Ramrod-straight and resplendent in scarlet doublet, dark Gordon tartan kilt, and towering black bearskin, a Gordon Highlanders bugler raises his gleaming brass instrument to his lips in this vivid early Edwardian colour card — one of the most photographed and romanticised regiments of the British Empire at the very height of its prestige, fresh from the Boer War laurels that had made the Gordons household heroes from Aberdeen to Adelaide. The chromotyped image, published by A. L. Merill of Toronto for the Canadian market, reflects the enormous appetite among Scots emigrants and their descendants for icons of the old country's martial glory; the red-and-black diamond hose, white sporran, and gold lace frogging are rendered with careful accuracy. Series number 2070/2 of the "Reliable Series" places this card squarely in the 1903–1908 undivided/early divided-back transition era. Unused, the card retains excellent colour saturation typical of the best Edwardian chromolithography.