Christmas Postcards

Historical Context

Christmas Day in Colorado. Written on Christmas Day 1909 in Breckenridge, Colorado, and addressed to Pittsburg, Kansas. With no stamp or postmark, it was presumably delivered by hand or tucked into an envelope or parcel.

Printed in Germany, the year the tariff came. German printers dominated early postcard printing, producing inexpensive, high-quality lithographs for American publishers. The same year this card was written, the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909 taxed imported postcards at a much higher rate, and with the First World War American printers took over most of the market.

For Old World Santa collectors. A robed, hooded Santa in a gilt hexagon, with an Arts and Crafts panel below.

The Golden Age of Postcards. Usually dated 1907 to 1915, when Americans sent hundreds of millions of postcards every year.

Condition

Very good. Silver ground bright, embossing crisp. A fine curved scratch or hairline in the silver near the top right corner and a faint crease line near the lower left corner of the front, with a small white abrasion near the left edge by the holly and light scuffing on the black panel. Corners softly rounded with light wear; edges slightly toned. Back clean with light, even toning, the ink inscription and two old pencil prices.

About The Printing

This is an original chromolithograph, and it was slow, exacting work. Each color had to be drawn onto its own separate stone by hand — in monochrome, the artist judging how much stipple each area needed so the colors would combine correctly only once every stone had been printed. The sheet then went through the press once for every color it carries, often a dozen or more, and every pass had to register exactly against the last. A pass out of register showed.

Under magnification the image resolves into irregular hand-drawn stipple, each ink carrying its own dot pattern, the colors mixing in the eye rather than on the paper. There is no regular halftone screen and no four-color rosette, which is what a modern reproduction would show. Modern process printing simulates every color from four inks; chromolithography laid each color down as its own.

The holly is embossed, the silver ground carries an embossed line texture, and the hexagon and panel are edged in gold.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

Another 1909 embossed Christmas card with holly, this one mailed from Baxter Springs, Kansas: https://www.ebay.com/itm/158180868901

Another embossed Christmas card with holly and silver metallic ink: https://www.ebay.com/itm/158180794660

The immigrant story behind early American imagery runs through our US silver dollars too: the Morgan dollar was designed by English-born George T. Morgan, the Peace dollar by Sicilian-born Anthony de Francisci.

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

Overnight across northwest Ohio. Mailed at Tiffin, the county seat of Seneca County, at 6:30 in the evening on December 13, 1910, the card was stamped on arrival at Wharton, a village in Wyandot County, at 7 the next morning. Wharton's post office opened as Whartonsburgh in 1852 and took the name Wharton in 1879.

Rural Free Delivery. "R.F.D." began as an experiment in 1896 and became permanent in 1902, bringing mail to farm families' own mailboxes. This is a family card, written to an aunt and uncle, with a note that it comes from Mary Hazel.

A flag on the cancel. The machine cancel is a waving flag with stars, a postal-history crossover for patriotic and cancel collectors.

European printers, American Christmas. Gold-ground embossed cards like this belong to the Golden Age of Postcards, roughly 1907 to 1915. German printers dominated the trade, prized for color, embossing and metallic foils, and European artists and printers did much to shape American popular imagery until the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Tariff and the First World War. This card is not marked with a country of printing.

Condition

Used. The front is described from a scan cut off at the bottom; a full report will follow a rescan. On the visible front: bright colors; light wear and rubbing to the gold on the raised dots; corners lightly rounded. The back is complete and shows heavy scattered foxing (rust-brown spots) over much of the surface, heaviest at the left and along the message, and some darkening along the left edge. Ink message and address; an old pencil mark at the upper left corner. Please see the photos, which are part of the description.

About The Printing

This is an original chromolithograph, and it was slow, exacting work. Each color had to be drawn onto its own separate stone by hand — in monochrome, the artist judging how much stipple each area needed so the colors would combine correctly only once every stone had been printed. The sheet then went through the press once for every color it carries, often a dozen or more, and every pass had to register exactly against the last. A pass out of register showed.

