A postally unused carte postale bearing no publisher's name. The card, which has a divided back, was produced in France.
Embroidered Silk Postcards
Embroidered silk postcards are blank postcards onto which an embossed paper surround has been glued, to frame and hold a central piece of silk. On the silk, a design is hand-embroidered in coloured thread.
Embroidered postcards were very popular with British soldiers on the Western Front who often sent them home.
They were sold in thin paper envelopes, but were seldom sent through the post in them. They were too fragile and, more particularly, they represented quite an investment – they were not cheap souvenirs.
Usually they were mailed with letters. For this reason, they are often unwritten, with no marks on the back, any message having been sent in an accompanying letter.
There are are a fantastic number of designs, generally patriotic or sentimental, all seeking to show the bright colours of the threads to best effect.
Flags, butterfly wings, bird plumage and rainbows feature strongly. Also embroidered – usually in a single colour - are a few words.
A ‘silk pocket’ effect can also feature, into which a tiny pre-printed card can be found.
Some of the most collected cards today are those featuring cap badges of individual regiments – intricate designs often requiring great level of skill to reproduce in thread.
Embroidered silk postcards were first produced in 1900, and they continued to be manufactured until the 1950's. Production peaked during the 1914-18 war, as the format proved especially popular with British soldiers.
The hand-embroidery was carried out in domestic houses as ‘out-work’ by civilians in France and Belgium, and in the UK by Belgian refugees.
The designs were repeatedly embroidered on rolls of silk. These were then sent to cities (mainly Paris) for cutting up, final assembly and distribution, in what was at that stage a factory operation.
There was a resurgence in the popularity of silks in 1939-40, when they were also sent home by members of the second British Expeditionary Force. These later examples tend to have more muted colours, and a ‘crimpled cut’ edge to the card.
There are similar types of cards, which are similar in size and format to the hand-embroidered cards, but were woven by machinery. Weaving could allow more complex images, typically depictions of the war destruction of historic buildings (such as the cathedral at Louvain, and Ypres cloth hall), or recognisable portraits (such as Edith Cavell).
Silk is a particularly difficult material to preserve, being sensitive to light, handling, and humidity fluctuations. Close examination of most cards will show some tearing of the silk, and there may be small holes developing.
The card stock used in the Great War was also often poor quality, and today will exhibit brown staining (known as ‘foxing’) due to acids. Although visible foxing can sometimes be reduced, it is a specialist job.
An original silk card should not be framed for display - it will fade, even if placed away from direct sunlight.
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