What's Your Oldest Cancelled Picture Postcard?

Here in the U.S., picture postcards really didn't catch fire until after the turn of the 20th century. But they were around in the 1890s. I managed to pick up several cards with pre-1900 copyrights, but only one that was actually postmarked. Because the postcard craze caught on much earlier in Europe, I suspect many of the earliest postally used American cards ended up there, mailed home by tourists. Here is my oldest cancelled card, sent from Brooklyn to Hamburg, Germany in August 1897.

What's in your collection?

Here's another oldie I just found -- a 1901 Private Mailing Card, with a nice steamboat scene. This is another example of an early card being mailed abroad. For two pennies, this postcard traveled more than 7,000 nautical miles from St. Louis to Porbandar, India.

The oldest I can find at the moment but I am certain I have a few from the late 1890's.

Not as old as the others in this thread, but here's my earliest cancelled U.S. picture postcard. It was an official souvenir of the Sixth World Esperanto Congress, held in Washington, D.C., 14–20 August 1910. This card was postmarked on August 7th, a week before the congress started.


The message translates as: "Sunday the 7th. Dear friend, Here I am in the city of the Sixth. The congress will certainly be a success. Yours, Martin."

Was it a success? Being the first World Esperanto Congress held outside of Europe, it only drew in 357 members. (Barcelona had 1287 the previous year.) The only World Esperanto Congress to have a smaller membership was in San Francisco in 1915, while most of the rest of the world was at war; that one had a mere 163 members. Maybe I should go to the one in Montréal in 2022....

I believe this is mine. Holiday postcard I picked up in Wimberley Texas at an Antique shop. Wish I would have had time to explore more.

I really love the Statue of Liberty card. I grew up in NYC but don't ever remember the tip of Manhattan looking like that lol!

What I find very interesting about the St. Louis card with steamboat is that in 1897, the dock staff appear to be diverse and integrated.

This is the earliest postcard cancel I have found so far.

That is really nice gslaten. thanks for sharing.

+1 I really like those original Columbian Expo postcards. They are quite scarce in used condition. Nice!

Gslaten, the Colombian Expo postal card item is very impressive. It appears to be a German chromolithograph printing pasted onto a US postal card.

Were these privately constructed souvenirs, or were they put together by the USPS?

Hi bookbderbob,

It appears that these sets were lithographs, printed in the US by The American Lithographic Co. Here is an interesting excerpt with a bit of history from this website. https://worldpostcardday.com/history

"1893
The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago, a world fair where 46 nations participated with exhibitions and attractions. Over 26 million people visited the fair, and for many of them, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to discover what lies beyond their own country's borders.

Publisher Charles W Goldsmith seized the opportunity to produce a novelty set of official postcards, showing the pavilions and other interesting sections of the exhibition in color. These were the first commercially produced pictorial postcards to be printed as a souvenir in the United States, and they proved to be a sensational hit."

Click on images to enlarge.

Thanks gslaten for the explanation and nice link. I'm even more impressed with the card now.

The 1893 Columbian Expo cards are a gorgeous set. There were 10 in all and they've gotten quite pricey these days. They were originally sold in this wrapper.

This is now my oldest. Picked it up in a little antique store today. 1907, Addison NY New City Hall nearing completion.

I think I'll give this old topic a bump. Can anyone share any cancelled cards from 1903 or earlier?

I just made it. Found this pc of the Wawona Redwood (one of the tunneled giants) sent without postage from San Francisco to Liege, Belgium.