New Year Greetings
Two early advertising notes, one for Toluca, Estado de México, were produced by the A. Gast Bank Note Company of St. Louis, MissouriThis company was, at one time, described as the “leading lithographic and steel plate printing establishment in the United States”. Leopold and August Herman Ludwig Gast emigrated to the United States in 1848 and worked as printers in New York and Pittsburgh before setting up in St. Louis in 1852. By the end of the century the company evidently did a large trade in advertising calendars, which business establishments would order for distribution to their clients and also printed such notes as these for use in company‐owned mercantile stores in the western states of America.
El Palacio de la Yndustria
This clothing store of Ynclán & Aldana in Toluca, Estado de México, wished clients a Happy New Year for 1901.
“La Paleta” Tlapaleria
This store In Guadalajara, Jalisco, owned by Joaquín Becerra, sold stationery, paints and materials for artists. It issued an advertising note, for 100 years of prosperity, dated 1 March 1905.
Another note wished customers a Happy New Year for 1906.
Optica Economica
An advertisement for an optician, wishing a seasonal greeting of 20 years of happiness. Incidentally, the face is based on the $20 note of Pancho Villa's Banco del Estado de Chihuahua, which was not put into circulation and the remainders were widely used as advertisements.
