16.00 USD
In addition to being a very nice image of a woman in a cloche hat, this is also a wonderful artifact of the early cinema! It may not be a postcard at all, but possibly a trade show giveaway card from the late 1920s promoting a color motion picture film process. It is just about a quarter of an inch shorter in length than most postcards produced in the period, making it 5 and 1/4 inches by 3 and 1/2 inches, and has no postcard markings on the reverse side.
The text that runs along the left edge of the card roughly translates as, "A reproduction of an instantaneous color photograph produced through the Splendicolor process." The "instantaneous" aspect of this is key. This card then is not hand-tinted, like so many we see from that era, but a direct reproduction of a color photo.
Splendicolor was a relatively early subtractive color film process (the earliest having been used in the 1910s). These, like the even earlier additive color processes (some dating back to the late 1800s) "also used black-and-white film to photograph multiple color-filtered source images, but the final product was a multicolored print that did not require special projection equipment." (Thanks Wikipedia!) We found a detailed description of it online at http://zauberklang.ch/filmcolors/timeline-entry/1242/#/
“The French Splendicolor process was shown to the Académie des Sciences early in 1929; it used a triple-lensed camera, the negatives from which were printed onto a film coated on one side with ordinary photographic emulsion and on the other with a clear gelatin layer. The gelatin layer was sensitized with a bichromate solution, and was then printed from a positive print made from the blue recording negative. The exposure selectively hardened the gelatin layer, which then took up yellow dye only in the unhardened, or less hardened areas. The film was coated with a second bichromated gelatin layer, which was exposed to a positive print from the green exposed negative and was dyed magenta. The conventional emulsion on the other side was printed from the red recording negatives, and dye-toned cyan. The process does not appear to have passed much beyond the stage of trade demonstrations.”
(Coe, Brian (1981): The History of Movie Photography. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions, p. 131.)
Wow. Maybe too much info? :) If not, and you want more, follow the link below to a simple explanation of the subtractive process with visual examples. Pretty fascinating stuff!
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/oldcolor/subtract.htm
A very nice image that in addition to image alone, is very much an artifact of film history, reflecting that era during which motion picture film, and the film industry, were on the cusp of seriously transitioning into color. Very nice condition.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for fully-insured, first class shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will not charge for 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 increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
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!