page 140 -- New England Clothing Co., S Booth & Son, The Concentrated Feed Company, Renne's Pain Killing Magic Oil, H & C Koevoets, Dr. Perrins and two unknowns

updated 25 July 2017

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Interested in games and puzzles? The Association of  Game and Puzzle Collectors will connect you
with folks who share your interests.

From a 1996 talk by Jerry Slocum on Puzzle Cards  [FULL PDF]  comes this succinct explanation of both puzzle cards and the rise and fall of advertising trade cards in general:

Sam Loyd's "Trick Donkeys" puzzle card was one of his most famous creations.

From Google Books, commentary on the effectiveness of Sam Loyd's (correct spelling) puzzle trade cards emerges:

Title	Printers' Ink, Volumes 60-61 v.61 no.2 p.12 9 October 1907
Publisher	Printers' Ink Publishing Company, 1907
Original from	Princeton University
Digitized	Jul 16, 2008

back of the puzzle card above

Via Google search and archive.org, we have a description of the Lynn, MA business that distributed this puzzle trade card from

Coincidence? On the corner of Market and Liberty Streets in Lynn MA stands a proud brick building with a large "1880" carved into its cornice. It is advertised as Masonic Hall and it appears the first floor and maybe the basement are used as retail space. The New England Clothing Company might have been the first retail tenant in this building.

Here's how it looked on Google Street View in Sept 2011:

A puzzle card that could induce both nervousness and dyspepsia!

S. Booth & Son operated out of Waterbury, CT as well as Thomaston.

alternate address 33 Wendell St., Boston

Despite testimonials to the contrary, the Massachusetts Agricultural Station did not give this product very favorable reviews, as per this Google Book entry from no.20, May 1886, p.6:

Title	Bulletin Issues 8-57 of ...Bulletin, Amherst Massachusetts. Agricultural experiment station
Author	Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station
Published	1884
Original from	the University of Michigan
Digitized	Dec 18, 2008

In the ad from Google Books below, Renne's cautioned that their oil did not set broken bones, though as you can see, it seemed to cure anything else anyone could imagine.

Title	History of the City of Lawrence
Author	Jonathan Franklin Chesley Hayes
Publisher	E.D. Green, 1868
Original from	the New York Public Library
Digitized	Feb 28, 2008
Length	168 pages

As indicated in this court settlement(from Google Books), the "Magic" in this oil was likely alcohol. While having almost no medicinal effect, it most likely was a placebo that inspired optimism about life in general!

Contributors	United States. Board of Food and Drug Inspection,United States. Department of Agriculture. Office of the Secretary,United States. Bureau of Chemistry,United States. Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration
Publisher	U.S. Government Printing Office, 1918
Original from	The Ohio State University
Digitized	Dec 9, 2013

Nonetheless, William Renne made a fortune selling this stuff. Pittsfield named a street after him.

In the lower right corner of the card above is seen:

H & C Koevoets was an engraving firm active around 1870. Below is one of their ads from Google Books 

Title	Harry Miner's American Dramatic Directory for the Season of 1884-'85: A Complete Directory of the Dramatic and Operatic Professions and a Guide to the Opera Houses, Theatres and Public Halls of America: Together with Much Other Information of Value to the Amusement Profession
Author	Harry Miner
Publisher	Wolf & Palmer Dramatic Publishing Company, 1884 p.250
Original from	the University of California
Digitized	Jan 10, 2014
Length	362 pages

According to Wikipedia cubeb is a tropical pepper.
There are various claims made for its medicinal properties.

Wikipedia says, "Cubeb was frequently used in the form of cigarettes for asthma, chronicpharyngitis and hay fever. Edgar Rice Burroughs, being fond of smoking cubeb cigarettes, humorously stated that if he had not smoked so many cubebs, there might never have been Tarzan. "Marshall's Prepared Cubeb Cigarettes" was a popular brand, with enough sales to still be made during World War II."

Please post a comment or email me if you know

anything about E. I. Clapp's.  Thanks!

Here's another mystery merchant for you to research....

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