Currier & Ives “The Old Oaken Bucket”

“The Old Oaken Bucket.” 

New York: Currier & Ives, 1872.  Small folio.  8 1/2 x 12 1/2.   Lithograph.  Original hand color.  Light mat burn in margins.  Upper right corner chipped and repaired/reinforced with rice paper on verso.  Repaired short tear in margin upper left hand margin.  Else, very good condition.  C:4577. 

From 1834 to 1907 the firm of Nathaniel Currier and (after 1856) Currier & Ives provided for the American people a wide and varied gallery of prints for the new mass market of middle class society.  The firm produced two general types of prints: “rush” prints quickly made to provide information about newsworthy events, and “stock” prints depicting every conceivable subject relating to American life, including city views, sports, games, home life, religion, and entertainment.   These prints were issued as small folio prints that sold for about 20 cents each, to large, more finely produced prints which sold for between $1 and $3.  The firm was the most successful American popular printmaker, issuing over 8,000 different prints.  Their success was the result of their good business sense and their accurate instincts of what the American public wanted.  Their images have become classics, capturing the life and times of nineteenth century America.