With Every Fond Wish

Divided Back, embossed postcard. Copyright 1908, Julius Bien & Co., New York. Postmarked March 15, 1909 from Kansas City, Missouri. “St. Patrick” Series Number 740.

Price:  $12.00

Just realized we missed posting a St. Valentine’s card last month, oops! But here’s a gorgeous one for St. Pat’s Day.

Addressed to:   “Miss Elizabeth Waite, Salina, Kansas. Hoyt-West Millinery Co.”

The sender wrote:   “Only a postal from Myrtle. I leave here Monday eve for Wellington. Hope you are all O.K.”

Elizabeth Waite, according the the 1910 Federal Census was a milliner, so this card was sent c/o her employer. She is the daughter of Isaac Smith Waite and Lizzie Hogle, born native to Ohio. Elizabeth was born in Kansas, October 19, 1884.

In searching for Hoyt-West Millinery, among other mentions, we’ve clipped part of the “Town Gossip” section of The National Field, March 5, 1908. (How’s that for a pretty close date to our postcard?) The interesting thing is the mention of a Myrtle Wilcox accepting a position with Hoyt-West. So, this could be the same Myrtle that sent this card.

Another clip below; this one mentioning Elizabeth:

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Salina Ward 4, Saline, Kansas; Roll: T624_455; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0138; FHL microfilm: 1374468. (Ancestry.com).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125233967/elizabeth-s-waite: accessed 17 March 2023), memorial page for Elizabeth S. Waite (19 Oct 1884–1 Mar 1983), Find a Grave Memorial ID 125233967, citing Gypsum Hill Cemetery, Salina, Saline County, Kansas, USA; Maintained by Mayflower Pilgrim 332 (contributor 47081711).

“Town Gossip.” The National Field, March 5, 1908. Thursday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).

“Local Items.” The Salina Evening Journal.July 20, 1909. Tuesday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

Hen And Chicks On The March

Divided back, unused postcard. Unknown Parisian publisher. Printed in France, Series or number 595. Dated by the sender:  October 1944.

Price:  $5.00

A very cute French postcard for Easter (though dated in October) showing a hen and her three chicks, marching off to une Fête de Pâques. The hen is a cut-out that is pasted on for a slight 3-D effect, and some of the card’s silver glitter still remains after seventy-three years. But we love the details:  the differing expressions for each of the feathered-four, and the red balloon, the green umbrella, the Pierrot-like clown hats worn by the chicks, and the artist’s realistic touch with the four-leaf clover….The card was, poignantly, sent home during WWII, from probably an American soldier, to his little girl, Elsa. He writes:

“Special for my sweet little daughter, Elsa-pie from her loving Daddy. France, October 1944.”

A close-up of the publisher logo appears below, but the company name is, for the moment, a mystery. For sure, that’s “Paris” at top and underneath would be “Marque Déposée”  for trademark, but what’s the first letter there…? Our best guess for the publisher initials is either T.D.A or Y.D.A.

Dear Little Sister

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard, postage stamp removed. Postmarked from Sacramento, California, 1912. Publisher:  Pacific Novelty Company, San Francisco, California. Made in Germany.

Price:  $4.00

This is a beautifully designed  “Birthday Greetings”  postcard of an Ireland-looking scene of boats in the bay, green hills, a castle in the distance, bordered by four-leaf clover with flowers and three cheerful birdies. The embossing is wonderful, the detail of the clover…it’s kind of too bad this got so soiled over the years, but then again, what’s a few coffee stains, etc? It’s another from The Alice Ellison Collection, and the sender, Lizzie, writes:

“Dear little sister, I hope you passed to the third grade. How is Mamma? We are all well. Dos. & Geo. was out last sunday. love from your sister Lizzie.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Henrietta Ellison, 26 st. & Cheyenne Ave., Pueblo, Colo.”

This postcard is unusual in that when you flip it over, it’s upside down. Wonder how many others turned out that way.

Ring In The New

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“Ring out the old

Ring in the new,

With greetings gay and wishes true!

Once more the joyous season is here

To wish you a prosperous,

Happy New Year.”

Here’s a lovely card in the Lena Davis Collection, showing the above wish, and a cozy home in winter scene, flocked by three and four-leaf clovers. (A touch of realism there, since four-leaf clovers are harder to find.)

The card is addressed to:  “Miss Lena Davis. Calvert, Kans.”  and the sender wrote,

“Toledo, Ia. Dec. 29, 1914. Dear cousin Lena. Am sorry to hear that you got her.[hurt] Hope you are allright now. We are all well as usal. Will send you a card now and letter later. Wishing you a very Happy New Year. Your sincere cousin. Beulah Davis.”

