22.00 USD
A superb image, by Leopold Reutlinger of Paris, of an unidentified artiste in costume greque. Brilliant coloration. This young woman is very familiar, but escapes identification, darn it!
In addition to the whole Greek goddess look, she offers us a kind of "pre-flapper" look as well. Even in the early 1910s women began cutting their hair shorter. Wigs designed in the shape of buns gained popularity among young women who, wearing them, could maintain the more traditional look and style of the decade, while cutting their hair short and embracing the future!
On the reverse side of the card, you can find the words, "Papier Radium Brom," which translates as Radium Bromide Paper.
The photo-card process at the time of this card's printing, made use of light sensitive metallic salts that, held suspended in a gelatinous layer on the surface of the photo print card stock, reacted to light shown through a negative plate, thereby producing a photographic print. By far, the most commonly used metallic salt was (still is, we believe) bromide of silver.
Less commonly used, radium bromide is a byproduct of the separation of radium from uranium ore. Yes, it is technically radioactive, but fear not, this card does not glow in the dark :) Nor does it cause a geiger counter to produce all sorts of exciting clicky noises. (we actually borrowed one from a friend, to test the first several cards of this type we acquired :)
Photo print paper that was treated with radium bromide though, does seem to cause the color tinting on these cards to "pop" in its own particular, and lovely, way.
This card was produced in Berlin, by Photochemie, but probably for sale in France. This was common during that golden era of the picture postcard, when Germany was really the technological, and therefore production, center of the industry up until the First World War in 1914.
Such wonderful condition on this card! Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. 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!