Definitions of Postcard Terms

Postcard Novelties   

SUBJECT menu term: novelty postcards

Airbrushing:
Airbrushing is a process of applying colour inks with an atomizer in a fine spray, usually to a heavily embossed postcard. W.G. MacFarlane, published a number of Hamilton view cards of this type.
SEARCH TERM: airbrushed

AIRBRUSHING AND EMBOSSED PRINTING Royal Hamilton Yacht Club on the Burlington Canal in Hamilton; W.G. MacFarlane; 1908 (p.u.)	BOOKMARK King Street West in Dundas (looking east from McMurray Street; Rumsey & Co.; 1910 - 1911

Bookmark:
The Rotary Photographic Co. of London, England (est. 1901) was a prolific publisher of real photo postcards. One of their novelty postcards was a 1 3/4" x 5 ½" Photo Series of bookmark cards. Most seem to have been posted in the 1903-04 period. Pugh Manufacturing Co. and Rumsey & Co., both of Toronto, published in 1910-11 a similar novelty postcard, 1 1/4" x 5 ½", with the name Book Post Card. The cards were printed in England, probably by Rotary Photographic. Rumsey & Co. published a number of Hamilton subjects. To date no Hamilton subjects by Pugh Manufacturing have been seen.

Deckle Edge:
The deckle edge postcard was die-cut to give a wavy or undulated edge. Most of the examples seen are chrome postcards of relatively recent date. Phil Aggus & Son Ltd., Hamilton (Dexter), Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Hamilton (Dexter), Canadian Post Card Co., Toronto, Rader-Lopez Studios, Hamilton, Ralph’s Drugs, Dundas (Dexter Color Canada Ltd.) and Arnold Wilbur (Dexter) issued Hamilton subjects with this format.

DECKLE EDGE Cobblestone bridge in Webster's Falls Park; Ralph's Drugs; circa 1975.	FELT PENNANT APPLIQUE K&T; 1917 - 1919

Embossed Printing:
In embossed printing, the letters or illustrations, in part or in whole, are in relief. Heavily embossed cards, because of the indentation on the back, and the problems this caused when addressing the card or writing the message, required a separate backing. W.G. MacFarlane, Toronto, published a number of embossed view postcards. SEARCH TERM: embossed

Felt Pennant Applique:
The pennant postcard was a stock card carried by a publisher which could be imprinted with a town/city name on request. In this case felt fabric has been cut in a pennant shape, printed with the city name and glued to the postcard. A number of felt pennant applique postcards were published by K.&T., an American firm. Stedman Bros’, Brantford, came up with an even more elaborate design, combining the felt pennant with a photo insert, embossing and airbrushing.

Foil Pennant Applique:
One of the more elaborate mail novelties seen was produced by Valentine and Sons’ Publishing Co. about 1917. It has an applique pennant of ribbed blue foil, printed with the city name, over which a circular real photo view has been attached.

Gelatine Film:
Some postcards were treated with a film of gelatin, a varnish-like coating which produced a glossy surface. Unfortunately the coating was brittle and the surface had a tendency to crack. The cards also tended to curl and the gelatine coating peeled back at the corners.

GELATINE Registry Office and Court House facing Prince's Square in downtown Hamilton; Rumssey & Co.: 1910 - 1913 (p.u.)	GRUSS AUS Piers alongside the Burlington Canal; view from Hamilton Mountain; Dundurn Park.; Detroit Photographic Co.; 1904 (p.u.)

Giant:
As part of their official series of views for the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908, the Valentine & Sons’ Publishing Co. introduced an oversize postcard known as the ‘Giant Post Card’. The divided back postcard measured 7 ½" x 5 ½". A similar series was prepared for the Exposition Universelle de Bruxelles of 1910. Giant postcards of Canadian centres such as Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto (Canadian National Exhibition) are known. Finding postally-used examples in good condition is difficult.

Gruss Aus:
The Gruss Aus postcard takes its name from a style of postcard developed in Germany at the turn-of-the-century. Almost every town and village in Germany had its own card bearing two or three small unbordered (vignetted) views of the locality, and inscribed “Gruss Aus” or “Gruss Von” (greeting from). A white space was reserved for the message.

Hand Colouring or Tinting:
In the years before the introduction of the three-colour process, half-tone engraved or collotype printed, monotone black postcards were sometimes hand coloured with watercolour washes. The publisher Rumsey & Co. issued a number of Hamilton subjects with “Guaranteed Handcolored” imprinted on the back.

In the 1940's and 1950's photography and printing began to use colour positives, and so did most postcard manufacturers. Some publishing/ printing firms such as the Canadian Postcard Company, already heavily committed to the publication of real photograph postcards, were hesitant to make the switch to the new technology, but were forced to compete with the new chrome cards entering the market. For a brief period they hand coloured their black-and-white photographs using transparent oil colours produced by the Eastman Kodak Co. SEARCH TERM: hand-coloured.

