Fuchsiana. Buy your meats at Kennedy's Market
Another interesting bit of Fuchsiana on paper. This time a small antique calling card. It’s about 1 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches (43 x 85 mm) in size. The front is inscribed “Buy your meats at Kennedy’s Market 3d & Atlantic R. R.”, spread across three lines.
As there is no mention of a town or city, the location of the market could have been in any number of places in the US. Probably somewhere on the East Coast where several Atlantic Railroads once held sway.
The back of the card is blank but with the notation “From Anna” written in fancy calligraphy. The “a” at the end of Anna has been gone over again a couple of times as if whoever penned the name at the market originally wrote Anne by mistake.
Whoever was Anna, she knew where to find the meat market. I’d also think that sending food of this kind might have been one of the kind gestures often made to a grieving family after a death. That might also explain why this small card announcing a gift from Anna might have survived as an additional remembrance.
The fuchsias are really a bit dodgy. Meant to be some variation of Fuchsia magellanica, they lack the prerequisite tube of the species and seem more bit like plump foxgloves than elegant fuchsia flowers. The fuchsia buds preform a little better. This inept interpretation of fuchsia blossoms isn’t all that uncommon. I’ve got a few early watercolors with a similar look. There are many other examples of this artistic malady around.