Category Archives: Easter

An Easter Of Sunshine

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Divided back, lightly embossed, unused postcard. Made in the U.S.A. Series or number 556. Circa 1919 – 1920.

Price:  $8.00

From a bygone (but not forgotten) era……a young couple all decked out in their Easter Sunday finery stroll along a bright cobblestone path. In the distance is perhaps a church. Note how the buildings are elongated. We’ve seen this style before in May Your Christmas Be Merry, but the artist or artists are unknown. The stamp box for this postcard is printed as “Postage NOW one cent” and is the key to the card’s approximate date. The price for mailing a postcard in the U.S. went from 2¢ back to 1¢ as of July 1, 1919. It was changed to 2¢ again in 1925 and returned to 1¢ in 1928, so there is the possibility that this card could be from 1928 but we’re guessing the earlier change date applies. For the USPS list of changes for postcard stamp rates see Rates for Stamped Cards and Postcards. 

But, in any case…..

A Glad Easter To You

“An Easter of sunshine

Of skies that are blue

And and Easter of Gladness

I’m wishing for you.”

O Rhyme Of Sweet Saint Charity

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Divided back, unused postcard. Circa 1913. Number or series 7212.

Price:  $12.00

Looking more like a Saint Patrick’s Day card in design than Easter……a beautiful bouquet of lilies of the valley with a country home scene in the background and the following verse by James Russell Lowell:

“O rhyme of sweet Saint Charity,

Peal soon that Easter Morn,

When Christ for all shall Risen be

And in all hearts New Born.”

“March 15     Dear Sister, How are you. We are well, hope you are getting along all right. let me here as soon as it happens. have James to write, from Indie.”

Addressed to:   “Mrs. Maggie Dice, Neosho Falls, Kans.”

From Indie’s note to her sister, Maggie, it sounds as if Maggie is about to deliver a baby, which is a major clue for the year this card would have been written. Appearing on the 1915 State census for Kansas are James Dice, age 26, with wife M. R. Dice, age 22, and their son Morris M. Dice, age 2. Looking back to 1913, Easter was on March 23rd, and this card was written on the 15th. In 1912 Easter was not till the 31st of March, so 1913 seems to be the best fit….From later records, Morris is Merris Myron Dice and Maggie’s maiden name is Miller.

Sources:  James Russell Lowell. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Russell_Lowell (accessed April 21, 2019).

Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, Kansas; Roll: ks1915_257; Line: 6. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1930; Census Place: Iola, Allen, Kansas; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0017; FHL microfilm: 2340427. (Ancestry.com).

From Mother to Roas and Mike

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Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Printed in Austria. Circa late 1900s – early to mid-1910s.

Price:  $5.00

Hearty Easter Greetings

A sheep pulling a cart (note the wheels are made of or covered in flowers) holding a large red Easter egg. Underneath is a beautiful embossed spray of violets, roses, forget-me-nots and lilies of the valley, and in the background green snow-topped mountains and embossed snow falling in a  pink (!) sky. The age of this card is just an estimate, guessing it might be pre-WWI. And the recipients of the postcard, Roas? and Mike. Guessing Roas might have been short for Rosalinda (with odd spelling). Notice how two lines were drawn with a straight edge for the sender to write on. (These details seem to transport us back to the moment it was being written!)

Hauskaa Pääsiäista

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Divided back, used postcard. Paletti, Sarja Pääsiäinen. Circa 1930.

Price:  $10.00

An Easter card from Finland of a proud rooster with all his baby chicks, and the caption translating to merry, fun or amusing, or maybe just Happy Easter. The cancellation date is difficult to read, however the stamp should be from 1930. Paletti as you’ve guessed is Palette (not sure if this is the publisher name or not) and Sarja Pääsiäinen, as you’ve probably also guessed, is Easter Series. The card is addressed:

“Herrasväki Sivulat, Helsinki, Laivurinkatu 39.”  And on the front (we need a native speaker) it appears to say  “F:  Utriaiset.”  Below, the location this postcard went to in 1930. If we could time travel to be there as it was being received….(!)

Sources:  Stamps of Finland: Definitives of 1930 – 1946. Stamp-Collecting-World. (accessed April 1, 2018).

“Laivurinkatu 39 00150 Helsinki, Finland.” Google.com maps. (accessed April 1, 2018).

An Easter Message Just For You

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Easter greeting card. Circa 1930s – 1940s.

Price:  $5.00         Size:  Folded into four sections, 5 and 1/4 x 3 and 7/8″

This card is prettier “in person” (huh? lol) with the shimmering gold tone when you hold it at an angle. No publisher name or any writing on it at all, other than the inside printed verse:

“Thinking of you?

Well I guess!

Always wish you happiness!

Like to see you?

Would I? Say –

That would be a real joy today!”

To Ilma From Edna

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Divided back, embossed postcard. Postmarked April 12, 1911, San Francisco, California. Publisher:  International Art Publishing Co. Series 1262. Printed in Germany.

Price:  $7.00

Fond Easter Greetings

“Hope and gladness, peace and rest

Make your Easter truly blest.”

