Up for bid on eBay is a great John Deere collectible advertising piece from 1885, "Farmers' Pocket Companion Issued by Deere & Mansur Co., Moline Illinois".
According to the listing, the catalog includes wonderful steel engraving illustrations of the Deere line of agricultural implements such as rotary drop planter, Deere wire check-rower, and others.
The seller says, "This piece of company history pioneer ploy maker John Deere's son, Charles Henry Deere's Company. When John Deere's Plow Works were incorporated in 1868, Charles was VP and GM of the operation until John Deere's death in 1886, when Charles become President of the company. In 1869, Chalres Deere and Alvah Mansur established the first branch house of the John Deere Co., Deere, Mansur & Co., in Kansas City. A semi-independent distributor of Deere products within a certain geographic area, it is the forerunner of the company's current farm and industrial- equipment sales branches and sales regions."