Divided back, embossed, unused postcard with writing. Dated by the sender December 29, 1914. Publisher unknown. Series 346A.

Price:  $5.00

Merry Christmas To Grace Baldwin From Irene Ockerson

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Here’s an absolutely wonderful Christmas postcard from 1906 that has a good luck theme. It’s not the first that we’ve encountered having what would today seem to be the unlikely combination of yuletide and luck:  Here’s another great example. Anyway, I guess we could describe the central design of this card as a Christmas ornament:  It’s of a silver four-leaf clover suspended inside a round flattened silver piece that has a horseshoe design imprinted on it. Fastened at the top is a long red ribbon done up in a bow, unfurling and artistically framing the ornament. The cursive “Merry Christmas”  greeting is embossed in green, and the background in tan with a greenish hue shows a subtle diamond-shaped or lattice-work style pattern. A very elegant card! The clover is the most heavily embossed and is especially beautiful. The postcard is signed on the front by the sender, Irene Ockerson, who mailed it from Red Oak, Iowa, to  “Miss Grace Baldwin, Santa Cruz, California.”

Irene Ockerson was born in Iowa, about 1878, of Swedish-born parents Daniel J. Ockerson and Christine (Olsen) Ockerson. The 1880 Federal Census for Red Oak shows Daniel, age 42, occupation Laborer, Christine, age 34; their children Carl L., age 10, Florence, age 8, Irene, age 2; and sister-in-law to Daniel, Hannah Olsen, age 24, born in Sweden. Carl, the oldest child, was born in Illinois, while the girls were born in Iowa.

So, Irene would have been about 28 years old when she sent this postcard to Grace who would have been age 31. The 1900 census for Santa Cruz, shows Grace, age 24, born in California, November 1875, occupation School Teacher, living with her parents and brothers at 155 Locust St. A quick look at city directories shows Grace living at this address at least through 1917. The ’17 directory shows she was teaching at Mission Hill School. The 1900 census shows her living with her parents, who are age 53, born in Massachusetts, Fred D. Baldwin, occupation Farmer, and Mary A. Baldwin; and younger brothers, Arnold M., age 17, occupation Messenger Boy, and Rosco R. Baldwin, age 16 and in school.

From the multilingual back header, and the fact that it’s a divided back in 1906, we see that this card was not printed in the United States. Stamped in blue, above the header, is  “Stone Lithograph.”  What a wonderful thing to have a description of how the card was made actually included on the card; this is the first postcard, marked as such, that we’ve come across. See this Wiki entry on lithography for a detailed description. The publisher initials on the bottom left appear to be “B.K.W.I.” However, according to the excellent website The Postcard Album, this is publisher Brueder Kohn of Wien (Vienna, Austria). What appears to be the initial “I” is actually the Latin “1” which indicates the downtown Vienna postal district.

Lastly, we won’t go into any searching for a prior owner of this card, but we see that it was once in the collection of a Mr. Peter Barrale, who must also have treasured it.

Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked December 19, 1906 from Red Oak, Iowa. Publisher info:  B.K.W.I. No. 2651. (Brueder Kohn, Vienna, post office 1.)

Price:  $20.00

Sources:  Year: 1880; Census Place: Red Oak, Montgomery, Iowa; Roll: 357; Family History Film: 1254357; Page: 310C; Enumeration District: 145; Image: 0621. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1900; Census Place: Santa Cruz Ward 3, Santa Cruz, California; Roll: 112; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 0090; FHL microfilm: 1240112. (Ancestry.com)

Santa Cruz County Directory, 1916-1917. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989.

Lithography. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithography. (accessed December 26, 2014).

“Postcard Printer & Publisher Research.”  The Postcard Album. Web accessed December 26, 2014. [http://www.tpa-project.info/html/body_identification.html]

A Token Of Love

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Publisher unknown. Postmarked February 13, 1908 from Pueblo, Colorado.

Price:  $10.00

Cute postcard from 1908 showing a happy little guy in an opened envelope who’s brought the receiver a bunch of four-leaf clovers. The artist has depicted a wooden background and the appearance of the whole image being “tied up” with brown string which has a wax seal and a pink tassel. On the seal the artist put a small red horseshoe. At the bottom left are the words  “A Token of Love.”

Addressed to:  “Miss Henrietta Ellison, 26 St. Cheyenne Ave, Pueblo, Colo.”
The sender, Alice, signed her name on the front.