Artifact #60: Japanese cryptomeria ad sent to Mary Noonan, 1910

"Mrs. J. Smith"
cryptomeria envelope
Jeff Smith collection

(Click image to enlarge)

apanese cryptomeria ad

      For years this ad has been part of my personal collection, but all I knew of it was that it was from Japan or China, appears to be made of bamboo, and is addressed to "Mrs J. Smith." I found it dull and almost decided to skip it, moving on to artifact #61. I decided to see what I could find out about it. When I realized that it exposed a new home local for Mary (Soapy's widow) I decided to publish it. 
      The envelop is addressed to "Mrs. J. Smith, 5348 North Market, St. Louis, Mo. USA." This is Mary Eva Noonan, widow of Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith. The date on the postmark reads "8-11-10" which is either August 11, 1910 or November 8, 1910. Either way in 1910 Mary is Mrs. John P. Little, whom she married on April 20, 1904.

5348 North Market
St. Louis, Missouri
Not positive of this location
Google maps

(Click image to enlarge)

      Google Maps was not the best help for locating "5348 North Market, St. Louis, Missouri." Changes in street addresses were common in the past. It is not known when Mary and John moved here, but by 1910 they were living at 5583 Wells Avenue, St. Louis, where they lived through 1920.

Home of Mary and John Little
5583 Wells Avenue
Google Maps

(Click image to enlarge)

Cryptomeria ad

(Click image to enlarge)

      Both the envelope and ad are made of cryptomeria or balsa wood paper, the ad being backed by paper, for added strength I would guess. The ad contains a printed picture and what appears to be a typed personal message, but I located another near identical ad from the same company, with the same exact "typed" text. The only difference being the picture used. The bottom signature is of the same name, and does differ, meaning it was probably not printed.  I found one cryptomeria collectors group to find out whatever else they could tell me about it, but as of yet, no one replied.

      Stix, Baer and Fuller (sometimes called "Stix" or SBF or the Grand-Leader) was a department store chain in St. Louis, Missouri that operated from 1892 to 1984. The store was founded in 1892 by Charles Stix, brothers Julius Baer and Sigmond Baer, and Aaron Fuller. It was a public company, with its stock traded on the New York Stock Exchange. For many years the company was known as the leading high-end fashion store in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. They also had store branches in Yokohama, Kobe Shanghai, Canton, Manila and Hong Kong. They imported and handled goods from China, French Indo-China, including ceramics, embroideries [old and new], art ware, antiques, hand made items, garments, baby clothes, etc.

Store interior as Mary saw it.

(Click image to enlarge)

SOURCE:
Stix, Baer and Fuller -USA (Wikipedia)
Stix, Baer and Fuller -JAPAN

"The citizens have called a mass meeting to consider what steps are to be taken, and it means a fight, and they look to us to lead them."

— Samuel H. Graves, president of the White Pass and Yukon Railway
–Alias Soapy Smith, p. 556.

DECEMBER 26

1620: The Mayflower, with 102 passengers, arrives at New Plymouth, Massachusetts to create the Plymouth Colony, with John Carver as Governor.
1776: The British suffer a major defeat against the Colonial Army in the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolution.
1859: 173 Texas Rangers and 165 U.S. regulars attack the outlaw position held by Juan Cortina in Rio Grande City. Hand-to-hand combat forces Cortina's retreat.
1861: Confederate irregulars defeat pro-Union Indians at Chustenahlah, Indian Territory.
1862: 38 Dakota Indians are hung in Mankato, Minnesota for their part in an uprising. The mass execution is the largest in U.S. history.
1863: A Denver brothel, the Highland “Aunt Betsy’s” House, is burnt down by a mob of soldiers. Bill Duffield, a soldier is shot and killed by Joseph Kittery when told they could not enter. The following day a mob of soldiers obtained the deceased from inside and then burnt down the brothel.
1865: The coffee percolator is patented by James H. Mason.
1866: Lieutenant Colonel George Crook leads a company of the 1st Cavalry against Indians at Owyhee Creek, Idaho Territory, killing 30 and taking 7 prisoners while losing only one soldier.
1867: A detachment of Company K, 9th Cavalry, near Ft Lancaster, Texas, is attacked by Indians. Three soldiers are killed during the two days of fighting.
1869: Lieutenant Howard B. Cushing with Company F, 3rd Cavalry, from Ft Stanton, New Mexico, along with 28 citizen volunteers, attack a Mescalero Apache Indian village at the old stage stop of Pine Spring in the Guadalupe Mountains of Texas. One officer is severely wounded.
1874: The first commercial buffalo hunt is conducted in Texas by Joe McComb.
1880: Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garret deposits his prisoners, including Billy the Kid, in the Las Vegas, New Mexico, Territory jail.
1883: Soapy Smith purchases a street vendors license in Phoenix, Arizona for selling his prize package soap.
1909: Western artist Frederic Remington dies at age 48 in Connecticut.