A Wish For Your Gladness

Divided back postcard. Postmarked December 22, 1928 from Sacramento, California. Series or number 1181 D. Publisher unknown.

Price:  $8.00

A beautiful Christmas postcard from The Alice Ellison Collection of a ringing bell with a poinsettias, mistletoe and a scene of a cozy home at sunrise in the background:

Christmas Greetings

“A wish for your gladness

As Christmas bells ring,

And all the bright blessings

These holidays bring.”

Addressed to:   “Mrs. Ellison & Family, 1015 O Street, Sacramento, California”  and signed, “Greetings of the Season from Mr. and Mrs. Gomes.”

Chimney Top Musicians

Vintage Christmas Card, circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00        Size:  5 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/4″

“To All Of You – A Merry Christmas”

Five birdie musicians – singing and playing the cello and accordion, with the maestro directing – are spreading joy from atop snow-covered chimneys. The gold-tone in the card is of the type that has that sort of a shimmer to it, so the actual card is even nicer than the scanned image. And it was signed,  “From The Haskins”  but the same wish applies from us here at Laurel Cottage to you!

From Our House To Yours, The Sanders, 1960

Christmas card, deckled edge, 1960.

Price:  $5.00          Size:  About 4 and 1/4 x 5″

Jumping ahead a couple of centuries from the last post…..Mr. and Mrs. Sanders, a beautiful and happy couple at Christmastime. And they’re decked out, she in her pearls and lace and he in his dress shirt with totally awesome wide necktie.

This card was found in an antique shop in Morgan Hill, California.

Warmest Wishes From Kate And Charles Tegtmeier

Christmas card, circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00

Find the “hidden” cat on this card!

A charming American Colonial or Old English style illustration in black and green….

“With warmest wishes

and a hope sincere

For a Merry Christmas

and a Glad New Year.”

Deciphering the surname of Kate and Charles was a good challenge, and after some tries we found the best guess to be Tegtmeier, or not quite so likely, Fegtmeier, and there are at least two couples that might fit, one in New York and the other in Illinois, from census records.

Ruth Welch Siver Christmas Postcard

Divided back, artist-signed, unused postcard. Circa 1922. Artist:  Ruth Welch Siver.

Price:  $12.00

“A Merry Christmas

And Many More

A Happier New Year

Than Ever Before.”

Here’s another artist-signed card – not very Christmas-y but so charming! The same illustration of the two children was found on another Siver postcard which was postmarked in 1922, hence the estimated date for this card. Biographical info on the artist is now posted.

Bounteous Gifts For Sadie Barbettini

Divided back, artist-signed, embossed, unused postcard. Painting copyright by Frances Brundage. Printed in Germany. Publisher unknown. Series or number 219. Circa 1907 – 1914.

Price:  $10.00

A Merry Christmas.

Bounteous gifts from heaven’s choicest store

May you find Christmas morning,

showered at your door.”

Addressed to:  “Miss Sadie Barbettini, Guadalupe.”  The sender wrote:

“Accept my little present and my wish for a merry Christmas and happy new year, you[r] loving cousin Rose d’ “

Sadie Barbettini (spelled Barbetini) shows up in the 1900 Federal Census for Township 9, Santa Barbara County, California with her mother Mary P. Barbettini and older sisters Emma and Minnie. Sadie was born September 1895 according to this census. A number of earlier pages on this census show the name crossed off township name of Guadalupe, so this census should be the correct record for Sadie.

The 1910 census appears also for the family, still in Township 9. The girls’ mother is now Mary Jenkins, widowed, and she has two additional children, John and Mary Ann Jenkins.

Sources:  Frances Brundage. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Brundage (accessed December 20, 2017).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Township 9, Santa Barbara, California; Roll: 110; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0254; FHL microfilm: 1240110. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Township 9, Santa Barbara, California; Roll: T624_105; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0185; FHL microfilm: 1374118. (Ancestry.com).

Federal Pure Food Company Of Chicago

Federal Pure Food Company Holiday Card. Circa 1919 – 1920s.

Availability Status:  SOLD             Size:  6 and 1/4 x 4 and 7/8″

‘Tis the season….for shopping! Here’s a beautiful Christmas/New Year’s card, probably from the 1920s, showing a nostalgic 19th-century scene of busy holiday shoppers on a snow-covered street.

“We extend to our friends and customers our hearty good wishes for the Holiday Season and may the New Year bring an abundance of Happiness and Prosperity.

Federal Pure Food Company. Chicago, Illinois.”

Does anyone remember any Federal Pure Food Co. labels on maybe vanilla extract or other extracts used in baking? Could be a wacked-out 😉 memory on my part, but I seem to recall old extract bottles in the back of our spice cupboard as a child with this company name. If so, the extracts were already old as the last advertisement found for the company was in 1935. And according to another news clipping, they established in 1895, though no references were found prior to 1919 when their sales ads begin showing up in newspapers across the country and in magazines like Popular Mechanics. Federal’s last known given address for correspondence was 2946 Lake St., Chicago, though for most of their advertised existence they were located on Archer Avenue.

Below, a clip from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 4, 1921 which listed the company as:  “The Federal Pure Food Company, 2301 – 2319 Archer Ave., Chicago, ILL. Largest packers of pure food specialties in the world.”

A Honolulu, Hawaii agent ad from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 23, 1921:

The ad from August 13, 1922  for “Agents” appearing in The Tampa Tribune, states the Federal Pure Food Company had been established “since 1895.”

Sources:  “When you have tried everything else.” The Pittsburgh Press, February 17, 1935. Sunday, p. 42. (Newspapers.com).

“No Dull Times In The Food Business.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 4, 1921. Sunday, p. 26. (Newspapers.com).

” ‘Federal’ Concentrated Ready-To-Cook Preparations.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 23, 1921. Friday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).

The Tampa Tribune, August 13, 1922. Sunday, p. 27. (Newspapers.com).

Glad Jul

Divided back, unused Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1890s – 1910s.

Price:  $7.00

This postcard is addressed to:   “Matilda Pettersson”  so the assumption would be that she is not the young woman in the photo, though we can’t know for sure. But she’s beautiful and unmarried (no wedding ring) and is no doubt of Scandinavian descent. She wears a dark, long sleeved dress or skirt and blouse, with a stunning lace jabot, and is posed seated on a wicker chair. That is a photographer’s backdrop that shows the background scene of a table with flowers, rich draperies and wall mural or tapestry. Nicely done, as it’s maybe not immediately noticeable that it is a backdrop. This was given at Christmastime, with “Glad Jul”  (Merry Christmas) written in script:

Source:  Jabot (neckwear) n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabot_(neckwear) (accessed December 18, 2017).

Thanksgiving Cheer

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked November 27, 1916 from Santa Cruz, California. Printed in Germany. Series 0758.

This poor card is really beat up, but it’s the only one we have at the moment, for the holiday, so Happy Thanksgiving! And it’s another in the Ethel Main Collection. Ethel’s nickname was “Tottie.” The sender wrote:

“Dear Tot, Just a line of greeting, recd your letter today, enjoyed it very much. Yes I have just finished my [?] I will send you the pattern. Glad you have such good luck. I don’t know what I will start next. Maybe a purse. The birds are singing gayly this morn. I will write……..Blanche.”

Addressed to:

“Miss Ethel Main, 3622 18th St., San Francisco, Calif.”

Easter Joy Attend You

Divided back, embossed postcard. Unused with writing. Publisher:  International Art Publishing Co., New York and Berlin. Printed in Germany. Circa 1907 – 1914.

Price:  $8.00

The spring colors are beautiful in this card, and the theme is egg shell bells and pussy willows, with a narrow road stretching off into the distance…On the back is written,  “Miss Conroy Form Dora.”  Heehee, “from” is charmingly misspelled. This looks like it might have been a card from child to teacher.