Location of m101-4/5 Gimbels: Milwaukee

[nolemmings]

Until last night, I had not been able to determine with any degree of confidence the store location where m101-4/5 Gimbels cards were distributed. The department store had three major locations in 1916: Milwaukee, Philadelphia and New York City, yet the cards rank as somewhat difficult to find among the various m101 advertising backs. Now I have found ads in both the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel Newspapers showing that these cards came from the Wisconsin store, the first (oldest) of the three major locations. The ads found thus far are not spectacular but provide enough information to show the cards were first available on April 15, 1916, and offered Saturdays in groups of twenty for ten weeks, with prior weeks’ offerings available if you missed them. I have not yet found ads for all ten weeks but it seems as though the bargain changed, with the first cards free, then being sold for 3 cents per group of twenty, then, at least in week seven, kids could obtain the entire 140 for the cost of a boy’s suit. The first series was offered free again in week two if you missed it, which is somewhat ironic since that series is now the most difficult to find. Curiously, the ad for series 8 notes that prior series were still available except for series 2(which had Cobb). Anyway, here is the first ad, appearing in the Journal on 4/14/1916.

This does not rule out the cards also being available in Philly or New York, as the ad on the card backs is quite non-specific, but given the size of those markets one might expect a larger population of Gimbels cards to exist than is presently known. At least we know that some came from Milwaukee. Sorry if this has been posted before--I don't recall seeing it. Please share if you have further information.