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on first arriving in France - driving
France is not England
Cathedrals in France
Futuroscope
Vulcania
viaduct de Millau
the forest
as seen by francois mauriac, and today 
places and
playtime
the French umbrella &
Aurillac
roundabout art of
Les Landes
50 years old:
Citroën DS
the Citroën 2CV:
a French motoring icon
Grand Palais, Paris
dating old postcards
Marianne - a French national symbol, with French definitive stamps
the calendar of the French
Revolution
Motorway Aires
roundabout art of
les landes
Grand Palais, Paris
le pique-nique
Hermès scarves
bastide towns
mardi gras! carnival in Basque country
what a hair cut! m & french pop/rock
country life in France: the poultry
fair
the greatest show on Earth - the Tour
de France
short biography of Pierre
(Peter) Abelard
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introduction
You find a pretty and interesting postcard in a secondhand bookshop,
maybe in France, or on e-bay. But the correspondent did not date their
message and the postmark franking on the stamp is smudged. Can you discover
how old the card is?
To help make some sense of being able to date old postcards, first
we give a short general history of postcards. This is be followed by more
detailed listings for some countries - Great Britain, the United States
of America and France.
a
general history of postcards
1869, 1 October: the first postcard, a pre-printed correspondence
card, was sent through the public postal service in Austria. The card
had the address on one side and a message on the other, but no picture.
Before this, there were advertising cards that were often hand-delivered.
One of the first postcards, sent in Austria in
1869
As people caught on to the usefulness of this cheap and fast method
of sending messages, the poor man’s telegram - remember the telephone
did not yet exist, national postal services authorised the sending of
postcards through their postal systems.
- Date when postcards were first mailed:
- 1870 - Switzerland, Britain
1871 - Belgium
1872 - Russia, France
1873 - U.S.A. (government-issued pre-stamped), Romania, Japan
1874 - Germany
Postcards started to be sent internationally in 1875, after the
first meeting of the General Postal Union in Berne.
The main changes in the appearance of postcards were
- the undivided back: the address was on one side
and the message, or later, the picture and message, on the other
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| Postcard from 1904 (Chicago) with
an undivided back and a small space available messages on the card
front. |
- the introduction of images on one side started in
the 1890s when small pictures encroached on the writing area of the
message side.
1889:
the publication of a postcard of the newly opened Eiffel Tower as part
of the Paris Exposition Universelle. With over 300,000 copies
were sold to visitors, this postcard helped popularise the illustrated
souvenir postcard and secure the postcard format
1889 postcard of the Eiffel Tower
Because only the address was allowed on the back of the postcard,
messages were written on the same side as the picture. Below is an example,
written anywhere and everywhere.
Cesson - Grande Route de Rennes and tramway.
Postmarked 1910
- 1894: first picture postcards produced in the UK
- the divided back permitted the message be on the
same side as the address.
Introduced - 1902: U. K.; 1904: France; 1905: Germany; U.S.A. - 1907.
 |
 |
| Postcard with an unusual divided
back showing logging in Vancouver, Canada. Postmarked 1908. Printed
in Germany. |
Thus, the other side could be to be used entirely for the picture.
Previously, messages had been crammed onto the same side as any image.
Linen postcard with a white border. Date unknown.
note horizontal grain.
But this gradually disappeared as printing extended to the edges of
the card:
Linen postcard without a border. Date unknown.
Note vertical grain.
Most linen postcard production stopped in 1939 with the start of World
War Two, although some printers continued with this fabric-based printing
stock until the early 1950s.
- photochrome: Introduced in 1939, the modern chrome
postcard, with richly coloured photographic images and no border on
one side. Most linen and black and white postcard publishers either
shut down or converted to producing Chrome postcards.
other
means of dating postcards
It must be remembered that many years, even decades may pass between
the taking of a photograph, when it was published on a postcard, and when
the postcard was posted. Further, from time to time, reproductions of
old pictures or photographs are repeated some decades later. Another possibility
for finding an old postcard with a relatively modern postmark date is
someone had taken the whim to stamp and post a vintage postcard.
 |
 |
| Modern ‘Pamlin’ reproduction
of postcard probably originally produced in the very early 20th century,
postmarked 1973 |
Other clues can help date a postcard:
- The postmark
However, this will give the date of the postcard’s expedition,
rather than its production date.
