Genuine Connellsville Coke, H.C. Frick Coke Company advertisement lithograph

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Connellsville coke was the fuel that powered much of the American steel industry in the late nineteenth century, and this lithograph promotes that product under the name of Henry Clay Frick's coke company. Connellsville coke came from the bituminous coal beds of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where beehive ovens turned coal into a hard, high-carbon fuel suited to blast furnaces. Frick built his coke empire in that region before joining forces with Andrew Carnegie, and the company's advertising of the period leaned on the word "genuine" to distinguish its product from inferior imitations. Notice how the printed piece treats a raw industrial commodity as something worth showing off.

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