Mayer & Grammelspacher ad for toy guns (1913)

German advert from 1913 featuring a heavily armed Santa Claus, delivering pistols and rifles to kids. The copy reads:

It’s high time to find out about the advantages and the absolute harmlessness of Eureka guns in the nearest toy store, if you want to give your boys a bright Christmas joy. Eureka guns can be entrusted to even the smallest children with complete peace of mind, as the projectiles used are the unique Eureka arrows, which stick to all smooth surfaces, but can’t cause any damage.
Suitable for older boys are the Diana air rifles for precision shooting, the safest and cheapest training weapons. They are available in all relevant stores. The interestingly written booklet “Dangerless Shooting Sports for Young and Old” is available free of charge from the arms factory Mayer & Grammelspacher, Rastatt 8.

Christmas 1913 would be the last one in peace time for five years. The mentioned older boys would soon find themselves fighting in World War I, wreaking havoc on Europe with guns that weren’t as harmless as the advertised training weapons. Founded in 1890, Mayer & Grammelspacher with their Diana brand is still in the air gun business today, but no longer caters to children.

While the copy is set in a standard Fraktur, the initial line features a Breite Kanzlei. “Eine helle Weihnachtsfreude” is in a bolder style, probably Mainzer Fraktur fett or similar. “Eureka” on the target cards is lettering – together with the illustration, it had to be executed in reverse. The unknown artist accidentally mirrored the letter u.