16.00 USD
"My tears are like the quiet drift
Of petals from some magic rose;
And all my grief flows from the rift
Of unremembered skies and snows.
I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream."
--Dylan Thomas
Why choose "Clown in the Moon" to introduce this postcard? Feels a little incongruous, right? But then why do clowns make so many people uncomfortable, if it isn't the suspicion that something "other" than the face they show us lies just beneath the surface?
Anyway....great card...classic clown costumes of a type few even associate with clowns these days. No artiste or photographer attributions. We've seen a few cards out of this series, this being our favorite pose.
S.I.P. (Société Industrielle de Photographie), the publisher, seems to have come into being at just before the year 1900. It was at least well enough established by then to have had a place at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, where they displayed a published catalogue of their offerings.
We've probably listed more cards in our shop published by S.I.P. than by any other publisher, one reason being that it was probably the most common source of Leopold Reutlinger's celebrity photographs in postcard form. We read somewhere that the company shut down in 1910 and though we can't find any definitive source to support that, it does (given the S.I.P. cards we've found over the years) feel about right.
The image is cheerful and fun, the dots of yellow-ochre colored paint on the clowns' costumes are actually of gold paint/ink that shine nicely in person, but as often happens, don't scan well. Minor wear to edges and corners. A tiny nick on the bottom edge at a point where the card met an album "corner." On the reverse side, you can see how the paper was protected from oxidation by the corners but is quite age tanned otherwise. Sometimes it works in exactly the opposite way!
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!