Wild Postcards

This embossed card of German manufacture was sent to Great-Grandpa Phil from one “Lila”; it was postmarked at Vanderbilt, Pennsylvania on December 24, 1910 at 5 PM. As fast as the postmen used to be back then, I’m pretty sure that Phil didn’t receive this until the morning of December 26. In case you’re wondering, Lila is not my great-grandmother.

To my readers and fellow collectors: have a very merry Christmas!

 

She’s not bad; she’s just drawn that way. Lloyd Stoltz sent this card off to Kay Anthony on June 6, 1950 (the day before he sent her this card) with the message “See I’m asking you — ha ha. Hesitatingly, LS”.

Was Lloyd trying to cultivate a long-distance romance? What was the question from Kay to which he’s obviously replying? I don’t know where the cards that Kay sent to Lloyd are, but I hope they still exist somewhere.

 

This card was given to Great-Grandpa Phil by Ida M. Schobert on “Dec. 17 - 09″, which either means 99 years ago or one year from now, depending on whether or not this card can get up to 88 miles per hour. When I say “given”, I mean it was apparently hand-delivered, given the lack of address or stamp. The “stamp” in this case is a very highly embossed Santa Claus face, cut by hand from something else — perhaps even from another postcard. Ida clearly put some time and thought into this card, but no, she’s not my great-grandmother.

All of the items around the main picture are embossed, though the main picture is not. I’m not sure what the items in the upper left corner are supposed to represent. Any ideas?

 

Here is a cheaply made, unvarnished postcard, circa 1960, from the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles. At its heyday, it could seat about 4,000 worshipers. The building is no longer in existence, having been demolished in the 1980s due to earthquake damage. However, the church still survives today in its new home in Glendora, California.

 

“One of the most noted of the Totem Poles of Ketchikan (Alaska) is the famous Totem Pole of Chief Kian. It is surmounted by the fabled bird Kajuk. Below this bird is an eagle and below the eagle is the wolf.”

Research indicates this card was published around 1910; it is a pre-linen, white border card. It was published by the H. H. Tammen Company, which used a squatting “Primitive” (that is, Native American) as its logo. Time magazine wrote an interesting article about Tammen in 1927 (Tammen had died in 1925) which describes his beginnings as a waif, then saloon cuspidor (presumably, the kid who empties spittoons rather than acts as one), then bartender; he later befriended Fred G. Bonfils, a rich cousin of Napoleon, and squeezed enough money from Bonfils to buy the Denver Post. He then proceeded to maintain a near monopoly on the news (and the advertising revenue generated) for the entire American West until his death. The article does not mention any other publication ventures like postcards, but there are plenty of cards stamped “H H T CO” out there; most of the ones I have seen have Native American culture as their subject matter.
 

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