Here’s a gorgeous antique card, from around maybe the 1880s – 1890s, of a scene showing several sailboats; the one in the foreground shows the oars in operation. Semi-surrounding this tableau is an arrangement of roses in a horseshoe shape:  a multi-petalled rose in pink and one in burgundy, the pink being predominant and in full bloom, with buds and leaves, and beneath this a spray of white with gold center single-petalled blooms. The colors and design are wonderful on this card:  the pale green and lavender reflecting off of the water; the difference in the top and underside of the rose leaves; the light showing somewhat through the clouds in the sky; the blues on the boat in the background, almost silhouetted, and to balance this out, the little bit of blue on the roses on our right. I like the placement of the seagulls, (six of them) and we can see a silhouette of a person manning the boat closest to us. This is another one of these little scenes one can get lost in, like a mini-vacation.

This card happens to have a couple of names on the back, in beautiful handwriting:  “Lillian Kent”  at the top, probably the person the card was given to, and either a partial name that’s cut off or full name with location that’s cut off,  “Cora Brown Tea….”  I think whoever took the card out of the scrapbook probably did a great job considering it’s a delicate operation. Too bad we can’t read the last word though, as that would probably let us identify the person that was the likely sender.

Victorian era card. Circa 1880s – 1890s.   Size:  2 and 7/8 x 4 and 1/4″

Price:  $15.00