- Photographic and printing technique, which can be ascribed to different
periods
Real photo postcards [RPPCs]
In 1903, Kodak started making the No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak camera.
This lightweight simple camera was preloaded with a 100 exposure film.
When all used, the camera and film were returned for processing either
as sepia prints or as postcards. The resulting Real Photo postcards
were photographs reproduced by making photographic prints onto paper
the size and weight of a postcard, printed with a postcard back.
German soldiers on a Real Photo postcard. Pre-1914
- Different paper types and qualities were used at different periods.
The paper’s colour - for instance, whether it is green, beige,
blue or pink - also can indicate its period.
- The publisher, also called the editor. Each were productive over different
time periods.
- The printed legends on the back of the card. When private produced
postcards were first permitted, they were called Private Mailing Cards.
Later, they were called Post Cards. There were also other legends such
as Souvenir Cards. Legal legends, printer’s details and other
printing also evolved. Here follows a selection in approximate date
order:
Detail from a French postcard, between 1901 and
1907
Detail from a Canadian postcard postdated 1914
Detail from a Canadian postcard, probably from
about 1910
- The card’s design or style:
Each period has a characteristic look, with Art Noveau cards from the
1900s, Art Deco from the 1920s and heavily coloured photos appearing
typically from 1920 - 1930.
back of an Art Nouveau postcard
front of the same Art Nouveau postcard. (The
caption on the card’s back reads:“English Hussars on the way
to the front”.
- Artist’s signature: an artist worked at a particular period,
so their signature can help date the postcard
- Buildings, vehicles, clothing and more:
these can help date a postcard -
- be aware that motorcars were not widespread before the early 1900s,
before that vehicles were horse (or mule)-drawn.
- Both men and women’s fashions changed, as did uniforms.
- Certain buildings were built at certain dates. For unknown buildings,
again certain styles, such as Art Deco, only appeared after a certain
date.
- Street names can help too - Some street names only appeared after
a certain event. For instance in France, streets (avenues, boulevards,
place etc) named after US President Wilson can only appear after
1913 when Woodrow Wilson was first elected president.
- Memorials shown in postcards can also help in dating. Thus a First
World War memorial can only be illustrated on a card from after
WW1. Every French commune is required to have such a memorial, well-cared
for and decorated with flowers every 11th November, usually with
an accompanying ceremony.
- The handwriting, and even the wording of the message may give stylistic,
cultural or historical clues about when that message was written.
- Black and white or coloured images:
It is believed that the first multi-coloured card, the Heligoland card,
was issued in 1889. The divided back (1902 - U. K., 1907 - U.S.A.) meant
that one side could be used solely for the image. Before coloured images
were printed, black and white postcards were hand-coloured by women
working piecemeal. They would lick the tip of their brush as they worked.
However, many of the paints were lead-based, and after several deaths,
hand-colouring cards was stopped. Black and white postcards were then
coloured by adding printed colours to the card. With colour photography,
this colouring method became almost non-existent.
 |
 |
| French black and
white postcard. Postmarked 1905. |
Same French black and white postcard
that is now coloured. Pre-1917 stamp. |
postcards
in the united kingdom
The “paid-for by sender” postal system first stamp paid for
by the sender was developed by Rowland Hill. A standardised postage was
paid for by the sender rather than the receiver. The first stamp was the
Penny Black, issued on 6 May 1840. The stamp showed a side portrait of
Queen Victoria at age 15. (The first French postage stamp was issued on
1 January 1849.)
- 1870: The first UK postcards introduced
by the Post Office. They were plain cards and had a pre-printed stamp.
