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Lovely tribute to geometry. An RPPC -- real photo postcard -- of painting by Fra Luca Pacioli (Jacopo de' Barbari?) from museum in Naples.
The Buckingham Apartments of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Great hyperbole!
Example of foil stamping on a fine German card. This would be filed by dealers under "Novelty" postcards. Read about foil stamping: http://www.metropostcard.com/glossaryf.html
RPPC of an ornate metallic scepter engraved with the word VEREIN, German for association or society. Maybe a ceremonial scepter for a guild of builders or architects.
Wasn't till I got home that I realized this card is more than a man reading a newspaper. The little face atop his head gave it away. Look carefully at his face! This is an advertising card for Martin's New Carlton Hotel, Montreal, touting their "spirit of service and cordiality." Hmmmm.
Another lusty man. 23 skidoo! was a common expression in the 1900s-1910s, based on what cops said to men lingering around the Flatiron Bldg on 23rd Street, NYC, waiting for a wind gust to raise a woman's skirt. By the 1920s fashion began lifting hemlines, no wind gust required! 23 skidoo was a popular postcard theme, with its not-so-covert prurient message.
Card printed with the "Photochromie" process that achieved remarkably "natural" color in the days before color film. Though a Dutch subject, the card is from Germany. For a thorough article on the history of postcard color printing, see Kodachrome Photochome, What’s in a Name? by Alan Petrulis at http://www.metropostcard.com/metropcbloga10.html
A "Phostint" card by Detroit Publishing Co., commonly called "a Detroit." Considered among the best -- if not the best -- color printing in early 20th century American postcards, which were generally pretty lousy. This was thanks to a German immigrant master printer whom Detroit Publishing wisely hired.
I love dioramas. They were frequently reproduced on postcards, so not hard to find. This one, from the dawn of the American empire era, is "Rubber Gathering, Milwaukee Public Museum Miniature Group." Full caption on back gives an interesting socio-historic context:
"With the rise of the automobile, rubber has become one of the chief industries of America. It is produced by refining the juice of the rubber tree, which thrives in the tropics. The scene here depicted is typical of a rubber gatherers' camp in the Amazonian jungle and shows different methods of gathering the juice and also the smoking and curing of the raw rubber for shipment."
NOTE: Typically, this card gives a rosy bucolic view of what was in reality unthinkably cruel exploitation. See the film Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia 2015).
"Tree growing from old Sugar Estate Chimney, Burlington, Port Antonio... Greetings from Jamaica." There's surely a metaphor here: The chimney a remnant of slavery and the tree the new life overtaking it.
Left: Another tree overtaking a creation of man -- in this case, a creation of Disney. Scene from Walt Disney World. Right: Mutant monster lei overtakes the Ilikai hotel. This pair is for my Happy Synchronicity collection.
All cards are from the MARILYN STERN COLLECTION
