Does anyone know what this early 20th century card is?

mariotown

What is this card? What set does it come from? Does anyone know?

mosaic

Google is your friend

Apparently, it is from the 1880's Merchant's Gargling Oil Trade Card set... they were 3" x 5" cards produced by the Courier Lithograph Company for Merchant's Gargling Oil Company of Lockport, NY (run by John Hodge at that time).

On the front would be a various images (some had ball players or people in goofy situations) and an advert for Merchant's Gargling Oil (which had Opium as an ingredient!), while the back would have an ad for another Merchant's product or a local shop that carried their products. It seems that while the set is listed as 1880's, the cards were actually produced as early as the 1870's.

Merchant's was founded in 1833 by George W. Merchant. Originally, the product was meant to cure sick animals, but was reformulated for human use in 1875.

Some of the links I found:

History of Merchant's Co - Has Your Card

Merchant's Gargling Oil Victorian Trading Cards

Some Info on Victorian Trade Cards

Another Merchant's Gargling Card

Tobacco Era Part 3 - Scroll a little ways down