We are offering for sale a one-of-a-kind collection of genuine production plates from the H.F. Wendell Memorial Card Company in Leipsic, OH. The Wendell Company has an undeniable place in bereavement and funeral history. At its height it was the largest postmortem mail-order funeral card company, employing hundreds women across the country to scour newspapers for obituaries. Relative would receive a single printed card, a catalog and order form. They could keep the single card and return $0.30 in a provided envelope.

This collection was purchased at auction in Ohio in Spring 2018 and we acquired it in the Summer/Fall of 2018. We have two lots available consisting of more than 200+ original period pieces. It is our hope to keep the majority of these items together and have begun our search for a buyer. This collection includes copper, nickel and tin plates. Production blocks for catalog covers, memorial plates, stationary, business materials, catalog pages, sample cards, fraternal custom stamps, poetry stamp sets, customized poetry blocks, letterheads, H.F. Wendell Portraits, signatures and more. Included are genuine unprinted paper ephemera including memorial and funeral cards, catalogs and envelopes.

You will likely never find an original memorial card collection this large or complete. It is a unique property that would be a perfect fit for a funeral, oddity or death-focused museum or the high-end oddity collector.