This
is one of the most common bank cards, and concurrently one
of the least impressive. It's certainly colorful, but is
poorly defined and not well printed. The
Speaking Dog card was printed by A. Gast & Co., and
issued in 1885. It is shown here at 85 percent of actual
size. This was the only trade card that Gast did for a
Shepard Hardware Co. bank; however, Gast printed all four
trade cards that were issued for J. & E. Stevens
banks. It's
interesting to compare this card with the
Trick
Pony
card. These cards are similar in many respects, from overall
graphic concept to artistic style to lettering.
Surprisingly, though, these cards came from different
printers; the Trick Pony card was done by
Courier.
