Extremely Rare Collectible 1869 L. Prang & Co. George Washington 1st Card

Details

Description

The 1869 L. Prang & Co. George Washington card is a rare antique carte de visite (CDV) widely recognized by … Read more The 1869 L. Prang & Co. George Washington card is a rare antique carte de visite (CDV) widely recognized by collectors as the earliest graded George Washington trading card.
Key Details
Publisher: L. Prang & Co. (founded by Louis Prang in Boston).Year of Issue: 1869.Format: Carte de visite (CDV) style photograph/lithograph treated as a trading card.
Set Context: Part of Prang's historical "Presidents & Wives" or "Card-Portraits of Prominent Characters" series.
Size: Typically around 4" x 2.5".
Value & Rarity: Highly scarce, often commanding thousands of dollars depending on the assigned professional grade (such as PSA)

This is an extremely rare 1869 George Washington portrait card produced by L. Prang & Co. of Boston, one of the most influential American lithography firms of the 19th century. The card features a finely detailed oval portrait of George Washington, rendered in Prang’s signature high‑quality chromolithographic style, with the caption “GEO. WASHINGTON.” printed beneath the image. Early Prang portrait cards are highly sought after due to their craftsmanship, historical significance, and limited surviving examples.

L. Prang & Co. (founded by Louis Prang, often called the “Father of the American Christmas Card”) was renowned for elevating American color printing to world‑class standards. By the late 1860s, Prang’s firm was producing some of the most technically advanced chromolithographs available, celebrated for their clarity, color richness, and artistic precision. Prang’s work was widely used in schools, museums, and patriotic publications, making his early portrait cards important artifacts of American printing history.

This Washington card represents one of Prang’s earliest patriotic portrait issues and is a standout piece for collectors of presidential memorabilia, 19th‑century lithography, or early American ephemera.

This listing is for an Extremely Rare Collectible 1869 L. Prang & Co. George Washington 1st Trading Card as pictured. Provenance: this item was in an antique 19th century family album. The album was purchased from a local auctioneer in Northern Virginia. The auctioneer has not released any history of the previous ownership. The album will also be listed to sell by us later. The pictures are part of the description, what you see is what you get. Since we are not experts in authenticating this listing by any means, please inspect the pictures and be the judge. See less