Yesterday over on Postcrossing I sent my hundredth “official” card (in this case, it was an envelope filled with five or six cards; my way of helping a young Dutch girl reach her goal of collecting cards representing all 50 U.S. States) was reported as having been received. The first hundred cards traveled a combined 437,139 miles.
Since I’ve hit the century mark, let me go back to the man who started my collection for me: my great-grandfather, Philip Nelson Smith. This “Phillip” postcard (spelled differently on the card than he spelled it) was part of his collection. It’s unused and is almost certainly 100 years old, and might have been manufactured as early as 1907, based on the format of the postcard back.
You can’t see it on the scan, but the stuff surrounding each letter, while mostly dark in color, is speckled with silver glitter! A great deal of it still remains on the card; I try to handle this card as little as possible. The flowers and four-leaf clovers are embossed into the card. The card was probably made in Germany (most cards from this time frame were); the pre-printed address lines on the back are aligned similarly to most European cards, and the word “postcard” appears on the back in a dozen different languages.
From imajica:
wow, congratulations for 100th card!
I hit the 100th card long time ago.. and since then I havent been sending much official cards anymore :P I have only 170 officials within 3 years but 1700 more non-officials from the forum tags and swaps :D
p.s. thanks for bday wish! ;-)
From imajica:
ehh where’s my link on your postcards friends list? ;) :P
I can see Martinha and Ninocas and Ana but no imajica! :/
From Bob of Holland:
Congratulations, Chris. I really enjoy your posts. It’s fascinating to read about your great-grandfather and to discover him with you through his postcard collection.
From Marie:
This is tremendous! It’s amazing how well the glitter shows up in the scan! It truly sparkles!
From michelle:
Happy 100th! That is great.
From Beth:
How very lovely. The real thing, with its glittering details, must be very lovely. Thank you so much for sharing the history behind it! Happy PFF!
From Sheila:
Congratulations on your century! I can see the glitter very well. The spelling of Phillip with a double “l”, I was told by a friend whose son was a Philip, is relatively recent and that in came into being by accident during the 17th century. I don’t know how true that is.
From Marina Miranda:
great postcard! cute indeed!
have a great weekend and happy PFF xx
From Kristin:
Yay for 100!
From Kristin:
You said I might not be able to see the silver sparkles, so when I clicked on the card and it enlarged I let out a little gasp…and then I smiled real big. Cheap Thrills. Lovely card! Thanks for handling it again and scanning it for us.
From Terry:
Howdy
Congratulations on your centennial :)
What a wonderful postcard .
You must be so proud to have his collection.
I have never seen one like this before
It is really neat to have a name postcard from this era.
I really like all the great information that you shared with us today,
Thank you very much .
Happy PFF.
Have awonderful weekend.
Happy Trails
From debby:
WOW!!! Good for you, Happy 100th. This is truly a beautiful image.
debby
From postcardy:
I’m surprised the card has 2 Ls becasue 1 L is more common.
From Robin:
Beautiful postcard….
Did you grandfather collect postcards with the name Philip (Phillip) on them? I have a friend who collects postcards with the name Mary (her name) on them. I think It would be fun to collect such cards, yet with the name Robin, I doubt I would get very far. :–)
Congratulations on your 100th….
Have a beautiful weekend
From Evelyn Yvonne Theriault:
My great-frandfather’s name was Philippe Theriault. This is actually a great idea for a collection – postcards with a certain a name on them. If they’re traditional Catholic names it wouldn’t be that hard because almost every town in Quebec was named after a saint!
Evelyn in Montreal