WWI silk postcard sent for Christmas
c. 1915Embroidered silk postcard, featuring the word 'Christmas' in pale blue thread on the top right, with holly leaves and berries and mistletoe foliage and flowers below. On the left is a colourful depiction of the flags of the allies with a central circular Union Jack with a red and gold crown above, surrounded by the flags of Italy and Imperial Russia on the left and Belgium and France on the right.
The surrounds are made from embossed cream card with a series of parallel lines for decoration.
The reverse of the postcard is plain other than a line separating the areas for writing and address and lines for the address to be written on.
According to the Australian War Memorial, woven silk postcards were first produced in Krefeld, Germany in 1898 as a combination of printed postcards and large woven silk pictures, known as Stevengraphs. The early cards were woven on machines. Being machine made, the woven cards always maintained a high standard.
Embroidered silk postcards were first made in 1900 for the Paris Exposition. The popularity of silk postcards peaked during World War One. A thriving cottage industry began around 1915 and the quality of the early silks was quite high. However later, to satisfy demand, the workmanship was often not quite as high.
Postcard companies began to employ women to produce silks on a rough assembly line basis. The cards were generally hand embroidered on strips of silk mesh with as many as 25 on a strip. They were mostly embroidered by French women in their homes and then sent to the factories for cutting and mounting on postcards.
Some postcards were made with little envelopes which could contain a smaller card with a sentimental message.
Production continued steadily through World War One, declining substantially in 1919, until ending around 1923. An estimated 10,000,000 hand made cards were produced from 1915 to 1919.
There are a large number of silk postcards in the collection, including several groupings relating to individual soldiers and their families.
Details
Details
On front of postcard:
"CHRISTMAS"
On reverse of postcard:
"DEPOSE"
More items like this
Other items from Recollections of War
- WWI silk postcard sent to Irene Glayds from Daddy
- WWI silk Christmas card sent to wife, Ethell and Glayds from Daddy
- WWI silk postcard sent for 'Happy New Year'
- WWI silk postcard sent for 'A Happy New Year' from William to Jean
- WWI silk postcard sent to Irene Glayds from Daddy June 21 1916
- WWI silk postcard sent to Ethel, Gladys and Daisy from Wally 5 August 1916
- WWI silk postcard 'A Kiss from France' sent in 1916
- WWI silk postcard with flags of the Allies
- WWI silk postcard with flowers and 'Souvenir'
- WWI silk postcard with flower, flag and 'Hope and Love'
- WWI silk postcard sent to wife from husband/Daddy June 30 1916
- WWI silk postcard 'A Happy Birthday'


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