Tag Archives: old postcards printed in Germany

To Flem Grizzle, Gas City, Kansas

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Divided Back postcard, embossed. Postmarked Tioga, Texas, August 23, 1909. Printed in Germany. 

Price:  $15.00

To My Dear Uncle…..

Great color on this one and a welcome change from the black and white entries we’ve been posting!

Addressed to:   “Flem Grizzle. Gas City, Kans.”

The note on the back is a little hard to decipher. Best guess is:   “Hello. How are you. Bef. noon [?] rec your card and [?] & [?] got [?] Harold picture. They are nice. Wish I was up there with you all. I am at home to night and have been all day alone. Ernest and Willie have gone out [with?] their girls. [?]. Yours [?].

Flem was Jesse Flem Grizzle, born October 13, 1871, Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. He married Ida M. (maiden name unknown) about 1894. From the obit below and several census records, it appears that they had two children, Edith and Harold.

Sources: U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936 – 2007. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Rose Hill, Johnson, Missouri; Roll: 868; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0114; FHL microfilm: 1240868. (Ancestry.com).

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Iola City Directory, 1906, p. 110. Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822 – 1995.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Carlyle, Allen, Kansas; Roll: T625_522; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 1. (Ancestry.com).

“Jesse F. Grizzle Dies Here Today.” The Iola Register. May 6, 1953. Wednesday, p. 1. (Newspapers.com).

Triple Royal Palm, Ridgewood Avenue, Daytona FL

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Divided back, unused, embossed postcard. Publisher:  S. Langsdorf & Co., New York. Made in Germany. Series 618. Circa 1908 – 1914.

Price:  $35.00

This is what’s called an “alligator border” postcard. They were very collectible at the time and are pretty highly valued today. You can find them selling for around 30.00 or 40.00 dollars to in the hundreds, depending on content and rarity….And, imagine this particular card having been placed in an album after it was first purchased, because if you look closely (enlarge the image twice) you’ll notice the slightly darker coloration on each corner (so that when it was displayed in the album you were not seeing the corners). I like this kind of “physical proof” – it seems to add another layer or dimension to the card.

When looking for publisher S. Langsdorf, we found mention of him and (bonus!) the alligator border phenom in this Google book search:  America’s Alligator:  A Popular History of Our Most Celebrated Reptile, by Doug Alderson. You can also take a “Look Inside” for part of the book on Amazon.com right now. See the upcoming post for more on S. Langsdorf.

The “Triple” in Royal Palm is, I think, a description of a Royal Palm that has three trunks, or maybe multiple trunks, as in the most predominant palm appearing in our postcard above.

Sources:  Alderson, Doug. America’s Alligator:  A Popular History of Our Most Celebrated Reptile. Rowman and Littlefield, 2020. (books.google.com).

Royal Palm Tree. https://www.allaboutpalmtrees.com/royal-palm-tree (accessed October 22, 2022).

To Max Lutzner in NYC 1903

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Postcard, undivided back. Postmarked from Goppingen, Germany, February 5, 1903. Printed in Germany.

Price:  $7.00

Another one in German. It was sent to:

“Mister Max Lützner. 334 Est. 41 Street. New York, Amerika”

Max Lutzner was found in the city directories at 334 E. 41st in 1899.

UPDATE:  See the comment from J. Hassel for translation of the message!

Source:  Trow’s General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York. Vol. CXIL, for 1899. p. 806. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

White Rose Birthday Greetings

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Divided back, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked August 7, 1915 from Alta Loma, California. Printed in Germany. Series 444/10.

Price:  $3.00

From the Alice Ellison Collection, this appears to be husband writing to wife; he writes:

“Aug 7, 1915. Dear Ma, wee got to Lena’s at nine oclock this morning and found them all well. But Lena she has Poisen yet. Wee dident have any troble. Wee only changed cars at Stockton. With Love from Dad.”

Addressed to:   ”   “Mrs. J. M. Ellison, Tutten[?] av. Box 382, East Sacramento, Calif.”

A few comments:

Yikes (!) on the “poison” if that’s what the sender meant, but maybe it was just that Lena was still sick.

The publisher logo on the back (the W inside the diamond) appears to belong to the F. W. Woolworth Co., New York, NY, the “Five & Dime” store or by my own era, just “dime store” (funny how these old terms creep up sometimes still, dime store, ice box…..) See Metropostcard’s website under W for more on Woolworth.

And lastly, the name of the avenue for the address is not showing up online, maybe Fifteenth? even though that’s quite a stretch when looking at the writing.

Source:  “W – Publishers, F. W. Woolworth Co. 1878 – 1997.”  Metropostcard.com. (Accessed October 16, 2016).

Happy Birthday Chrysanthemums

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Happy Birthday Chrysanthemums pc1Happy Birthday Chrysanthemums pc2

Beautiful embossed postcard printed in Germany, showing some mums in shades of purple, pink and blue that are displayed at the top of a brick wall, as in a garden patio wall. In the background is either a sunrise or sunset scene, or is that supposed to be the moon? I don’t think it much matters, the colors in this card are just gorgeous. The four corners show an unusual gold tone design, and at the bottom of the card in red, is printed  “A Happy Birthday.”  It would be easy to miss the name appearing on this card, but there it is at the bottom showing that this card was given to somebody’s “Uncle Lyman.”

Divided back, embossed, unused postcard. Printed in Germany, publisher unknown. Series 1600. Circa 1907 – 1915

Price:  $7.00