F. Missler & Krimmert. / 106 West St., New York. / Bankers. / [inset color illustration of a train arriving at a small town railway station, a farmer plowing a field and the town's sparkling buildings in the background, depicted under the heading "Colony Missler, Ga. / Railway Station, Post and Telegraph Office," all enclosed within an ornamental border, 11 1/2 x 15 inches] / Choice / Farm Land / At $5 and Upwards per Acre / Money Sent to Europe / Legacies / Collected in / Vollmachten, Erbschaften [those three lines printed over a large sealed envelope, 4 1/2 x 10 inches, addressed in two eastern European languages] / Drafts, Money Exchange. / [inset color illustration of a steamer on the ocean, 12 x 14 inches] / Wegen Auskunft schreibe direct an: ["For information, write directly to:"; repeated in three eastern European languages] F. Missler & Krimmert [complete text].

New York: F. Missler & Krimmert (H.A. Rost Ptg. and Pub. Co., New York), nd [ca. 1895]. Large chromolithograph, 42 x 28 5/8 inches, an advertising poster designed to entice recent immigrants from Germany and eastern Europe to invest in farm lands in Georgia, apparently one of a number of fraudulent land development schemes from the last decades of the 19th century, but falling far short of the most famous, the development of Tallapoosa, Georgia, that cost investors millions of dollars. Missler & Krimmert, a foreign banking and steamship brokerage company, apparently also offered passage from Europe to the Americas from an office in Bremen, Germany, at the turn of the 20th century under the name "F. Missler," advertising "Taking passengers [on] Fast steamships to America [with] House Banking and Money Exchange." A summary of Missler & Krimmert's plans for their colony in Georgia, from the March, 1896, issue of "Southern States," is excerpted below. Unfortunately, the sunny outlook presented there wasn't sustained, as reported in the New York Times (May 29, 1896): " The attention of the Treasury Department has been called to a practice by which immigrants are victimized and relieved of their money. Immigration Commissioner Joseph Senner yesterday forwarded an affidavit to Washington, bearing on a case purporting to be an example of the methods employed … [Having been duped into buying tickets for passage to the Missler Colony in Georgia, Austrian Joseph Percak and his family discovered Missler not to be the Arcadia they were promised], finding that it consisted of a dozen Polish families, nearly famished, and too poor to get away. Written complaints were sent to Missler & Krimmert. The reply, they say, came in the shape of a little flour and the return of the letters torn up into little pieces." Normandale, Georgia, was established in Dodge County, about 70 miles south of Macon, in 1868, forming the business center for the Normandale Lumber Company, which set about cutting the pines in the area, running a large sawmill until the forests were depleted in 1896, selling their lands at that time to Messrs. Missler and Krimmert. We have been unable to find any information concerning the town following the Missler Colony's demise; it is now a crossroads settlement of small population. This advertising poster not recorded on OCLC. Professionally repaired, with the upper left corner restored, and other repairs. Laid down on linen. A beautiful advertising poster, the colors rich and vivid. (#6288). Item #60416

"A Foreign Settlement in Georgia: Messrs. Missler & Krimmert, bankers, of New York, who have a large foreign correspondence and clientage, own 12,000 acres of land at Normandale, in Dodge County, Georgia, which they purchased from the Normandale Lumber Company … in the Normandale tract is included the town of Normandale (now to be called "Missler"), which was the business center of the Normandale Lumber Co., and contains a depot, a large store, and 100 houses of one to four rooms each, averaging in cost $500. This town lies on both sides of the Southern Railway … the cottages are painted white or whitewashed and present an attractive appearance. Missler & Krimmert are maintaining at Missler a general store and a farm. The colonists have opened and planted, or have ready to plant, 1800 acres of land … their plantings include … everything that will grow in that country. They propose to ship their products direct to New York … being the agents of the North German Lloyds, Missler & Krimmert are in a position to attract emigration from European points. Their agents throughout Europe are distributing information printed in three different languages, covering all phases of the attractions of their settlement. These agents are permitted to ticket colonists by proper order forms via North German Lloyd steamships through New York, to Savannah and the line of the Georgia & Alabama Railway. M&K hold their lands at $5 per acre, payable $1 cash, balance in five years … all working details of the colony are handled directly by M&K, as they have no local agents. About 150 people are now reported settled on the lands, and an average of fifty per month are expected as a regular movement" ("Southern States," Baltimore, March, 1896).

Price: $6,000.00