VintagePostcards.org Postcard Blog

An Outsider Art Black Americana Postcard

VintagePostcards — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:06:25 +0000

For collectors of black Americana vintage postcards, it doesn’t get much better than this! Collectibles which depict every-day life in the black community are scarce, and this old black history postcard shows the proud owner of a 1952 Pontiac, which he has decorated in a folk art, or outsider art, manner. This great image was made in 1973 at a Gulf gas station in Houston, TX and is in near-mint condition. It has cross-appeal to the roadside America, or roadside Americana, collector and is also an interesting petroliana collectible.

See more black Americana or gas station postcards at our website.

The Travels of an Antique Postcard, from Rural Kentucky to Romania

VintagePostcards — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:32:28 +0000

Once upon a time, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a young woman with the improbable name of Georgia Fruit (yes, really) lived in the northeastern corner of Christian County, near Hopkinsville, KY. Postcard collecting was at its zenith and sending postcards to friends was all the rage. Ms. Fruit received many postcards from her beau and other friends, including this antique 1907 postcard of the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park.

After her death, the postcards — including the Old Faithful postcard — were sent to a Texas relative. Eventually, her postcard collection made its way back to Kentucky, having been sold to a postcard dealer. While early scenes of Hopkinsville and Bowling Green, KY sold quickly, Old Faithful languished for the better part of a year.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of interest in the postcard. A photo editor at The Territory Ahead, a Santa Barbara, California-based clothing company, was preparing a catalog featuring Wyoming and wanted a scan of the Old Faithful postcard. Off the scan went to California. Then, just as quickly, a postcard buyer appeared for the vintage postcard. It left this morning…for Brasov, Romania. And thus ended the improbable travels of one postcard, sent to a Kentucky farm over 100 years ago.

See other national park postcards at our website, or read another post about roadside America postcards, which have been a popular late 20th c. collectible.

July Fourth Holiday Vintage Postcard

VintagePostcards — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:43:57 +0000

What fun! Here’s an unused c. 1907 patriotic Fourth of July postcard with great graphics. The lady has a Gibson Girl-style up-swept hairdo and a finely detailed white lace dress on. She holds aloft a lit firecracker, with more firecrackers and a noisemaker in her other hand. Gilded and embossed, with American flag shields in the bottom corners and the whole topped by an American eagle. We hope you have a great Independence Day!

See more Fourth of July and holiday postcards at our website.

Summer Fun at the Boothbay Harbor, Maine Yacht Club

VintagePostcards — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:40:35 +0000

With summer coming on strong and the Fourth of July just around the corner, we’re sharing this photographic classic of summer fun in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 100 years ago. This antique image, an unused Azo Tri 1 real-photo postcard, circa 1907-1918, depicts celebrants at the yacht club in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Pennants and patriotic flags flutter amidst the crowds and waiting rowboats. The finely detailed and sharply focused Lincoln County image, which has great clarity, was photographed by McDougall & Keefe of Boothbay Harbor. It’s in near-mint condition.

See hundreds of real-photo postcards and sports postcards at our website, or read about a classic roadside Americana postcard and the splendid neon signs at the Bluebird Cafe in Logan, Utah.

Classic Neon Signs at the Bluebird Cafe

VintagePostcards — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:02:07 +0000

We’ve long been attracted to classic American roadside post cards, and thought we’d share this dramatic nighttime example. The Bluebird Cafe, with its classic neon signs, is seen in Logan, Utah in a circa 1950s or 1960s chrome postcard. The photograph was taken by J. Fred Thunall. The historic restaurant, with its marble soda fountain, is still in business on Main St.

What do you like best about old roadside postcards? Read about scarce outsider art Indiana postcards, and see other examples of roadside Americana at our website.

An Antique Marysville, Ohio Restaurant Trade Card

VintagePostcards — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:04:21 +0000

We’ve always been fond of this charming c. 1880s trade card advertising George P. Robinson’s City Restaurant and Lunch Room in Marysville, Ohio. Mr. Robinson’s restaurant was opposite the post office and offered “oysters and ice cream in season.” What street was the restaurant on and is the building still there? This Union County advertisement measures approximately 4” x 3.” It’s in excellent condition, and would look great framed!

Ice cream and oysters sound like a strange combination, but this little girl looks like she’s having fun at the restaurant. See more 19th century trade cards and advertising postcards at our website.

Read about more antique black Americana trade cards.

Fanciful Easter Rabbits Inspect Easter Eggs

VintagePostcards — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:12:10 +0000

Happy Easter from two handsome Victorian-era rabbits! This vivid antique postcard shows them checking out some colored Easter eggs for the Easter holiday. Did you color Easter eggs with your mother? We did. Lavishly gilded and embossed, this vintage post card is also bedecked with violets, a symbol of remembrance in Victorian times. The post card is of high quality, and was probably published in Germany. It was sent by Aunt Kate to Glenn Fravel of Cresco, Iowa in 1913. We hope Glenn enjoyed this little treasure as much as we do!

