Trade cards: Set of three trade cards featuring Barnum's White Elephant by Fairbank and Company

Set of trade cards featuring Barnum's White Elephant advertising Fairbank Standard Scales. Barnum's white elephant is shown being weighed by Fairbanks Standard Scale, seen being operated by a man on the left. On the right, a large crowd looks on. The elephant itself holds a little sign in it's trunk that simply reads Fairbanks Standard Scales. Printed by Donaldson Brothers, N.Y. During the 1800s, trade cards acted as both a means of marketing and as a business card, with the cards being distributed to customers and potential customers. The advent of color printing lead to more sophisticated designs, and collecting trade cards became a hobby. This lead to the development of collectible cards like baseball cards. In 1882, P.T. Barnum attempted to acquire a white elephant from Siam (modern Thailand). These rare elephants were considered sacred, and untouchable by Christians. Undeterred, Barnum tried to acquire a white elephant anyway, only to find the elephant was poisoned before it left the country. Barnum then tried to acquire a white elephant from the country of Bruma instead, this time by purchasing an elephant named Toung Taloung from Burma's King Theebaw. The elephant turned out not to be white, but pink with pale spots. Upon this failure, rival circus owner Adam Forepaugh boasted a white elephant in 1884, whitewashing a normal elephant. Barnum retaliated by doing the same to one of his own elephants and claiming it was an exact copy of Forepaugh's, insulting the fakery of Forepaugh's attempt to capitalize on Barnum's mistake.