RP Card Colouring

Postman

THE POSTCARD ALBUM

POSTCARD PRINTER & PUBLISHER RESEARCH


	‘Exceptional’ Photo Card Colouring...


	There are quite a number of old and not so old postcards around that show unusual colouring. Few cases are meant to be novelties. Sometimes the results of human or technical failure. However, some publishers wanted it exceptionally! Others again got poor quality. See below.


			The French firm “P.C.” from Paris appears to have enjoyed colour shock effects. The ”P.C.” logo belonged to Papeteries de Levallois-Clichy, r. Beaurepaire, 30. Many of their photo cards show romance topics. An all-time seller.


						I think I looked about the same way when I first came across PC Paris cards of the ‘extreme’ colouring type.


						PC Paris produced also quite normal cards (of good quality and exact hand or stencil-colouring!) like this card no. 2390. The hair cut/style already indicates when this card was produced, c. mid 1920’s - early 1930’s. Not p/u with undated message in German language.



	Most bromide (real) photo printers experimented with chemicals to give cards a different shade. Sepia (like PC Paris 1688) was widely used. – The blue shade one (PC Paris 1060) is already a bit more untypical. Both cards not p/u. The unusual colouring must had been a trend for some years. Copied by others.


	< PC Paris no. 2948 is looking unusual, in red on some silver grain coated surface. Novelty type. Scan does probably not show all the effect.

		> PC Paris no. 1278. Mixing orange, blue and green colours surely gets attention. Badly cut card with Ste. Nicolas wording glued onto card, a bit like a cheap steel-engraving imitation. Both cards with short handwritten notes but not p/u or dated.


	PC Paris was not the only firm to create these ‘psychedelic’ designs. Card above shows a different logo: Leo, Paris, no. 1297. However, quality, make and design are identical. The company behind ”Edition Leo” was “A. Lochard & Cie., Paris, 10 Rue Barbette”,




	‘Changing/Incomplete’ Colouring...




	Couple posing in the wood. No information on the publisher or even country of origin. Guess this series dates from the 1930’s. Found another view with this couple on. The general colouring of the photo / background differs already. But why was the woman’s dress colour changed from red to blue? A drastic step. Inside the heart cut into the tree, the initials “E S”, someone tried to remove/cover, are still visible with magnifying glass. I fear these cards with changing colouring are going to remain a mystery.






	PC Paris no. 2642 is in my personal opinion a colouring nightmare! They must had been drunk! However, cards like these did get attention when on display.



	Opatija, Yugoslavia. Most coloured real photo cards from the 1950 - 1960’s were still hand coloured; human labour was cheaper. Only the upper half of the coastal view (size 148 x 105 mm) from the 1960’s is coloured. Deliberately?


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