Thursday, October 15, 2009

Embroidered Silk Postcard



The recipient of this card may well have been the mother of "wee Edith" from yesterday's post. This silk embroidered card was made in France. The cards were very popular among soldiers stationed in France at the end of WWI, so it's not surprising that the golden years for cards of this kind were from 1914-1920. They rarely had postmarks because they were sent via free soldier mail, although sometimes they were also sent in envelopes to protect the fabric.
The text on the card reads:
Dear Mrs. Bee
Just a P.C. for Auld Times Sake. Hoping you are all in the Best of Health.
Love From
Dod
at

15 comments:

  1. RachelDOctober 15, 2009 at 9:22 AM

    These are simply charming!! I do think the embroidered one must have also had an envelope, because there's not even a "frank" mark on the stamp spot. I cannot believe anything so fragile as those stitches would have been chanced to the machinery of the postal service.

    How sweet they are.

    Thanks for dropping in at Lawn Tea!!

    rachel

    PS--just by coincidence, my secret word was "lasses"---how apropos!!

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  2. viridianOctober 15, 2009 at 9:53 AM

    Lovely! I have seen these on ebay, never in person. Happy VTT.

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  3. PostcardyOctober 15, 2009 at 10:01 AM

    That's a pretty card. I have never seen one with a flap and a small card like that.

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  4. JocelynOctober 15, 2009 at 11:15 AM

    Oh my goodness, what a lovely card. Very unique.

    Jocelyn
    http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/

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  5. rtOctober 15, 2009 at 11:30 AM

    What a beautiful postcard!

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  6. MaureenOctober 15, 2009 at 11:45 AM

    So sweet!

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  7. MrCachetOctober 15, 2009 at 1:01 PM

    Christine,

    Thank you for the visit! I too am curious about the Montana Candy Factory. The little box in the header says "Pure, Fresh Candies furnished to the Wholesale Trade at Prices that Defy Competition. Our Factor is fitted up with the Latest Improved Machinery and we are prepared to furnish Finer Candies and at Lower prices than can be shipped from the East".

    And no wonder. Goods came to Helena in one of two ways in 1881 - either by rail through Salt Lake City, or by steamboat to Fort Benton, and by Oxen Teamed Wagon Train (two or three wagons tied together). Both were expensive.

    The line items listed on this bill head were: 5# Maple Caramel, 10# of Chocolate Caramel and 5# of Butterscotch. The grand total for 20 POUNDS of (the Purest, Freshest) candy was $5.80. No mention of what was lost to the Government Team that was asked to deliver it.

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  8. silly eagle booksOctober 15, 2009 at 1:34 PM

    Beautiful! I've never seen an embroidered post card before.

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  9. DebbieOctober 15, 2009 at 1:43 PM

    How pretty, I have never seen an embroidered postcard!

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  10. JaneOctober 15, 2009 at 1:57 PM

    I too have never seen an embroidered postcard....I have several vintage postcards in my collection but nothing like this. Thanks for sharing.
    Jane

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  11. ColoradoladyOctober 15, 2009 at 2:12 PM

    What a beautiful postcard. I have never seen one like it ever....I just would imagine this is quite a treasure.

    Have a great VTT and a wonderful weekend.

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  12. FionaOctober 15, 2009 at 3:33 PM

    Oh how interesting! I only ever saw one before on the internet, never in real life. But I did read a book, supposedly a diary of a young woman growing up in WWI and she described an embroidered postcard in such detail that I got suspicious. That's when I looked it up on the internet. I turned to the back of the book and the book was ruined for me - turned out it was fiction and not a real diary. It was the intricate description of the postcard that made me suspect - if they were commonplace and she would have planned to keep it forever (probably in her diary) she wouldn't have needed to describe it! Sorry, that was a long story and I can't even remember the name of the book! Anyway I was very interested to see your postcard.

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  13. MiriOctober 15, 2009 at 4:23 PM

    Wonderful card! The lovely silk embroidery is in very good shape!

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  14. SheilaOctober 18, 2009 at 12:47 AM

    I have a couple of those, but hadn't investigated the background - so thank you for that!

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  15. BillNovember 27, 2009 at 1:08 AM

    Hi All

    I have just set up a website to show my embroidered card collection. I have many more to upload still please drop by and take a look at my collection.
    www.silkpostcard.co.uk

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