WWI Embroidered Postcard On Silk

Here's a postcard sent from a soldier in the 93rd Battalion from somewhere in France during WWI back home to his father.
There's no stamp as it was inside it's own envelope and included inside another envelope with an accompanying letter.
Feel free to add your own WWI postcards of all types.

Cheers, Bill

Fantastic condition for being a century+ old!

Hi Hal, I would attribute the condition to it being housed in the glassine envelope for the last hundred years.
When people first started making there own postcards or personalizing post cards they used glue and glitter among other things and this caused the post office to require such postcards be housed in a glassine envelope.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it was around 1910-1913.
Here"s a good example of one with the glue and glitter that was required to be in a glassine envelope.
Note that this envelope deteriorated over time and the postcard yellowed both of these postcards were stored in the exact same way.

Cheers, Bill

I'm just surprised the textiles didn't fade. They must have been pressed in a way that little to no oxygen and/or moisture got into the glassine. Otherwise, the fibres would have naturally oxidized. The whites would have yellowed. The reds, blues, greens, etc., are still extremely intense after 100 years. You can see the natural oxidation (yellowing) in the back paper of the card illustrated below the first. That is caused by the moisture and air reacting to the chemicals used in the paper bleaching process that turn grey-brown wood pulp to white. My guess is your card, while being inside the glassine, was tightly pressed between pages of a book, like a family bible, etc., where air could not penetrate.

By the way, both cards were not stored exactly the same. The glassine with the top card is intact, with a complete flap versus the lower glassine, which is the back flap; allowing air and humidity access to the lower card. It made a big difference.

Yes, glitter cards were required to enclosed in glassines and banned from actually passing through the mails (don't know the exact date) because the glitters was dropping off the cards and jamming their latest..."machine cancelling devices..." a/k/a/ hand-crank and electric postal cancellation machines.

Again, the top card's pristine condition is amazing. The bottom card is also is fairly good shape. Thanks for showing these items.

Here is the H.M.S. Olympic...1910
Woven in silk.

Robert