The sender wrote the address on one side of the card and a brief message
on the other. There was no picture.
- 1894, 1 September:
the Post Office allowed postcards published by other than the government
to be posted. A halfpenny adhesive stamp was added to these cards before
posting. Not having to print a stamp onto the card freed the postcard
publishers to use any printing method, this freedom allowing publishers
to produce photographic images. By selling postcards without a printed
stamp, the price was reduced.
- 1895: postcard size adopted to be
4.75 ins x 3.5 ins/ x cm, and known as Court Cards. The address was
written on one side. On the reverse was a small picture with sufficient
space for a written message.
- 1899: the UK adopted the internationally
accepted standard postcard size of 4.75ins x 3.5 ins. The address and
stamp were on one side, while the other side held an image and any written
image. Because the image often occupied a good deal of the space, the
message would be crammed in around the edges of the photograph side
of the postcard.
- 1902: the UK Post Office decreed that
the image should be on one side (the ‘front’), while the
‘back’ was divided with the message put on the left, and
the address and stamp put on the right. Britain was the first country
to adopt this format.
- Manufacturers soon produced postcards with a line on the back to indicate
the division between message and address.
- 1926: Allowed postcard sizes were
specified:
- Minimum size: 4 ins x 2.75 ins / 10 cm x 7 cm
- Maximum size: 5.875 ins x 4.125 ins / 15 cm x 10.5 cm
- There were some larger (giant) postcards made during the early twentieth
century, but became more widespread later in the century.
postcards
in the u.s.a.
- 1873: Pre-stamped postal cards issued
by the American Postal Service.
- 1898, 19 May: private publishers and
printers allowed to produce postcards. Senders had to attach a 1¢
stamp. Manufacturers required to print the words “Private
Mailing Card” on the back of the card. Changing design features
can help approximate dating of these cards
- Messages were not allowed on the address side (the back) of the Private
Mailing Card, so some small blank area was often left on the front/picture
side for writing short messages.
- Further information printed on the back of the card included “Authorized
by Act of Congress of May 19, 1898”, “This side is exclusively
for the Address”and often “Postal Card - Carte Postale”,
indicating the card might be sent abroad.
- 1901: The labeling on the back of
the postcard changed from “Private Mailing Card” to “Post
Card”. Messages were still not allowed on the back with the message.
The back was undivided by a line.
- 1907, 1 March: The
back was divided by a vertical line and messages were allowed in the
smaller left area, while the address was put on the right. The blank
area on the front for messages was no longer included.
- 1915: To save ink, US printers left
a white border around the picture on the front of the postcard. The
back of the card was divided more evenly, making the message area bigger.
More description of the photograph was included on the postcard back.
- 1930 - 1944: Because of improved printing
processes, brightly coloured images were printed on postcards made with
a high rag content. The resulting postcards looked as if they were printed
on linen cloth. The white border often remained, but there were also
Linen Period postcards with no white border.
- 1939: The Union Oil Company started
carrying photochrome-style postcards in their western service stations.
The postcard images are close to real photographs. The quantity produced
slowed during WW2.
This type is postcard is still produced today.
postcards in
france
- 1870: When France was
at war with Germany, the Red Cross provided cards without stamps for
the wounded to inform their family that they were alright.
First illustrated postcards.
Patriotic French pride was pricked by the latest war with Germany, which
slowed down the official acceptance of postcards, as the French did
not care to copy a Prussian invention.
- 1873: The law of December 1872 allowed
the sending of postcards in the same town for 10 centimes and between
towns for 20 centimes.
Official pre-paid French postcard, from 1873
- 1878 - 1902: Undivided back period;
postcard size 14 x 9 cm
1878: Printed text - Coté réservé
exclusivement a l’adresse
1881: Printed text - Ce Coté est exclusivement
réservé a l’adresse
- 1891: First tourist view cards produced
in Marseille.
