Located at 157 Springfield Avenue, the Christian Schmidt Furniture Store advertised itself as ” New Jersey’s Largest Furniture Store”. This blog has two pieces of advertising memorabilia – a post card and a blue and white plate manufactured in England..

Published in 1905, the post card ,announced to those in search of a piano, that Christian Schmidt Furniture Co. was the general representative of the Krakauer Brothers a high quality piano manufacturer founded in NYC in 1869. An image of the recently built Fuller Building (a.k.a. The Flat Iron Building) in New York figures prominently on the front of the card. Built in 1902, the 20 story steel framed building, shaped like a clothes iron, was the was the engineering marvel of its time. The public was enthralled with the building. The clever people at Schmidt’s exploited the public’s fascination with the “skyscraper” to sell pianos. I’m sure the cards were quite popular.

The second object, is a blue and white plate the size of a dinner plate. However, any resemblance to a dinner plate is coincidental. The plate is purely decorative in nature. The center of the plate prominently features the six story home of the store. The edge of the plate shows Newark landmarks including the public library and the city hall. Hahne & Company and Louis Bamberger and Company sold similar plates, with similar views. Such plates were popular as a home decoration and were a great form of advertising. Although, generally not used to advertise anymore, decorative souvenir plates are still being sold.