Happy to Have a BABY Postcards

We were exceptionally happy to add a baby to our family this year, and I want to end the year by expressing that wonderful feeling with some favorite baby postcard images.  

Above a bevy of babies enjoys the view from clouds in a star-studded sky under the benign watch of the man in the moon.  I have four cards from this series and they are magical.  Published by B.K.W.I. in black and white, they are all early undivided back postcards with flat images.

Here's an entry in the babies-under-the-stars category, but with a real photo image enriched by color tinting.  What a sweet bewildered little sitter for the photographer, with her shoes and socks beside her!  This is a French divided back RPPC.

Below are four tiny charmers on a T.S.N. postcard, a colorful flat image on a divided back postcard, postmarked in 1911.  The greeting is in German, and there's no artist's signature, even though the artwork is noteworthy.

Below is a little baby in an old-fashioned highchair, amused by tiny yellow chicks on the floor.  That sweet toothless smile is one of the enchanting attractions babies offer us.  A fine embossed postcard published by PFB with beautiful artwork by Marie Flatscher.

Below our baby in a highchair is another Flatscher design for PFB that asks, "Who would not be a father?"    Flatscher illustrated a whole series of happy childhood images for PFB, all embossed and with rich colors - many with bright red details! The series was published with sentiments printed in German and in English.

In closing, thank you for tuning in and Best Wishes for joyous holidays & health and happiness throughout 2014... 

...Toni in Florida

   

NEW YEAR Pig POSTCARDS

Good Luck in the New Year is a traditional wish, illustrated on antique postcards by a variety of Good Luck symbols.  This post focuses on the pig as a symbol decorating New Year postcards, sending wishes for prosperity to the recipient.  Our first postcard shows children with well-fed pigs, and the girl carrying a giant shamrock, another popular Good Luck icon.  Part of a series published by PFB with nice embossing.

The artist combined these smiling pigs with gold coins to send wishes for wealth and prosperity...their tails offer Good Luck for 1911.  A fun collection can be made of New Year date (or date-in-design) postcards which can be found from simple dates, sometimes embellished with flowers or gold ink, to more elaborate designs like this one.  Nice embossing and a witty image. (There is another post in this blog of New Year date postcards.) 

On this image of humanized or anthropomorphic pigs, a circus act brightens the New Year greeting.  The ringleader wears a big blue bow and a tophat.  This is a flat postcard with a silver background and a divided Winsch back. 

The pig stands for prosperity across cultures.  Eating marzipan pigs is a holiday tradition in Germany, while peppermint pigs are served in England.  Here children ski downhill with a little pig and a large shamrock.

This early undivided back flat postcard shows a glamorous lady with a short skirt and a glass of bubbly riding a champagne bottle - the flying cork pops a piglet.  Wonderful image published in Germany with risque overtones.

Above are two early undivided back postcards with cheery pig images, not titled for the New Year but showing pigs in snowy weather.  One has a holiday greeting hand-written on the front and the other is an unused Private Mailing Card.  These are flat images with superb fantasy designs of relatively realistic looking pigs.   

Below is a woman dressed as a clown riding a large pig.  Although the ride looks risky, she wears a big smile.  Another New Year Date postcard, this time for 1903.  An early undivided back flat image, sent in Belgium in 1902.

Sometimes you wish for Good Luck, sometimes it just catches up with you, as seems to be the case with this little boy losing his britches to a curious pig.  A big shamrock completes the Good Luck design.  This flat humorous image is postmarked 1913.  

PRICE ESTIMATES:  Good Luck New Year postcards with pigs can be found at all prices.  The postcards  in this post range from about $6 to $15, with the 1911 embossed pig tails being the most expensive.  These estimates are for postcards in EXCELLENT condition, and they are only estimates. 

SANTA CLAUS with No Sleigh CHRISTMAS Postcards

When I began this blog several years ago I wrote about 'modern' Santa Claus postcards at the turn-of-the-century that showed our Christmas hero in what were then innovative modes of transportation.  Of course, many of the earliest Santa Claus postcards show him walking - through snowy forests or along the empty nighttime streets of villages. He is still shown carrying his huge bag of toys, even when he's on foot, leaving us to wonder how he gets around the globe with just a staff to help him through the cold snowdrifts.  This post shows him with some fun fantasy ways of getting to all the children of the world on other vehicles.  Above Santa Claus uses a green dirigible to carry toys and evergreen trees on a beautifully embossed postcard postmarked in 1909.

Here the children meet Santa as he arrives on a little train, the kind that we might have seen at a playground or amusement park.  Even though he looks too big for his vehicle, it does provide plenty of room for toy freight.  Bright colors and rich embossing, postmarked 1911.

This is a cheery Santa on a rocking horse with a basket of toys instead of a sack.  Charming design but his proud steed wouldn't take him very far.  The postcard can be found in a silk-suit version as well.  Although there is some writing on the divided back, it hasn't been postmarked. Some collectors during the Golden Age of collecting sent postcards to fellow collectors in envelopes to protect them from the damage the mails might inflict.  This postcard, although nearly 100 years old, looks like it could have been printed yesterday.  

Here is a more traditional view of Santa arriving in town on a donkey, a time-honored mode of transportation.  He is accompanied by a solemn Angel who holds the donkey's bridle.  Also embossed and with subtle colors,  this fine image is from PFB publishers.  

Santa Claus in a boat is an unusual image - here he is navigating through rapid waters, toys on board.  The richly embossed design is highlighted with many shining silver details.  A truly outstanding Santa Claus postcard, with a bit of writing on the divided back but not postmarked.   

Automobiles were a popular way to portray Santa, and we have several auto related Christmas eve vehicles here.  Above is a simple automobile, a bit like a box on wheels, with an Angel along for the ride. Nice embossing and gold details add to this image.  Postmarked 1908.

Here is a more elaborate automobile with running board and upholstered seat.  Santa Claus looks stern; perhaps he wishes the Angels having a snowball fight would settle down - he has a lot of work to do, and not much time!   Published by Tuck, Series #C 304, this card has great embossing and bright gold added - the automobile is almost all gold.  Some writing on the divided back but not postmarked. 

Ultimately, the best form of transportation for a fellow who needs to circumnavigate the globe quickly with a weighty pack is to fly under his own super power, and here we see a postcard from a fantastic group of  illustrations where he's doing just that - stepping down from the clouds when he needs to make a delivery.  These postcards can be found with and without gold details.  This is a plain one published by S&M of New York and Berlin with nice embossing.   Writing on the divided back, but not postmarked.

PRICE ESTIMATES: All the postcards shown here are embossed with wonderfully colorful designs.  These Santa Claus designs range in price from about $15 to $60 or more, the most expensive being the rare images of Santa in a boat and flying above the town.  These estimates are for postcards in EXCELLENT condition, and they are only estimates.