James F. Ballard

James Franklin Ballard (July 16, 1851 – April 23, 1931) was an American entrepreneur and art collector specializing in rugs from Asia and the Middle East, and medieval prints by such artists as Albrecht Dürer.

[1] He started collecting rugs in 1905[3] He traveled over 470,000 miles through Southeast Asia,[4] China, the Caucasus Mountains, India, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and all over Europe.

[4] In 1922 Ballard presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a collection of 126 oriental rugs that at the time was valued at half a million dollars.

[1] Despite the fact that his father had ample money from his timber farm, the younger Ballard chose to join the circus and travel the country at a young age.

[1] Besides Ballard's Snow Liniment, he also sold: Swaim's Panacea, White's Cream Vermifuge, Campho Phenique, Smith's Bile Beans, Ozmanlis Nerve Pills, and Littell's Liquid Sulphur, all of which were advertised in his self-published book: Ballard's Book of the Great War.