Leather Post Card From US To Nz?

This is a bit of fun for today.. a very floppy piece of leather posted through the mail! If anyone has any knowledge of such items please let me know. No offence will be taken!

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Novelty item.

IMHO, mostly targeted at tourists.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

They were fairly popular at the time, but most that I have seen were mailed within the US. NZ seems like an unusual destination for a leather postcard.

Indeed it does revcollector. however its all about the to's and from's I guess. theres something rather familiar about the 'from' I cant recall why right now but it will come to me... and I do trust my source he's quite the treasure himself. even if that stamp background looks cagey!
still a bit of fun for the holidays..

Here's some info for you about the American leather postcards, banned by the US Postal Service in 1907:

https://www.postcardhangout.com/his...rage-in-1905

in the Warther museum at Dover Ohio, USA. there is a wooden postcard carved by Mooney Warther. he also carved an image of an appropriate stamp and the card went through the US mail and got cancelled as though the stamp was genuine. The text of the card was also carved on the card rather than written.

Noocassel,

Any chance you can post an image of this wooden gem? I have emailed Carol at the museum in hopes to get images and more info.

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

re: the article linked about claiming leather postcards were banned in about 1907.

Specific reference sought.

Having looked through the Postal Bulletins and Postal Laws and Regulations volumes from this era, I see nothing that bans leather postcards. There are 1907 regulations dealing with mica/glitter card (to be enclosed in a glassine envelope), non-conforming cards (to be charged at the letter rate), etc., and I see quite a few leather cards on ebay used in 1908, 1909 and later. If anyone is aware of a specific ban, then please share such reference. I am in doubt.

I have a total of 26 leather postcards that were passed down to me written by members of my father's family, and they all were postmarked in the years 1906 or 1907. Almost all of them were mailed from a small town to a small town, in the state of Iowa, USA. I see them come up for sale in estate auctions here in Iowa, and they usually bring around two dollars each. I had never seen one mailed all the way to New Zealand before. Thanks for sharing yours here on this forum.

Linus

Odd postcards from that era were made mainly for tourists to catch their attention and get them to buy that company's postcards over all of the other ones that were sold at tourist traps. Leather ones were fairly common but there were also ones made of wood and of copper and of other materials. Anything make a sale to the tourist.

Thanks for starting the thread lostandfound, and for the article Noocassel. I inherited the contents of a relative's attic (1910 vintage house) a number of years ago and among the items were 21 leather post cards, which I hadn't known existed before.

They are all sent to and from locations in Washington State except for one sent from Minnesota. Most still have a stamp and a legible address and post mark, a couple are unused.

The article indicates that they were banned by the Post Office in 1907 but one of mine is post marked in 1908 and another in 1910.

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I've got a few leather, a few copper, and a few printed on a piece of paper that was glued onto very thin pressboard.

I tried to give the latter away, but the guy swore his wife would have a fit.

I offered that, if his wife would promise to burn them in the fireplace, I'd address them to her.

It can be hard to get rid of the gimmick cards.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who found them sprinkled willy-nilly in auction lots)

You're a hard man Ikeypikey!

And yes I also saw the article on them being banned but it appears that some may have slipped through...

Re C. Bruetsch esq = Conrad Bruetsch was born in Switzerland and moved to New Zealand in 1861 settling in Gisborne in 1908. Not only a master carver, he was also noted as a master brewer and was involved in the production of Gold Top beer, he died in 1942.

Afternoon all,

With Don's help here is the cell phone taken image of the mailed wooden card reduced in file size but not content for posting:



This note with some additional info on these wooden cards as received from Carol follows:

> Here is the photo of a wood postcard that he sent. It is two sided with
> the message carved on the back. The pic had too much glare when trying to
> photograph. He sent many of these to friends and relatives. This is the
> only one he sent out of the country. But he did use real stamps on all of
> them and they went thru like this. Today they would require bubble wrap
> and a box before the post office would allow it.
> Carol Moreland
> Warther Museum

Morning all,

Here is the back side message carved on this card.