Under magnification the image resolves into irregular hand-drawn stipple, each ink carrying its own dot pattern, the colors mixing in the eye rather than on the paper. There is no regular halftone screen and no four-color rosette, which is what a modern reproduction would show. Modern process printing simulates every color from four inks; chromolithography laid each color down as its own.

The gold ground is metallic gold embossed with a regular pattern of raised dots, and Santa, the tree, the toys and the vignette frame are embossed in relief.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

The immigrant story behind early American imagery runs through our US silver dollars too: the Morgan dollar was designed by English-born George T. Morgan, the Peace dollar by Sicilian-born Anthony de Francisci.

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

Christmas after the Armistice. Aunt Annie mailed this card from Lynn, Massachusetts, on December 23, 1918, six weeks after the Armistice of November 11, 1918, ended the fighting of World War I.

Lake Winnipesaukee mail. It went north to a boy in Center Tuftonboro, one of the villages of Tuftonboro, a Carroll County town on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.

A wartime postal rate. The US postcard rate was 1 cent for decades, but it rose to 2 cents on November 2, 1917, and went back to 1 cent on July 1, 1919, so this card was mailed during that short wartime window.

Printed in America. Before the war, German printers dominated American postcard printing; once the First World War began, American printers supplied most of the postcards sold in the United States. This card carries no "Germany" mark and was printed with a halftone screen, consistent with that shift.

For artist-signed collectors. The "Gassaway" signature in the printing gives this card appeal for collectors of signed postcard artists.

Condition

Very good. Front bright and clean, with light, even toning to the cream border and a few tiny spots in the left margin. Short diagonal crease line at the lower right corner of the front, near the 3146. Corners slightly softened. Back clean, with the ink message and address and a faint pencil mark at the top left. No tears or album residue seen.

About The Printing

This card is printed with a halftone screen. Under magnification the flesh tones of Santa's face resolve into a regular grid of dots set at an angle — about 100 lines to the inch — the mark of a photomechanical printing process rather than hand-drawn chromolithographic stipple. Other areas, like the hood and the tree, show a grainier, less regular texture, and the black drawing lines read as solid ink. There is no four-color rosette of the kind a modern reproduction would show. The card is flat, not embossed.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

Another embossed Christmas postcard with a Santa portrait, from 1909: https://www.ebay.com/itm/158180900005

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

Santa in blue. Santa was not always dressed in red on early postcards, and a blue-coated Santa with gold trim is an uncommon variation for collectors of Santa imagery.

Two days before Christmas. The card was mailed on December 23, 1912, to Shauck, a small community in Perry Township, Morrow County, in central Ohio.

A first-year stamp. The 1-cent Washington first appeared in 1912, replacing Benjamin Franklin on the 1-cent value, so this card was mailed in that stamp's first year.

The Golden Age of Postcards. Heavily embossed, gold-trimmed cards belong to the years from about 1907 to 1915, when Americans mailed hundreds of millions of cards a year and German printers led the trade until the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Tariff and the First World War. This card is not marked with a country of printing.

Condition

Used. Condition can only be partly described from the current scans, which are cut off at the bottom of the front and the left side of the back; a full report will follow a rescan. On the visible portions: embossing deep and intact; gold bright, with light rubbing on the highest points; light corner wear. A small dark spot in the pink ground near "Merry". Back toned an even tan, with scattered light foxing spots and a few faint surface scratches at left center. Pencil address and message, faint old pencil notations and an old pencil mark on the back. Please see the photos, which are part of the description.

About The Printing

This card's color was not printed in dots at all. Under magnification there is no halftone screen, no four-color rosette and none of the hand-drawn stipple of a chromolithograph. The coral-pink ground and Santa's blue coat lie on the paper as soft, fine-grained color that shades smoothly into white: the look of color applied by airbrush. Airbrushed postcards of this period were almost always embossed as well, and this one is heavily embossed; the roof, icicles, Santa and the lettering stand in strong relief. The gold is a metallic finish with a fine sparkle.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

Another embossed Christmas postcard with a Santa portrait, from 1909: https://www.ebay.com/itm/158180900005

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

Papa's Delight. Under the banner, Santa holds up slippers and a stocking while puffing on his pipe, a homely Christmas-morning scene with crossover appeal for pipe and tobacciana collectors.

