Miscellaneous

Nine Vintage Postcards

Various Places: Publishers Unknown, c. 1914. Original Postcards. Single Sheets. Offered here is a suite of nine vintage postcards spanning eras, particular histories (“particular,” as in ‘native to a place, time, event and/or series of events’) & photographic topics-genres, all. They are not, as far as we can tell, addressed to a coherent series of persons or pen pals—similarities in handwriting suggest (however, without hard evidence) that most originate from a single recipient. For example, they are nearly all of German origin. Furthermore, extant notations (where present) — as well as a few, direct pictographic representations that adorn some, but not all of said postcards — point to the lesser-known wartime Germany; that of the First World War. Consider, first, the postcard depicting three men in army fatigues: they are seated at a table, and dressed in what look like German army uniforms from the First World War (this given away/suggested by the insignia on their field caps). They glance at the camera as if a person; doing so momentarily (before their attention inevitably drifts to the half-drank pint of alt bier beside them). The photograph is taken, and the lives of its subjects resume—doing so in a manner which functionally prevents almost all access to subsequent scenes and details. However, on the verso of this card (and in the top left-hand margin, specifically, the notation “Somewhere in Germany / c. 1915” is found. Near the rightmost fine-edge of same, a name is written in German—yet shoddy penmanship renders the phrase all but illegible. What became of these lives? Was the individual in possession of the un-filled out postcards the same as the individual who received the cards bearing textual, thematic or explicit relation to W.W.I? We will likely never know. However, it’s partially because of this that they all remain enormously intriguing; carrying with them some vague (but alas, indecipherable) quotient of meaning to those individuals whose lives they concern. What use do they have now, an earnest viewer of this listing might ask? Well, a fun (and potentially rewarding) experiment for the writer or screenwriter would be to obtain these postcards and try to use them to construct a plot/story line for a novella or screenplay. They also would work excellently well for scrap-booking purposes. 4 contain handwritten inscriptions of one sort or the other; 5 are completely un-filled out — “new old stock,” as it were, and all vary in condition, as further enumerated below. All postcards in Good-Near Fine condition, moderate-to-significant age-toning, yellowing, browning & rubbing variously present at both recto & verso sides; some inkblot staining, edgewear, some bumping & creasing to same. Good. [Item #5394]

Price: $25.00