PFF - Vintage French New Year Postcard with Mailbox

Bonne année is French for Happy New Year. I have several vintage French New Year postcards with a mailbox (boîte aux lettres) theme. Isn't it strange how the scene looks more like spring than winter?

I have a new button on my sidebar for the Vintage Postcard Forum. Check out the forum if you are interested in vintage postcards.

VTT - Happy New Year & Dutch Kids

Three things that were popular in the early twentieth century were images of Dutch kids, postcard collecting, and pyrography (wood burning). On postcards, the Dutch kids speak in a dialect of English supposed to imitate the way a Dutch person would speak. This postcard was published by Bergman.

This burnt wood plaque is 9-3/4" in diameter. I am showing both sides because the back was used as a sort of practice sampler. There is a number 452 stamped on the back but no manufacturer's name.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

Happy New Year - Year of the Tiger

This is a Japanese New Year postcard for 1986, the year of the tiger. The tiger is one of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. The year of the tiger occurs every twelve years, so 2010 is again the year of the tiger.

The Japanese traditionally send New Year's Day postcards (nengajō). Many of the Japanese postcard designs are based on the Chinese zodiac signs. The Japanese celebrate the New Year on January 1, based on the Gregorian calendar instead of the Chinese calendar. The date of the Chinese New Year varies from year to year--in 2010 it is February 14.

Russian Soviet New Year Card & Snegurochka

This Soviet New Year card is ©1980. It features Snegurochka, the Snowmaiden. Snegurochka is the granddaughter or helper of Ded Moroz (Father Frost), the Russian and Slavic character similar to Santa Claus. Ded Moroz delivers gifts on New Years Day.

On the back of this card is handwritten information about Soviet New Years cards:

This is a typical Soviet New Years card. There are many different styles, but each shop has only a few. When a shop with good cards opens - everyone, including me, lines up to capture a few of the beauties.

New Year Pigs & Good Luck Symbols

This is one of my favorite New Year postcards. It has a nice image with lots of good luck symbols associated with New Years--pigs, money bags, horseshoe, and four-leaf clover. It also has an interesting message on the back.

The writer wrote that she got a burnt wood set, also known as a "pyrographic outfit," for Christmas. Wood burning (pyrography) was popular during the same time period as postcards in the early twentieth century. I have a small pyrography collection, and you can see some of my collection by clicking on the "pyrography" label. The illustration of a pyrographic outfit is from an old catalog reproduced in the Collector's Guide to Burnt Wood Antiques.

PFF - Santa Claus Reading Mail - Saturday Evening Post

The picture on this postcard is Norman Rockwell's painting Santa Claus Reading Mail. The postcard was sent in 1976 to announce a gift subscription to the Saturday Evening Post magazine. The painting originally appeared on the cover of the December 21, 1935 issue of Saturday Evening Post. This painting is also on the cover of the 2009 revised edition of Norman Rockwell's Christmas Book.

VTT - Little Girls Love Christmas Trees

This Christmas postcard was copyright 1910 by Arthur Horwitz and was mailed on December 21, 1915. Gladys wrote to Paul that she was not feeling very good but would try to be all well by Xmas.

The book A Christmas Tree for Lydia by Elizabeth Enright was copyright 1947 and 1951. The text of the story was originally published in Woman's Home Companion under the title "A Tree for Lydia." The book is a small size, 4" x 5-1/4".

Lydia was four and her brother Eddy was nine. Eddy knew that Santa would not bring a Christmas tree or presents that year because their mother was about to lose her job. Eddy devised a plan to get a Christmas tree for Lydia. He convinced Lydia that Santa Claus was late. On New Year's Eve, he and his friend collected trees that had been discarded in gutters. When Lydia got up on New Year's Day, there was a whole forest of Christmas trees in their small two-room flat.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays