This Victorian trade card pictures a highlight from "The Mikado," a comic opera with words by W.S. Gilbert, and music by Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert and Sullivan were known for their wittily sublime and riotous satire. In their wildly successful "The Mikado," they lampooned the evils of modern England. When the show opened at the Savoy Theatre in London on March 14, 1885, the applause brought three encores for "Three Little Maids From School." I suspect the Smoke Golden Belt Cigarettes card is what's known as a 'stock card'. The artist leaves a blank area somewhere on the card where local printers can then overprint an advertiser's message.

Golden Belt refers to an area of North Carolina where local planters claim that no better flue-cured tobacco is grown on Earth. Besides the Blackwell firm, Julian Carr also owned the Golden Belt Manufacturing Company, which made the small bags or pouches that smoking tobacco was sold in. This successful smoking tobacco manufacturer also made Golden Belt Cigarettes, along with a very early Bull Durham tailor-made cigarette.