business cards, USA, 1880: typical size? typical design?

Hello,

I would like to go retro with my business cards (and having fun with a kind of vintage business card when I meet some friends in our local Western Town).
My aim is to reproduce a typical business card of the time of the second half of the 18th century, used by all that kind of people, that used business cards at this time.
Does anybody know, what the typical size of such cards had been?
Could give me maybe someone advises on how such cards looked like? I have already searched for example images and got some, but I am not sure what search terms are good for that. Vintage business cards? Business cards of the Wild West? Authentic business cards of the 1880s?
Or are such cards called trade cards?
Maybe someone could help me with the right words and terms.

thank you a lot!

Holger

Hi Holger,

This link has some photos of business cards from the late 1800s.
http://www.ancestorinfo.com/business_cards,%20late%201800's.htm

Another site you may find interesting.
http://scrapbookbytes.com/store/digi...-BUSINESSCARDS

Of course, to be truly authentic, you'll have to leave off your zip code, phone number and email address..

Wow - thank you a lot for showing me that resources, Soquili!

And pauland: yes, leaving off all that stuff is part of the retro-business-project. having only name and snail mail will decelerate our lifes.

I'm very happy to have been of help, Holger.

Those fractal cloud brushes from the fabulous fractals tutorial can be made with sepia tones and applied with varying degrees of transparency to age your business cards.

Here is a link with more images of authentic business cards of the late 1800s.
http://www.google.com/search?q=business+cards+designs+of+the+1800's&hl=e n&biw=1228&bih=578&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&sourc e=univ&sa=X&ei=7khaT7rSJ4bHtgfoiLWFDA&sqi=2&ved=0C KQBELAE#q=business+cards+designs+of+the+1800%27s&h l=en&sa=X&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_p w.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=1&biw=1071&bih=502

I found this one in the lot of them.
http://tinyurl.com/7copyuf
Hehe, very clever OR not so clever, I would be out of
businesscards of them very soon, without remembering
where they are (to get some more ;) )