This postcard is on thicker paper, and it seems a good possibility that it could have come out of an arcade game. The front shows a very clever riddle, surrounded by elves, and is done in green on white. See if you can figure it out. The watermark for Laurel Cottage was placed over the answer, so you could have some fun with this, and the answer will appear below, upside-down. (No cheating, now.) The riddle reads:

“WHAT WAS IT?

Luke had it before,  Paul had it behind,

Matthew never had,  all girls have it once,

Boys cannot have it,  Old Mrs. Mulligan

had it twice in succession.

Dr. Lowell had it before and behind,

And he had it twice as bad behind as before!”

The date and publisher are unknown for this postcard. Perhaps the “M” that appears on the front, at the bottom of the card, is some type of identifying publisher or printer mark.  We can see from the writing on the back that this card must of have been used for scrap paper to record some measurements… It’s always neat to come across a design we haven’t seen yet for the postcard header, and this is a nice one. Not real fancy, but nice, with the words appearing on a banner-like design.

Divided back, unused with writing. Publisher unknown. Date circa 1910 – 1920.

Price:  $4.00