Read about a fanciful Valentine’s Day postcard, and see the colorful holiday postcards at our website.

Roadside Indiana Outsider Art Postcards

VintagePostcards — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:55:47 +0000

We recently sold two unusual “outsider art,” or folk art, postcards from Bedford, Indiana. These dramatic c. 1940s postcards show the work and religious visions of folk artist August Mack. Little is known about him, other than that his display was six miles north of Bedford, on State Road 37 in Lawrence County, IN.

The “Brazen Serpent” which Mack created was 21 feet long and resembled a large diamond-back rattlesnake. The rattler weighed about 300 pounds and moved, hissed, rattled and opened its mouth by the power of a small motor. It had 362 wooden ribs and over 4,000 metal scales. While it perhaps frightened tourists, it would have been a visual delight for a herpetologist.

The second postcard in his “My Vision, My Dream” series shows angelic figures meeting Mack, as the rattlesnake curls about his feet in a striking position. The postcard also bears the title: “And there shall be no more curse.” Mack writes that “the vision and dream is the answer in my prayers to God not to let me be a wage-slave all of the days of my life.” Both antique postcards were published by the Wayne Paper Box Co. of Fort Wayne, IN.

Are there other images by postcard artist Mack? And whatever happened to Mack and his artwork? We wish we knew.

See more roadside America postcards at our website.

Read about black Americana postcards during the Civil Rights era.

Fred Hoertz, Previously Undocumented Postcard Artist

VintagePostcards — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:54:56 +0000

While listing a nautical postcard yesterday, we were able to document a previously unknown postcard artist, Fred Hoertz (1899-1977). Frederick J. Hoertz, who had an affinity for nautical artwork, worked from a studio at the Battery in New York City for many years but, with the advent of World War II and a prevailing anti-German sentiment, he was asked to move because of his German name. Major bummer. He actually designed several World War II motivational posters which are collectible now for their artwork. Hoertz moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he shared a studio with Fred W. Hunt.

His signature is seen at bottom left in this unused c. 1947-1958 postcard of the S. S. Argentina, a passenger ship which sailed a U.S.-South America route and was owned by the Moore-McCormack Lines of New York.

The history of the S.S. Argentina is, in itself, interesting. The Argentina began life as the Pennsylvania, and was originally built for the Panama Pacific Line’s New York-Panama-Los Angeles-San Francisco route. She could carry 750 passengers in first class and tourist class accommodations. She and her sister ships, the California and the Virginia, were too large for the route. After government subsidies were halted in 1938, the ships were laid up.

After the U.S. Maritime Commission took over the ships, they were given to the American Republics Line, a Moore-McCormack subsidiary. The rebuilt Argentina then sailed a U.S.-Caribbean-South America route which had been established as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Good Neighbor Policy.” During World War II, from 1941 to 1946, the Argentina and her sisters were troop ships. Returned to passenger service in 1947, the Argentina was laid up in 1958, when Moore-McCormack planned to build larger ships. She was sold for scrap in 1964 to Peck Iron & Metals of Norfolk, Virginia, and then sold again to the Luria Bros. of South Kearny, New Jersey.

Read about a rare Moreland Motor Co. truck which advertised Zerolene gasoline in Los Angeles, California.

See more nautical postcards in the transportation category at our website.

An Antique Leap Year Postcard for Fun

VintagePostcards — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:46:09 +0000

Leap Year only occurs once every four years, so we thought we’d show you an amusing old postcard from this unusual holiday, when role reversal was the norm for the day, Victorian behavioral constraints were set aside, and women were allowed to propose to the man of their choice. This particular postcard was printed for Leap Year 1908, 100 years ago today.

Entitled “The Piano Proposal, or The Message of the Music” and captioned: “Try This on Your Piano/It Will Catch Him in 1908” the postcard shows a nervous woman peaking out from behind a curtain, as her suspicious beau, Oscar, whose photo is atop the piano, eyes the sheet music titles scattered about. The beau is thinking: “Maybe It’s a Coincidence, But It Certainly Looks Suspicious.”

Oscar probably has every right to suspect a set-up, as the songs carry such titles as: “I’m Wearing My Heart Away for You!”; “Dreaming”; “Every Little Bit Helps”; “I’m So Lonesome”; “I Just Can’t Make My Eyes Behave!”; “Everybody’s in Slumberland But You and I!”; and “Don’t You Think It’s Time to Marry?”

The postcard bears a scarce 1909 Laytonsville, KY DPO (dead post office) cancel, and was part of a collection we purchased containing postcards addressed to Miss Georgia Fruit, who lived in the Hopkinsville, Kentucky area. The Laytonsville post office was only open from 1890 to 1913, and was purchased by a collector for the DPO cancel. The message on the reverse reads: “Can you play these pieces? If not, learn by the time I come, for I am coming soon. Your friend.” A mysterious and romantic Christian County or holiday collectible.

Learn more about holiday postcards, or see a selection of holiday postcards at our website.