Maurin Quina

5-5/8" x 3-9/16" postcard with wide border, and undivided back. The earliest this card can be is 1906. Note, the photo appears on a Margerit-Brémond postcard with a postmark of 1904.

Nice grouping of lacemakers showing Le Puy-type pillows, a typical bobbin-winder, and an aune used for measuring the completed lace. This photo is from one of the Margerit-Brémond postcards, and is discussed in detail here. The Margerit-Brémond version does not extend as high as the Maurin advertisement, and it looks as though the Maurin Quina sign is a photographic addition.

At the bottom left the card reads:
No 18. - Cliché M. Q., rep. int.
No doubt the M. Q. refers to Maurin Quina. Maurin Quina is a drink, a bitter appértif, which has been described as resembling an herbal red zinfandel mixed with quinine tonic water. Auguste Maurin established a winery in Le Puy in 1884, and released Maurin Quina in 1906. An "Appértif Maurin" is still sold today (16% ABV, the .7 liter bottle shown below costs 9.29 Euros).

Maurin Quina obtained a lot of notoriety due to the famous 1906 advertising poster by Leonetto Cappiello (1875–1942). The green imp in the picture is a direct reference to the green-colored very high proof (45%-75% ABV) liquor, absinthe, which was banned by the French government in 1915. It is one of the greatest advertisements ever produced, and the image can be found today on T-shirts, mugs, etc. The Maurin Quina product itself was not absinthe, just a fortified red wine

first posted 2/6/2009