A Specimen of Cast Ornaments on a New Plan
The pattern
This still is filed under Specimen as proof.
Define
A specimen (type, material, finish) is shown so the product proves itself under comparison.
Mechanism
Controlled display. Same conditions, side by side, no adjective required. The sample is the sentence.
Verdict
Buyers choose by eye or by hand and we can put the real thing in front of them.
Why it works
The address page runs a pure comparison-of-alternatives argument in one paragraph: it sets the new product between two known reference points the buyer already prices, copper-plates above and wood-cuts below, and claims the quality of the first at less than the cost of the second. That is positioning by triangulation, and it works because the reader does not have to evaluate a new category, only place it on a scale he already owns. The cost objection is pre-empted before it is raised by dramatising the seller's own expense, infinite attention and inconceivable expence, which reframes price as evidence of quality. Then it refuses to argue: the writer says the judgment of his readers spares him the necessity of expatiating on utility, flattering the reader's expertise and handing proof over to the plates, which are demonstration rather than claim. Numbering without description forces the buyer to look at the artwork instead of reading about it.
Steal this when
Use this when your product sits between an expensive premium option and a cheap nasty one, and the whole sale is the claim that you deliver the first at the price of the second. Pair one short paragraph of positioning with a long silent demonstration, and let the samples, not the copy, close it.