1896: Printed text - République Francaise
1899: Printed text - Carte postale
- 1902: It was permitted to place the
stamp on the back or the front of the postcard.
1904: Printed text - tous les pays extrangeres
n’acceptent pas la correspondence au recto
- 1907: divided backs started to appear
- 1910: generalised use of the divided
back
After the First World War, the popularity of postcards declined with
competition from photographic illustrations in newspapers and magazines,
together with the widespread use of cameras. Better communications of
the telephone, radio and more efficient petrol-fuelled transport also
played their part.
It was not until the 1970s that a combination of fast, clean offset
lithography printing and a concerted effort by postcard publishers to
make their cards interesting to buyers - with multi-views, humorous
pictures, novelty shapes - that the French postcard trade was revived.
postage
stamp values to aid dating postcards
This section is a train-spotter’s delight of lists of dates and
accompanying postage rates. It is best used as a reference section, rather
than reading from beginning to end (unless, of course, you are a train-spotter
type!).
Great Britain
1870 - 1918: ½d (one half-penny/one half-pence)
apparently, postcard postage for overseas was 1d (one penny)
1918, 3 June: 1d
1921, 13 January: 1½d
1922, 24 May: 1d
1940, 1 May: 2d (letter 2½d)
1957, 1 October: 2½d (letter3d)
1965, 17 May: 3d (letter 4d)
1968, 16 September: postage tariffs changed to first
and second class.
First-class post should arrive the next day, second-class post taking
longer.
First: 5d; second: 4d
After the conversion to decimal currency (100 p = £1, instead
of 240 d = £1):
1971, 15 February - first: 3p, second: 2½p (6d)
1973, 10 September - first: 3½p, second: 3p
1974 24 June - first: 4½p, second: 3½p
1975, 17 March - first: 7p, second: 5½p
1975, 29 September - first: 8½p, second: 6½p
1977, 13 June - first: 9p, second: 7p
1979, 20 August - first: 10p, second: 8p
1980, 24 February - first: 12p, second: 10p
1981, 26 January - first: 14p, second: 11½p
1982, 1 February - first: 15½p, second: 12½p
1983, 5 April - first: 16p, second: 12½p
1984, 3 September - first: 17p, second: 13p
1985, 4 November - first: 17p, second: 12p
1986, 20 October - first: 19p, second: 14p
1989, 2 October - first: 20p, second: 15p
1990, 17 November- first: 22p, second: 17p
1991, 16 September- first: 24p, second: 18p
1993, 11 November- first: 25p, second: 19p
1996, 8 July - first: 26p, second: 20p
1999, 27 April - first: 26p, second: 19p
2000, 27 April - first: 27p, second: 19p
2003, 8 May - first: 28p, second: 20p
2004, 1 April- first: 28p, second: 21p
2005, 17 April- first: 30p, second: 21p
Note: since 28 August 1989, when non-specific price-point stamps were
first issued, senders more and more frequently use stamps denoted with
1st or with 2nd,
rather than using stamps with a specific price denomination. This will
make dating more difficult in the future.
United States of America
U.S. stamp postage rates are calculated by the ounce. A postcard, at
a weight of 3 grams, is well within the lowest postal rate, be it a
half or a full ounce. Thus, the postcard is given its own lower postal
rate.
American postcard tariffs:
1873: 1¢, with stamp pre-printed on the cards
1898: 1¢
1952, 1 January: 2¢
1958, 1 August: 3¢
1963, 7 January: 4¢
1968, 7 January: 5¢
1971, 8 May: 6¢
1974, 7 March: 8¢
1975, 14 September: 7¢
1975, 31 December: 9¢
1978, 29 May: 10¢
1981, 22 March: 12¢
1981, 1 November: 13¢
1985, 17 February: 14¢
1988, 3 April: 15¢
1991, 3 February: 19¢
1995, 1 January: 20¢
2001, 1 July: 21¢
2002, 30 June: 23¢
2006, 8 January: 24¢
Letter postage rates
France
For further information on French definitives, visit Marianne
- a French national symbol, with French definitive stamps.
