WWI silk postcard sent to Annie from John 16 November 1916

1916
Overview

Embroidered silk postcard, featuring the words 'Kiss from France' in pale pink thread in the lower right corner. A spray of three large bright pink and apricot coloured flowers and four buds with foliage extends from the lower left across the card.
The surrounds are made from embossed cream card with a textured wavy pattern.
The reverse of the postcard has a sepia coloured line separating the areas for writing and address, and lines for the address to be written on. The maker's mark appears in the lower left, also printed in sepia ink.
The message from John to Annie is written in black ink.

Historical information

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.

Annie McGonagle was born in 1900 and by 1914 was working as a machinist, presumably with the shirtmakers, Welch, Margetson & Co, Pty Ltd in Swanston St Melbourne. Her relationship to the sender, John, is unknown.

Details

Details

Registration number
cwa-org-119-RoW00676
Width
141 mm
Height or length
91 mm
Inscriptions and markings

On front of postcard:

"Kiss
from France"

On reverse of postcard:

"16/11/16
France"

On left hand side:

"To Annie
Wishing you a Merry
Xmas & a Happy
New Year
From John"

On right hand side:

"Miss Annie McGonagle
Co Welch Margetson
Swanston St
Melbourne
Australia"

Place made
France
Year
Primary significance criteria
Artistic or aesthetic significance
Historic significance
Social or spiritual significance
Comparative significance criteria
Interpretive capacity
Last modified
Monday, 18 August, 2025
Completeness
100
Recollections of War

Recollections of War

WWI silk postcard sent to Annie from John 16 November 1916
WWI silk postcard sent to Annie from John 16 November 1916
Reverse of WWI silk postcard sent to Annie from John 16 November 1916
Reverse of WWI silk postcard sent to Annie from John 16 November 1916

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