A one-page advertisement for J. & P. Coats' Colors, a line of colored sewing thread. A large stylized letter C encloses the words "Coats' Colors" and is surrounded by a list of available shade names such as Sage, Myrtle, Old Gold, Navy Blue, Terra Cotta and Dregs of Wine. It is useful as a record of late 19th-century thread color names and thread marketing.

A collection of about 24 pages of Victorian chromolithographed trade cards advertising J. & P. Coats spool cotton, Best Six Cord thread, for hand and machine sewing. The cards use children, animals, nursery rhymes, Mikado characters, flowers and humorous scenes, with slogans about strength and colorfastness. One card shows the Coats exhibit of 80,264 spools built as the Old Stone Mill at Newport for the 1885 Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans.