The Wasp — 1890 — page 319: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains three satirical cartoons mocking San Francisco's real estate market and financial institutions: 1. **"Dressed lamb lively"** - A woman with a lamb's head, likely satirizing naive investors being fleeced in the property market. 2. **"Redwood posts firm"** - A man in top hat drilling into a wooden post, suggesting real estate values are artificially propped up with hollow supports. 3. **"A decided fall in apples"** - A man swatting at falling apples while standing in a barrel, representing investors being "knocked down" by market crashes. The accompanying text discusses inflated San Francisco real estate prices, failed property auctions, and banking institutions' questionable dealings. The cartoons satirize how ordinary people are deceived by speculators and how market "firmness" conceals fundamental weakness—a critique of gilded-age financial manipulation.