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1888 Charter Oak Stoves Calendar Brown Coat Santa Sledding Victorian
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Description
Offered here is a charming and highly decorative 1888 Victorian advertising calendar issued by Charter Oak Stoves & Ranges, featuring a beautifully illustrated winter scene and a wonderfully uncommon brown-coat Santa Claus.
Measuring approximately 7.75” tall x 8” wide, this die-cut calendar page was designed for wall display, retaining its original top hanging hole.
The central vignette captures two bundled children sledding down a snowy hillside, surrounded by evergreen trees, holly, and winter foliage. At right appears a warm, expressive portrait of Santa Claus dressed in a fur-trimmed brown winter coat and cap — a rarer colorway compared to the more familiar red-suited depictions that became standardized later.
Additional period imagery includes:
• Traditional wooden snowshoes
• Capricorn zodiac goat illustration
• December date grid
• Mistletoe and holly border motifs
• “Charter Oak Stoves & Ranges” advertising banner
The lower corner bears the printer’s mark: Ketterlinus, Phila., a well-known 19th-century lithography firm.
The reverse is blank aside from a handwritten date notation: “1888.”
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Condition
Good antique condition for age and display:
• Light overall toning consistent with late-19th-century paper
• Minor edge wear and corner rounding
• Small surface marks and light creasing visible under close inspection
• Original hanging hole intact
• Colors remain vibrant and well preserved
Please review all photos carefully as they form part of the description.
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Historical / Collector Notes
Victorian advertising calendars like this were distributed by stove and household goods companies as promotional items. Most were discarded after use, making surviving examples — especially pictorial holiday designs — increasingly scarce.
Santa imagery from this era is particularly collectible, as depictions varied widely before the early-20th-century standardization of the red suit. Brown and fur-clad winter Santas are considered both earlier in style and less commonly encountered.
📮 Ships protected in a sleeve and rigid backing.
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