Postcards Great Medium For Celebrating Special Days

BOOK REVIEW

The second edition of Vintage Postcards for the Holidays, by Robert & Claudette Reed, is now available from Collector Books.

The introductory text to each chapter includes the interesting background of the exchange of cards for each holiday.

Sending and receiving cards was especially popular for Valentine’s Day and was a well-established custom in England by the early 1700s. During the Victorian period, both in England and America, they became especially elaborate, as is to be expected.  But the greatest surge of Valentine cards occurred in the early 1900s, when they were printed by the millions on handy postcards.

Although these were one-dimensional, unlike the fanciest of the Victorian greeting cards, they were brightly colored and inexpensive, thanks to the chromolithography process which had been developed in Germany. Now one could afford to send a Valentine greeting (they cost just one cent - the penny postcard) to just about everyone in the family, and to special friends and neighbors, too.

The main usage of Valentine postcards lasted about 20 years. By the 1920s, their popularity was fading, and people seemed once again to prefer Valentines that were enclosed in envelopes.

During this same period of time, it was not uncommon to also receive a postcard honoring the birthday of either George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.

Originally, Washington’s Birthday was given governmental

 endorsement in 1792, when Congress approved a motion to adjourn one-half hour in his honor. At that time, he was still alive and healthy. By the early 20th century, all states except Mississippi were observing Washington’s birthday, February 22, as a holiday.

Lincoln’s birthday (February 12,) on the other hand, was only officially recognized at that time in the northern and western states.

Eventually, in 1968, both events were merged by an act of Congress into a single holiday to be known as President’s Day, and celebrated on the third Monday of February. That is where it still stands today.

While the exchange of cards celebrating either Washington’s or Lincoln's’ birthday never achieved the popularity of Valentines, there are still a number available to collectors.

St. Patrick’s Day cards also found their place in the early years of the 20th century.

By the late 19th century, the American public had developed a great fondness for celebrating the special day of this Irish saint, with a highlight in some cities being a huge St. Patrick’s Day parade. By the 1900s, the public’s love of postcards included sharing them on  this Irish holiday, and they featured numerous motifs associated with the Irish. Shamrocks, harps, pigs, leprechauns, pipes, Irish jigs, and top hats, almost without exception using green as the predominant color, were typical themes. A common text on the cards was “Erin go braugh,” (Ireland forever.)

Other sections of the books include special chapters for New Year’s Day, Easter, April Fools’ Day, Arbor Day, Patriotic Holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

A final section of the book includes a sampling of cards from other special holidays or events. Postcards were also used to extend birthday greetings, wedding congratulations, and general best wishes for other occasions.

Vintage Postcards for the Holidays sells for $24.95. Check your local bookseller or contact Collector Books, P.O.  Box 3009, Paducah, KY 42002; online at www.collectorbooks.com.

Donna Miller

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American Art Tiles Featured In Four Books

BOOK REVIEW

One of the specialized areas of collecting for those who love American art pottery is tiles. They have been made by over a hundred different companies, primarily in the first half of the 20th century, and used to decorate everything from kitchens to churches. A comprehensive survey of the work of the companies who made tiles is now available from Schiffer Publishing in The Encyclopedia of American Art Tiles, by Norman Karlson.

This four-volume set divides the companies by geographical regions. The first book contains Regions 1 & 2, The New England and Mid-Atlantic states; the Midwestern states, Region 3, are included in the second volume; Regions 4, the South and Southwest states and Region 5, the Northwest and Northern California, are in the third volume; and Region 6, Southern California, is in the fourth volume.

Each book contains the same introductory material, which includes the background of tile making in the United States and the westward migration of the tile industry across the United States. The American art tile industry began in 1875, led by knowledgeable tile ceramists who had immigrated to this country from England, Germany and France.  Each of these ceramists owned his own glaze formulas, firing and decorating secrets. As they moved from one pottery to another, their assistants and their secrets left with them. Therefore, their pottery styles could only be created in their new locations, and no longer in the factories from which they’d left.

The decorations made by the companies of the East Coast, where the tile industry began, reflected those styles popular in England and Europe, as was to be expected since that is where the leaders began their careers. By the time factories were started in Pennsylvania and Ohio, a definite American look was added, and by the time the Midwest factories were operating, the look was totally American. The tile makers in California added another dimension, adding a Spanish look to many of their pieces.

Also included in each book is a section, “Where and How Do I Go About Collecting American Art Tile?” which lists several resources and dealers, most with names and addresses. (Included is Ron Endlich, “Tile Antiques,” in Seattle and several listings of dealers in California.)

A Glossary of Ceramic tile Terms and a comprehensive Index of all four volumes is also included in each of the four books.

A history of each company is included and numerous examples of the work of each. I was disappointed to find that the author did not include the companies’ marks when they existed, or an example of the reverse side of the tile. This “back” information is essential if one is trying to identify a maker and the company has not included its name on the piece.

The art tile industry does not seem to have been important in the Northwest. Only one example is given, Waco Tile, a product of the Washington Brick Lime and Sewer Pipe Co. of Clayton, Washington (north of Spokane.) The company was in business from the 1830s to 1957, when it sold out to Gladding, McBean in California.

The Waco art tiles were made from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s. A man named Edward Burkhalter was the tile designer. The company called its tiles “decorative inserts” and they came in several different sizes. They were made for framing, as well as for fireplaces, walls and floors. The author lists prominent installations in the Crescent Building in Spokane; the Wilcox Building in Portland; and the First National Bank in Wallace, Idaho.

The books are beautifully illustrated with hundreds of examples. They sell for $69.95 each. (Note: these books are not price guides.)

Donna Miller

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Weller Pottery Enjoyed Artistic Success

Among the art potteries of the early 20th century, Weller was one of the most important. Beginning as a one-man operation in 1872, Samuel Weller established a company that would last for 70 years and produce some of today's most collectible art pottery and artware.

The Weller ceramics were offered to the public in a wide variety of shapes, glazes, and decorations, grouped together in "lines" of pieces that had similar forms or decorating treatment. 

One of the popular lines with collectors today is Dickens Ware. The line was first introduced in 1897 and, using an idea borrowed from the Doulton factory in England, and decorated with Dickens characters. A second Dickens Ware line was introduced in 1898 and featured incised sgraffito-type decoration. It was also expanded to include designs that were non-Dickensian in nature, such as American Indians. The Dickens Ware line was discontinued in 1905.

 Another popular line with collectors today is the Sicardo line. It was introduced in 1903 and continued to be produced until 1917. It was difficult to make and therefore expensive, even at the time, and was sold only through jewelry stores such as Tiffany's. The Sicardo decoration was in the glaze - brilliant iridescent hues of blue, purple, green, bronze, crimson and rose.

 The above two lines are examples of art pottery. The artware lines - mass-produced using molds to form the bodies, and decorated with striking glazes but limited hand decoration - were made later in Weller's history. Competition and the economics of production required these changes in order to reduce costs and stay solvent.

 The Coppertone pieces, made from 1918 to 1935, are an especially popular example of one of Weller's artware lines. Coppertone has a green background color combined with a brilliant copper to form a very recognizable glaze. This line featured frogs, both as individual pieces and attached to bowls, candlesticks, jardinieres and vases.

 You'll find examples of these lines as well as other Weller lines in Weller Pottery, by Jeffrey Snyder. This 2005 Schiffer publication contains over 500 color photographs of Weller pottery, along with a history of the firm, a review of how changing art movements influenced pottery and a price guide. The book sells for $49.95.

 Check with your local bookseller or contact Schiffer at (610) 593-1777 or on line at www.schifferbooks.com.

 Donna Miller

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