You are a young doctor in the late 1800s setting up your first practice in a small Iowa farm town. You are trying to outfit your office with state-of-the-art equipment that will reflect your exclusive east coast training and instill confidence in your new neighbors. But in an age when there is no Internet marketing, very few newspapers and glossy catalogs, and travel to the big capital city of Des Moines is out of the question – how do you even know what is available to purchase?
Word of the new “doc” soon spreads far and wide, as such exciting news of new teachers or other learned individuals tended to do in rural communities, and soon a traveling salesman lands on your doorstep. He has brought with him miniature “samples” of his goods to tempt you with. The one that catches your eye is a small wooden examining table (the first thing you really need to buy!) with leather cushions – the height of style and comfort! You immediately place an order for one and after months of waiting it arrives and your practice takes off!
That is the story I imagine behind this tiny salesman’s sample (above; just inches long) that resides in our Historical Collections. It has always been one of my favorite items because it delights me to think of this being the “wow” fashion of its day. What sets this apart as a salesman’s sample and not a toy or miniature is the fact that it is functional. As a sample it had to show exactly what it could do, as in this case, the head and foot boards raise and lower.
Salesman samples were miniature replicas of the full-size items for sale, but that could easily be transported from town to town and are today an antique collecting specialty. There is even a Pinterest Board dedicated to “Antique Salesmen’s Samples and Miniatures”.
Take a look at this sample bathtub, bed, and buggy (below). The really fancy examining table is one that our rural doc could never have afforded. It was valued in 2011 for over $15,000!
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