22.00 USD
We have never seen an example of La Cavalieri's signature on a postcard before. We DO NOT believe this to be an actual autograph, though it may well be her signature, reproduced, which in and of itself makes this an unusual card. Though some artistes of the period made frequent use of reproduced signatures on their postcards (De Merode, and Otero, for example), this one is a first for us. But we have not run across this particular image before, either. From her costume, we think it is one from a Reutlinger series often associated with an appearance of hers in St. Petersburg, but the publisher of this image may be Italian, and they may have purchased the rights to this image from Reutlinger, resulting in its being less common.
Naturally, when we first saw a scan of this card before purchasing it for the shop, we were hoping we had found an autographed Cavalieri image! It's tough to judge from a scan. Why don't we think this is a real autograph? If the card is held in the proper light, the silvering is evident on the surface of the card floating "over" the signature. We are, by no means, experts, but many of you probably know that the lovely glow we call "silvering," is a chemical reaction that occurs over time in which the light sensitive metallic salts that were originally held in place on the surface of the photo print paper by a gelatinous compound, gradually migrate to the surface of the photographic print. Although there were many such metallic salts used in photography (still are), bromide of silver was one commonly used, hence the term "silvering."
It seems very unlikely to us that an actual ink signature would show even silvering over its surface without any difference in surface appearance between it, and the print upon which the signature was written, because the ink from a pen, would have covered the print's surface, not allowing the salts to migrate upwards. Make sense?
In our listing images, though *not for sale*, is a scan of what seems to be a DVD case that offers us another reproduction of her signature. Closely examined, they are not identical, but are close enough to let us believe that this was, for a time at least (signatures change over the years, of course), a signature she used.
A wonderful card (relatively rare, from our limited perspective), with some wear to corners. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!