HAND COLOURING OR TINTING Dundurn Castle and Park, north-west Hamilton; W.G. MacFarlane; 1905 - 1907	ILLUMINATED WINDOWS Gore Park and fountain looking east; downtown Hamilton, looking east; Stanley Mills & Co.: c. 1909.

Illuminated Windows:

Illuminated window postcards were regular photo-engraved colour views with the windows of the buildings printed with a gold metallic ink. When held at a particular angle to the light, it gave a dusk effect. The United States patent (608044) for the process was held by Reichner Bros’, Boston, Leipzig and Munich. Stanley Mills & Co., Hamilton, published a number of these cards with Hamilton subjects (printed in Germany). In the postcard illustrated above, the publisher inserted a cloudless sky which starts as a deeper blue at the top and fades to a pinkish colour at the horizon. When one tilts the card to get the windows to glow the effect is similar to what you see when the sun is just below the horizon and the glow is reflected in the windows.

Installment Panoramic:
The installment panoramic was a set of standard size postcards, usually printed in the vertical format, that when assembled in proper sequence formed a complete panoramic view of the subject. A panorama of the Rock Gardens in Hamilton (3-part) was published by Photogelatine Engraving Co., Ottawa and Toronto. A panorama of Hamilton, from the mountain (4-part), was published by the Ontario Engraving Co., Hamilton. See also Multiple-Fold Panoramic.

Leather Cards with a Printed Design:
Leather postcards sometimes had a printed design. This was used to show buildings and other precision details. The brown ink used was difficult to tell from an actual burned design. McLean Souvenir Co., St. John, N.B. published a printed leather view of the Collegiate Institute, Hamilton, in 1909. Not being of card stock, the postcard was mailed at the 2¢ letter rate.

Letter Card:
The Letter Card was a product (© Canada 1929, Reg’d U.S.A. Patent Office) used exclusively in Canada by the Folkard Company of Canada Limited, Montreal. It comprised a pre-printed letter sheet that when folded and glued closed could be mailed as a postcard. To open and read the message one tore off a perforated and gummed margin.

LETTER CARD Fountain and pool in Gage Park, east Hamilton: Folkard Company of Canada Ltd.; 1942 - 1947 (p.u.)	LINEN Sunken Garden on Royal Botanical Garden property just south of the McMaster University campus, west Hamilton; Jack H. Bain; 1949 - 1950 (p.u.)

Linen:
Linen postcards are typically printed in vivid colours on textured paper with a cross-hatched surface ressembling linen, and they tend to have a shadowless airbrushed appearance. The linen postcard was popular in the period 1930-45. This format was favoured by Jack H. Bain and Royal Specialty Sales.

Moonlight Effect:
In the era when photographing by moonlight was a great technical achievement, postcard publishers came up with a means of faking such views. Valentine & Sons’ Publishing Co. was the most meticulous in trying to simulate accurate moonlight conditions. A day scene was selected with no people or shadows in sight. The view was then retouched by darkening the sky, painting a disc in the sky to represent the moon and brightly lighting the windows to give the impression of a night scene.

MOONLIGHT Moonlight panoramic view of downtown Hamilton from the Mountain brow; Stedman Bros.; 1906 - 1909 (p.u.)	TINSELLING Paul Finkenrath; dated 1910

Multiple-Fold Panoramic:
The multiple-fold panoramic postcard was a long, horizontal format card, usually with a panoramic view of a city, that was folded for mailing. A panoramic view of Hamilton, from the mountain (two-fold), was published by Stanley Mills & Co., Hamilton.

Sunken Centre Photographs:
Sunken centre real photograph postcards have a wide white border, slightly raised by embossing, so that the picture or pictures seem to be framed. Three examples of this type of card with paired Hamilton views and a city crest, by an unidentified publisher, were published between 1909 and 1915.

Tinselling:
Tinselling of postcards was a common practice and one frequently used by dealers to enhance the saleability of slow-moving stock. The lines on the view selected for highlighting were drawn on with a steel pen dispensing a special tinselling glue. Tinsel, mica, diamond dust, small transparent beads or finely ground glitter was taken from a special jewelling outfit, shaken on the postcard and the residue blown away. In 1907 the Canadian Post Office Department briefly prohibited their transmission in the mail because of the damage they were causing to electric stamping machines in use at city post offices. W.G. MacFarlane sometimes used tinselling in combination with their heavily embossed and airbrushed postcards.

VIGNETTE James Street Incline looking east, escarpment face above downtown Hamilton; W.G. MacFarlane; 1905-07.	WHITEBORDER Ballard Public School, east Hamilton; Valentine-Black Co., Limited; 1949 - 1953

Vignette:
Vignette is the name given to the style of finish in which the background of the image or a portion of it appears to fade away gradually into the paper.

White Border:
Most of the photo-engraved view cards published in the period 1916-30 have a white border around the image. These cards are known to collectors as white border postcards. Valentine-Black Co. in the period 1922-31 turned almost exclusively to this format for their Hamilton subjects.