A very interesting early set of 11 animal and wildlife photo postcards.
The black
and white images have a sepia tone and each depicts various wildlife in their natural
habitat. Some are especially interesting, such as the Mountain Lion Group shown
in the second image; the background of the den / cave shows several young, as well
as a doe apparently brought back for dinner.
The reverse of each card has a split back, one side for correspondence and the other
for addressee information, however none of these cards have ever been written on,
addressed, mailed, postmarked, or otherwise used. They remain in unused condition.
The back indicates the photograph card is from the Museum of the California Academy
of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. The Academy moved to the
Golden Gate Hall of Birds and Mammals upon completion of construction, apx. 1916
and I believe that these postcards date to close to that time period. Each postcard
is titled at the bottom back as to the wildlife depicted.
We were unable to photograph all of the cards, so following please find a list of
titles, as taken from reverse of each card.
1) Mountain Lion Group
2) California Sea Lion Group
3) Desert Mountain Sheep Group
4) White Pelican Habitat Group ~
Showing Breeding Grounds on Anaho
Island,
Pyramid Lake, Nevada ~
Donated by A.K. Macomber
5) Coyote Group
6) Group of Rocky Mountain Mule Deer
7) Farallone Islands Bird Rookery ~
Donated by William H. Crocker
8) Steller's Sea Lion Group
9) Antelope Group
10) Desert Bird Group ~ Donated by
William B. Bourn
11) Leopard Seal Group
While we are not experts in ephemera and antique paper the postcards appear to be
in very nice condition. We see no tears, breaks, folds, stains or watermarks, etc.
Edges are nice. A few of the corners have very small bumps, but all are generally
quite good. I believe the images themselves appear pretty much as original, with
no noted problems. Postcard backs do show some slight darkening, mainly around the
edges, more notable on two of the cards than the others and one card also has a dark
edge smudge.
Overall a nice condition collection of original unused photo postcards.
