Precious Pig and His Pal

Piggy

I received this postcard from a swap-bot swap. My partner said the layout was made by a three-year-old. Isn't it precious?

A Right Good Time

Postmarked 15 March 1907

Postcard Caption:

A Right Good Time on St. Patrick's Day

Prosit Neujahr! Happy New Year!

Best wishes for a peaceful and fulfilling New Year!

A Happy New Year

Postmarked 28 December 1909
Providence, Rhode Island

Tuck Postcards Database

Allan Braun, James Lewis Lowe, and Richard Moulton have created an online database for Raphael Tuck & Sons postcards. The lovely site is currently available to the public in a beta form.

Tuck was formed in the late 1800s, and their lobbying efforts helped change the regulations on postcards in the United States. They were active until the 1960s.

Here's a St. Patrick's Day card from Raphael Tuck & Sons:

Nine Pigs

Postmarked 27 December 1901

Girl and Pig Skiing

Excuse Haste and Bad Pen

Uncirculated

Poor Miss Freda never received her postcard!

The "excuse haste and bad pen" caption with a group of pigs seems to be a common motif in early postcards. When I tried (unsuccessfully) to find information on this particular card, a few other variants came up in the search.

Cardcow has a similar card that was postmarked in 1907, which may gives clues to the date of this particular postcard. I'm really more interested in how cute (and clean!) the pigs are.

Boldog Új Évet

Postmarked 31 December 1935
Budapest, Hungary

The interweb tells me that kivannak provides formality in a greeting, so that the "Happy New Year" of boldog új évet becomes more akin to "I wish you a happy New Year." Rakospalataral, if I am reading it correctly, means castle, but I can't decipher the remainder of the message.

Prosit Neujahr

Postmarked 29 December 1910
Brasso, Germany

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
        ~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

Curious Pigs

Uncirculated

Dancing Pigs

Postmarked 18 November 1905
---, MI

A little Animal Farm, hm? At the same time, I couldn't resist picking up this pig postcard for my collection!