Sometimes, the humble seed packet took a leap toward greatness.

Lacks the detail I usually crave, yet still perfectly captures persimmonness.  This is the tsuru-no-ko or stork's egg persimmon, depicted in an illustration for the US Dept. of Agriculture in 1890, painted by William Prestele.

In 1900, even ketchup ads had smoothy class, in the right hands.

People seem to use the word at any opportunity so it's a bit shopworn, but this, this is bucolic.  How I love an overbright vintage postcard!

Cover of an 1875 seed catalog - not from my collection - that approaches but does not cross the line into garishness.  I just wish my source had scans of the inside as well.

Radiant (and bygone?) grapes from an 1890 seed catalog.

Designers of turn-of-the-century and just-after cigarette cards really knew how to pack a lot of beauty into their tiny spaces (typically around 2" by 3", sometimes taller as in this example).