A northwest Ohio village. The card went to a boy, "Master Lloyd", in Hoytville, Wood County. Hoytville's post office opened as Hoyts Corners in 1872 and took the name Hoytville in 1874.

A postmark with a quirk. The datestamp is struck in violet ink, with the year slug set upside down.

European printers, American Christmas. Embossed, gilded cards like this belong to the Golden Age of Postcards, roughly 1907 to 1915. German printers dominated the trade, prized for color, embossing and metallic foils, and European artists and printers did much to shape American popular imagery until the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Tariff and the First World War. This card is not marked with a country of printing.

Condition

Used. Condition can only be partly described from the current scans, which are cut off at the bottom of the front and the left side of the back; a full report will follow a rescan. On the visible portions: bright colors and gold, with light rubbing to the gold on the high points of the embossing; corners lightly rounded. The back shows light tan foxing spots, mostly around the edges and the stamp, fine surface cracking in the paper over some of the deeper embossing, and a short vertical crease line at the left of the message. Please see the photos, which are part of the description.

About The Printing

This is an original chromolithograph, and it was slow, exacting work. Each color had to be drawn onto its own separate stone by hand — in monochrome, the artist judging how much stipple each area needed so the colors would combine correctly only once every stone had been printed. The sheet then went through the press once for every color it carries, often a dozen or more, and every pass had to register exactly against the last. A pass out of register showed.

Under magnification the image resolves into irregular hand-drawn stipple, each ink carrying its own dot pattern, the colors mixing in the eye rather than on the paper. There is no regular halftone screen and no four-color rosette, which is what a modern reproduction would show. Modern process printing simulates every color from four inks; chromolithography laid each color down as its own.

The bell is a textured metallic gold, and the bell, holly, Santa and scrollwork are embossed in relief.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

The immigrant story behind early American imagery runs through our US silver dollars too: the Morgan dollar was designed by English-born George T. Morgan, the Peace dollar by Sicilian-born Anthony de Francisci.

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

Oklahoma City, before the name. Mailed on Christmas Eve 1908, a little over a year after Oklahoma became a state on November 16, 1907, when Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were joined. The postmark reads "Oklahoma, Okla." because that was the post office's official name: the office at Oklahoma Station was renamed Oklahoma in 1888 and did not become Oklahoma City until July 1, 1923. Oklahoma City became the state capital in 1910, two years after this card was mailed.

A Payne County town on the rails. The card went out on Rural Route 1 from Yale, in Payne County, whose post office opened in 1895 and which was reached by the Eastern Oklahoma Railway in 1902 and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway in 1903. Yale is also home to the Jim Thorpe House, the former residence of the Olympic gold medalist.

An era shaped by European printers. German printers dominated early postcard printing, producing inexpensive, high-quality lithographs for American publishers. In the Golden Age of Postcards, usually dated 1907 to 1915, Americans sent hundreds of millions of postcards every year.

Condition

Fair to good, with honest age. The back is strongly toned to tan, with lighter diagonal bands across the corners, most likely where old album corner mounts once covered the surface. Small area of surface paper loss at the lower edge of the back, left of center. The front shows soft peach toning at the upper right and faint gray offset marks (ink transferred from another card) at the top. Corners lightly worn, with a small nick at the upper right corner of the back. Embossing strong and intact; gold bright. Handwritten message and address.

About The Printing

This card's soft colors were not printed in dots. Under magnification there is no halftone screen, no four-color rosette and none of the hand-drawn stipple of a chromolithograph. The pink and lavender in the beard and the peach toward the corners blend smoothly with a fine spray grain: the look of color applied by airbrush. The red coat is a solid field of ink with crisp edges. Airbrushed postcards of this period were almost always embossed, and this one is heavily embossed, with the whole head raised in relief; the holly, horn, lettering and outlines are in metallic gold.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

Another card sent to Yale, Oklahoma, likely to the same family (surname is a best reading):

A 1909 Happy New Year card with gnomes and a clock in silver and gold: https://www.ebay.com/itm/158174121074

The immigrant story behind early American imagery runs through our US silver dollars too: the Morgan dollar was designed by English-born George T. Morgan, the Peace dollar by Sicilian-born Anthony de Francisci.

