I’m terribly sorry, it’s a bit noisy in here, you’ll have to speak up….What was that? No, I SAID YOU’LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP, I can’t hear you over all the noise these darn kittens are making…

So, yes, the Grumpy Victorian Kittens are back and they’re behind the second door of our Advent Calendar. This time, they’ve (allegedly) been having music lessons, although I suspect they still need quite a bit more practice!

This festive feline quartet are the stars of a trade card produced by the late 19th century American coffee producers, the Woolson Spice Company. This novel form of advertising became very popular with the consumer and introduced not only these colourful, collectable cards (which often had a seasonal theme), but also promotional giveaways of the ‘collect x number of wrappers and get a free y’ type that we are still familiar with.

What a kitten marching band has to do with selling coffee though, I have no idea…

Over ten years of Christmas things (with added bonus grumpy kittens) can be found here