Goat - Merrell-Soule Company Advertising Paper Mask (June 5, 1904) - Boston Sunday Post

This rare Goat paper mask was issued as part of an early Boston Sunday Post promotion on June 5, 1904, printed by the Merrell-Soule Company of Syracuse, NY. It predates nearly all well-known advertising masks by decades and stands as one of the earliest examples of chromolithographed paper masks distributed to the public in America.

The June 1904 run introduced children to a full “menagerie” of animal masks through the Sunday Post, with the Goat joined by the Bear, Tiger, and Wolf across subsequent weeks. Families would cut and wear them, meaning almost all surviving examples are badly trimmed or lost. This specimen remains in its uncut form with instructions on the reverse, a highly uncommon survival.

Merrell-Soule’s mastery of multi-stone chromolithography gave these masks their bold, lifelike quality, with the Goat’s hypnotic amber eyes, curved horns, and fine hair detail still vivid more than 120 years later. Collectors consider these 1904 newspaper premiums foundational to the history of both American advertising ephemera and Halloween/masquerade traditions, foreshadowing the paper masks that would explode in popularity in the 1930s–40s.

Measures 10 ½ inches by 14 ½ inches. Condition is excellent for its age, with strong color and only light edge handling.