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

From Oklahoma's first capital. This card was mailed from Guthrie in December 1912. Guthrie was the territorial capital and then Oklahoma's first state capital, from statehood on November 16, 1907, until June 11, 1910, when voters moved the capital to Oklahoma City.

A Payne County farm town. Yale, about twenty miles east of Stillwater, was founded in 1895 and had railroad service by 1902–03. "Route 3" is Rural Free Delivery, which began as an experiment in 1896 and became permanent in 1902, bringing mail to farm families' own mailboxes.

An Olympic connection. Yale later became the home of Jim Thorpe, who won Olympic gold in the pentathlon and decathlon at Stockholm in 1912, the year this card was mailed. His house in Yale is preserved today as the Jim Thorpe House.

A first-year stamp. The 1-cent Washington first appeared in 1912, replacing Benjamin Franklin on the 1-cent value, so this card was mailed in that stamp's first year.

The Golden Age of Postcards. From about 1907 to 1915 Americans mailed hundreds of millions of cards a year, and German printers led the trade in color and embossing until the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Tariff and the First World War. This card is not marked with a country of printing.

Condition

Used. Condition can only be partly described from the current scans, which are cut off at the bottom of the front and the right side of the back; a full report will follow a rescan. On the visible portions: corners softly rounded, with light wear at the upper left of the back; light surface wear; embossing intact and crisp. Ink message and address on the back, old pencil marks at the top, and a small brown spot near the pencil "45". Please see the photos, which are part of the description.

About The Printing

This is an original chromolithograph, and it was slow, exacting work. Each color had to be drawn onto its own separate stone by hand — in monochrome, the artist judging how much stipple each area needed so the colors would combine correctly only once every stone had been printed. The sheet then went through the press once for every color it carries, often a dozen or more, and every pass had to register exactly against the last. A pass out of register showed.

Under magnification the image resolves into irregular hand-drawn stipple, each ink carrying its own dot pattern, the colors mixing in the eye rather than on the paper. There is no regular halftone screen and no four-color rosette, which is what a modern reproduction would show. Modern process printing simulates every color from four inks; chromolithography laid each color down as its own.

The card is also embossed: Santa, the girls, the tree and the holly stand in relief.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

Another card sent to Yale, Oklahoma — a 1909 embossed New Year card with gnomes and a clock: https://www.ebay.com/itm/158174121074

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

A new state's mail. Oklahoma had been a state for barely two years when this card arrived; Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were joined on November 16, 1907. It crossed the line from Baxter Springs, in the southeast corner of Kansas less than two miles from the border, the first "cow town" in Kansas in the early 1870s.

Rural Free Delivery. "R.F.D." delivery to farm families began on October 1, 1896, in West Virginia and became permanent in 1902, which is how a Christmas card reached a box on a country road outside Catoosa — today a Route 66 town in Rogers County, about fourteen miles northeast of Tulsa, home of the Blue Whale of Catoosa.

For trolley collectors. The electric streetcar beside Santa gives this card crossover appeal for transportation and trolley collectors.

A dozen languages on one card. The Universal Postal Union heading on the back, running from German and French through Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Russian and Spanish, was standard on European-printed cards and shows how international the postcard trade was. German printers led it until the Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909 raised the duty on imported postcards sharply.

Condition

Good for its age. The gold ground shows rubbing and some flaking along the edges, most at the lower left corner, with general wear to all four corners. Small dark green mark in the gold at the upper right of the front. Embossing crisp, colors bright. On the back: faint pink offset (ink transferred from another card) in the center, faint pencil marks along the top edge, corners lightly worn. Message and address in pencil. No tears seen.

