3-D Bas Relief Postcards

I'm wondering how common this type of card is. I've seen other cards that were pressed to make ornaments extrude a bit from the flat areas (like the wreaths), but this card also has Santa in his sleigh in what must be an early plastic, extending quite a ways out of the card. This probably wreaked havoc on cancelling machines and I expect it was banned eventually. Another unusual feature of this one is that the green background is felt.

Does anyone have other examples?

They're found often enough but as you have suspected, they did not necessarily hold up well in storage. I think this could have been held out from being machine cancelled in a big city, depending on thickness. But I have a couple of thick cards that each frame a piece of enclosed embroidery that went through machine cancelling equipment just fine.

This clearly looks like a two-layer card, so the embossing of the face doesn't go through to the back. That allows a flat surface for writing but costs more to make and buy, obviously.

And I think this is just heavily embossed while being printed with metallic inks. So yeah, Santa is integral to the card and not glued on as far as I can see. The purple/magenta was added by hand. The felt appears to be flocking, just a finer type than used for most greeting cards today.

This required some closer examination. You were right about the flocking, which only looks like felt, and it is a two layer card. But Santa's sleigh really is attached -- I was able to slide a bit of paper behind it. And it's not plastic, it's actually some type of metal, heavier than aluminum. So it certainly could have damaged a machine canceller. Fortunately, this was mailed in a tiny town (about a hour's drive from my home) for city delivery, so it got a hand stamp.

Here's a single-layer card that has some pretty elaborate embossing. I can't imagine trying to write a message on the back!

GregAlex wrote:


Wow, this was really some production for the times, then. Puzzling that the sender didn't even scribble a "Merry Christmas" for a message after spending money for a fancy card like this.

Anyone have a guess as to the manufacturer?

Here's another unusual combination...I don't know if bas relief is a better term here than embossing, but in any case, this is not your usual leather postcard made with hot branding tool. The reverse side looks very rough and unfinished compared to the image side.

Those are all great! It really jumps out at you.
I have a few, although my photos didn't turn out as nice as yours. The first one stands out the most.

I came across a number of embossed cards recently. This particular style may be specific to one postcard company. These three feature buildings and the embossing actually gives them a more dramatic appearance.

Those are very nice. I have never seen anything like that before. Thanks.

wow, very nice postcards - I collect leather postcards but I also love embossed postcards - thanks everyone for posting this.