Wow, where did the time fly? Easter already! Here’s the first offering for this year, and we’ll try to get a few more up today. This one hearkens back to 1911, a beautiful card of a bunny in an Easter egg, framed by lilies of the valley and a few violets, from the International Art Publishing Co. It was sent by Edna Steacy to Miss Ilma Rogers of 3651 20th St., San Francisco, CA.

Ilma, an unusual name (I kept trying to type Alma) was found on the 1900 Federal Census, born in California, January 1893, the daughter of Charles S. and May C. Rogers. In the household are the parents Charles and May, Charles’ mother Jenny M. Rogers and children Oris R., Ilma F. and Charles S. Rogers, address 227 Chattanooga, San Francisco. So, Ilma was eighteen when she received this card.

Source:  Year: 1900; Census Place: San Francisco, San Francisco, California; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0108. (Ancestry.com).

Easter Joy Attend You

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Divided back, embossed postcard. Unused with writing. Publisher:  International Art Publishing Co., New York and Berlin. Printed in Germany. Circa 1907 – 1914.

Price:  $8.00

The spring colors are beautiful in this card, and the theme is egg shell bells and pussy willows, with a narrow road stretching off into the distance…On the back is written,  “Miss Conroy Form Dora.”  Heehee, “from” is charmingly misspelled. This looks like it might have been a card from child to teacher.

Easter Chick For Verne

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Divided back, embossed postcard, unused with writing. Copyright 1909, H. Wessler. Series:  422.

Price:  $7.00

A Peaceful Easter.…

Chicks rule this year…and this is another beauty, a charmer (that face!) Our chick appears in an oversized eggshell, the top broken off; egg and chick comfortably nestled in a cluster of lilies of the valley. Note how very well-done the subtle shading is around the shell and flowers, and the white decorative trim at top and bottom is beautiful, especially falling as it does on that shade of gray for the background.

In pencil, on the reverse, is written:   “Verne from Aunt Bertha.”  And with no loss of elegance from front to back, the publisher’s lily design (a bonus for Easter, we reckon 😉 ) divides the back, and the top corner holds a matching stamp box.

A publisher mystery……..solved:  H. Wessler is Hugo Wessler, per the invaluable, Publishers’ Trademarks Identified by Walter E. Corson.

Who was H. Wessler? At the time of this post, no identifying records had been found…….Later we discovered his full name with postcard reverse design cross-referenced in the Walter E. Corson publication…..There’s a Hugo Wessler, born about 1879 in Germany and living in New York, as a possible match. Advanced book searches only reveal snippet views such as the initial one we’d already found:  He’s mentioned in a Google book snippet along with John Wensch (see prior post), as both being importers and producers of beautiful greeting and postcards. We presume that Wessler, like Wensch, was of German ancestry. Quite a number of postcards can be found online for him, but none showing the full name. This is the second H. Wessler we have on LCG:  See Just A Few Lines From.

Sources:  Lighter, Otto & Reeder, Pearl. Hobbies. Vol. 59, p. 147. 1954: Lightner Publishing. Google snippet. Accessed April 16,  2017.

Corson, Walter E. Publishers’ Trademarks Identified. Ed. James Lewis Lowe. Norwood, PA:  1993. (print).

A Lucy Larcom Easter Greeting

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Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Design copyright John Winsch, 1911. Printed in Germany.

Price:  $5.00

In tones of rose, forget-me-not-blue and plum….A Happy Easter!

“Every flower to a bird has confided

The joy of its blossoming birth,

The wonder of its resurrection

From its grave in the frozen earth.”

This is an excerpt from the fourteen-stanza poem “Nature’s Easter Music” by American poet and author, Lucy Larcom (1824 – 1893).

Ms. Larcom is known especially for her autobiographical, A New England Girlhood, and for having gone to work in the cotton mills for about ten years, starting at age eleven…She was a very popular and prolific writer. The Poetical Works of Lucy Larcom is available as a Google eBook. (Personally, I must admit I had never heard of Ms. Larcom till this post, but am now a fan. The line, “Who has tracked a dream’s beginning?”  from “The Magic Flower” has captured my imagination.)

Publisher and New York native, John Winsch (1865 – 1923) is well-known to ephemera collectors, especially for his Halloween postcards – antique and vintage Halloween anything is much sought-after today. The 1910 Federal Census for Richmond, NY shows his wife, Florence, born in Pennsylvania, about 1871, and their son, Frederick, born New York about 1905.

Sources:  Lucy Larcom. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Larcom (accessed April 15, 2017).

Larcom, Lucy. The Poetical Works of Lucy Larcom. Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1884. (Google.com)

“John O. Winsch (1910 – 1915) Publishers – W.” (MetroPostcard.com). Accessed April 16, 2017.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Richmond Ward 2, Richmond, New York; Roll: T624_1073; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 1315; FHL microfilm: 1375086. (Ancestry.com).

John Winsch (1865 – 1923). Find A Grave Memorial# 31161686. (Findagrave.com)