have swapped it over for something that I had mentioned in the heading. I didn’t think we could find a card on that but it turns out that there was, and here it is.
The basic premise of the set is that there is a serious picture with a witty speech bubble added on top. Card No.1 is "Signing of the Declaration [of Independence]" and card No.66 is "Columbus Discovers the New Land", from which you can tell they are not in dateline order.
Our card deals with the driving of the Golden Spike, which started the Railroad Revolution. The humour here is that the man wielding the hammer hit his thumb. I do know that humour varies from person to person, so this may well raise a smile, or more, for some of you.
Now the Golden Spike held the rail steady, just as all the other spikes along the track did. But this one was solid gold, and was driven in by Governor Leland Stanfordon May 10, 1869, so completing the Transcontinental Railroad and joining the Pacific and Union lines. It was supposed to take place two days earlier, but the weather was very bad. You can read more about the ceremonies at The Library of Utah/Spike.
Now this set is definitely cartophilic because the wrapper says "with 1 stick bubble gum". These cost 10 cents a pack. Does anyone know when cards stopped containing gum and just became cards, sold commercially? Do let us know if you do.
Also please let us know if you can add any information about this set. For being an American issue it is not in our British Trade Indexes.