French postcard tariffs:
1872: 10 centimes - journeying in the same town
15 centimes - between two towns in France
1878, 1 May: 10 centimes - France
15 centimes - abroad
The 10 centimes rate lasted until 1917.
1917, 1 January: 15 centimes
1920, 1 April: 20 centimes
1926, 1 May: 30 centimes
1926, 9 August: 40 centimes
1937, 12 July: 55 centimes
1938, 17 November: 77 centimes
1939, 1 December: 80 centimes
1942, 5 January: 1 franc 20 centimes
1945, 1 March: 3 francs 50 centimes
1947, 8 July: 5 francs
1948, 21 September: 8 francs
1949, 6 January: 12 francs
1957, 1 July: 15 francs
1959, 6 January: 20 francs
the franc was devalued 100-fold so 1 new franc = 100 old francs
1960, 1 January: 20 centimes
1965, 18 January: 25 centimes
1969, 13 January: 30 centimes
1939, 1 December: 80 centimes
From 1971, 4 January postcard postage tariffs followed
the letter tariffs.
From December 1909 to January 1947, there was a further tariff for
“non-personal correspondence” with a 5 hand-written words
limit. The cards used were labelled Imprimé rather than
Carte Postale, being usually printed advertising cards.
1909, 1 December: 5 centimes
1917, 1 January: 10centimes
1920, 1 April: 15 centimes
1924, 25 March: 10 centimes
1925, 16 July: 15 centimes
1926, 1 May: 20 centimes
1926, 9 August: 25 centimes
1930, 21 April: 15 centimes
1932, 18 July: 20 centimes
1937, 12 July: 30 centimes
1938, 17 January: 40 centimes
1942, 5 January: 60 centimes
1945, 1 March: 1 franc
1946, 1 January: 1 franc 50 centimes
1947, 2 January: 2 francs 80 centimes
1947, 1 March: 2 francs 50 centimes
1947, 8 July: 3 francs
1948, 21 September: 5 francs
1949, 6 January: 8 francs
1957, 1 July: 12 francs
1959, 6 January: 15 francs
1960, 1 January: 15 centimes until 18 May 1964 when
this tariff was ended.
glossary
of words and terms
- Deltiology:
- the study of postcards. In France, you may hear of cartophilie - the
love of cards. Postcard collecting is the third most popular collecting
hobby, after stamps and coins.
Carte postale:- Postcard [French]
Carnet:- notebook [French].
During the first half of the twentieth century, packs of six, ten, twelve
or even twenty and more cards were issued in two different formats.
One format was a small booklet with a card cover, where the postcards
could be removed to post, the cards being perforated down one side to
aid removal. The other format was very small prints on photographic
paper, all in a decorated folded card folder or poche. Many poches are
strongly decorated with Art Deco motifs and bold colours.
C.P.A.- Carte postale ancienne - old postcard. This acronym is widely used
in France as a shorthand term.
R.P.- Real Photo
R.P.P.C.- Real Photo postcard - a postcard made by printing from a negative
directly onto special heavy photographic paper, frequently pre-printed
with a postcard back.
-
end notes
- The evolution of
U.S. letter rates is listed below:
per ½ ounce
1863, 3 March: 3¢
1883, 3 March: 2¢
per ounce
1885, 1 July: 2¢
1917, 3 November: 3¢
1919, 1 July: 2¢
1932, 6 July: 3¢
1958, 1 August: 4¢
1963, 7 January: 5¢
1968, 7 January: 6¢
1971, 16 May: 8¢
1974, 2 March: 10¢
first ounce
1975, 14 September: 10¢
1975, 31 December: 13¢
1978,29 May: 15¢
1981, 22 March: 18¢
1981, 1 November: 20¢
1985, 17 February: 22¢
1988, 3 April: 25¢
1991, 3 February: 29¢
1995, 1 January: 32¢
1999, 10 January: 33¢
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