About The Printing

This is an original chromolithograph, and it was slow, exacting work. Each color had to be drawn onto its own separate stone by hand — in monochrome, the artist judging how much stipple each area needed so the colors would combine correctly only once every stone had been printed. The sheet then went through the press once for every color it carries, often a dozen or more, and every pass had to register exactly against the last. A pass out of register showed.

Under magnification the image resolves into irregular hand-drawn stipple, each ink carrying its own dot pattern, the colors mixing in the eye rather than on the paper. There is no regular halftone screen and no four-color rosette, which is what a modern reproduction would show. Modern process printing simulates every color from four inks; chromolithography laid each color down as its own.

The holly border, greeting and figures are embossed, and the frame is printed in metallic gold.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

An earlier card to Ethel Bradford of Catoosa, addressed "Ind. T." — Indian Territory, before statehood: https://www.ebay.com/itm/158180794660

The immigrant story behind early American imagery runs through our US silver dollars too: the Morgan dollar was designed by English-born George T. Morgan, the Peace dollar by Sicilian-born Anthony de Francisci.

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.

Historical Context

Oklahoma before Oklahoma. "Ind. T." is Indian Territory. Catoosa lay in the Cherokee Nation; the railroad arrived in 1881–82 and the post office opened in 1883. Indian Territory ceased to exist on November 16, 1907, when it and Oklahoma Territory entered the Union as the State of Oklahoma. With a postmark of 1906 or 1908, this card was either written in the last year of Indian Territory or by a friend still using the old address after statehood.

Route 66 country. Catoosa, in today's Rogers County about fourteen miles northeast of Tulsa, later became a stop on Route 66 and is home to the roadside landmark the Blue Whale of Catoosa.

Made for America, printed in Germany. The Illustrated Postal Card & Novelty Co. of New York (active about 1905–1914) is known to have had many of its cards printed in Leipzig before it began making its own in 1909. This card carries no country of printing. German printers led the world in color, embossing and metallic inks until the 1909 Payne-Aldrich Tariff and then the First World War ended the trade.

The Golden Age of Postcards. From 1907 to 1915 Americans mailed hundreds of millions of cards a year. The divided back, with room for a message beside the address, was permitted from March 1, 1907.

Condition

Used, with honest age wear. Corners rounded and soft, most at the lower left. Light chipping and scuffing along the top edge, best seen on the back. Light overall toning, a few small light spots on the back. Embossing and silver intact; light rubbing to the silver in places. Pencil on the front border and a full pencil message and address on the back. Postmark lightly struck. Small old pencil mark at the upper left of the back. Please see the photos, which are part of the description.

About The Printing

This card combines two printing methods. The central photograph is a halftone: under magnification it resolves into a regular, even dot screen, as photographs were reproduced at the time. It is set into a chromolithographed frame of holly, where the reds and greens resolve into irregular stipple with no regular screen. The silver is metallic ink, and the holly, berries and frame are embossed.

Provenance

From my family's estate collections, built over more than 60 years by knowledgeable antiques collectors and traders. Stored in a climate-controlled environment.

Also In Our Store

A second card to Ethel Bradford of Catoosa, mailed from Baxter Springs, Kansas, in 1909 — after statehood, and addressed "Okla.": https://www.ebay.com/itm/158180868901

The immigrant story behind this card runs through our US silver dollars too: the Morgan dollar was designed by English-born George T. Morgan, the Peace dollar by Sicilian-born Anthony de Francisci.

Disclaimer

Specifications and detailed item descriptions are provided as a courtesy only and are not guaranteed to be one hundred percent accurate. Please do your own research. There are generally no receipts available for any items from original purchases. Any dimensions and/or weights are approximate. The absence of a more detailed condition report does not imply there are no condition issues with the item(s). Please inspect images carefully as they are part of the official item description and best representation of the actual condition. Additional images may be available upon request depending on time and availability. Not responsible for internet mis-translations or mis-identification of maker's marks if found or assumptions of makers or materials — item descriptions will indicate if it is assumed. If you see a problem, please message us immediately and we will do our best to sort out a solution and confirm the information. With the exception of eBay rules, no returns are accepted.