Las Animas "Canon" or Canyon?

We were just watching a DVD last night about the Durango - Silverton train passing along its route in winter. Today, I opened up Volume One of my postcard collection and found two postcards out of place. Included in the Royal Gorge section were these two cards.

They are from the Durango - Silverton line. The top card is from a very humble printer and publisher. I don't know who either one is. There are no trademarks or copyright marks on the back. There are some clues that I can follow to help me find out who the publisher or the printer was. As you can see, it is part of a series of cards (this is number 73). The picture itself is also embossed. As I run my fingers over the card I can feel the indentations that help me to feel the rocky-ness of the canyon walls. It was printed before March 1, 1907. That white space to the right is all the room anyone had to write a message. In the case of this card, no message was written. But, someone wanted Esther A. MacKintosh to know that they were thinking of her.

I love the address: Hopkinton, Iowa - nothing else. It is great to think that the community was either so small or so intimate that the postal employee who exactly who Esther was and which house she lived in. All he (I'm sure they were all "he" back then) needed was her name. All the post office needed was her city and state. I find the spelling of the word canyon to be interesting. On both cards it is spelled canon, like in the Spanish but using an "n" instead of the Spanish "enyea" (an n with a diacritical tilde over it). It seems that at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century the American printers were still trying to figure out how to spell in English words that were pronounced in Spanish.

This is the back of the bottom card. It is by the HH Tammen Curio Company. I wrote about them in two blog entries ago. BY THE WAY: If you ever want to know more about the publishers and printers of post cards... copy this link into your web browser: http://www.metropostcard.com/metropcpublishers.html They have information about post card printers and publishers from around the world.

Looking for Assistance

The scan below is a closeup of the words Post Card.

There is no identification of either printer or the publisher. I have many post cards with a similar logo on them. Do you know to whom this type of presentation of the words Post Card can be linked? Who is the printer? Who used this as a publisher? I would like to know if you know. Thanks for your help.

Surviving Through History

Not all of the post card printers and publishers lasted a long time. For example, the Acmegraph Company lasted eight years (1909 – 1918); the Benham Company existed from 1910 to 1915 – a short 5 years; the Gray News Company was able to meek out an existence of 16 years from 1906 – 1922. On the other hand, some companies have had a very long and prosperous life. The Albertype Company was around from 1887 to 1952; the American Art Post Card Company was in New York for about 38 years (1915 – 1953); Raphael Tuck & Sons had a very good run, starting in 1866 until it was purchased (and so, sort of still exists) in the 1960s. The H H Tammen Curio Company is in the group that lasted a very long time. It began in 1896 and closed shop in 1953. With his partner Charles A. Stuart he worked as a Denver bartender in 1880, and in 1881 they established the firm of H.H. Tammen & Co. (which in 1896 became the H.H. Tammen Curio Co., with partners Carl Litzenberger and Joseph Cox ) in Denver, Colorado. They were smart, because they didn’t deal only in post cards. The business sold minerals and branched out into other curiosities from the West. A quick internet search shows that they printed books, sold silver souvenir spoons (who doesn’t know someone who collects these?), printed and sold burnt leather calendars. He and a partner also owned the Denver Post newspaper. He was a very successful businessman. It is not surprising that many of the post cards that depict the trains in the western USA in my collection have his logo on them. These three cards are a drop in the bucket.

They all show the same scene: the last car of a passenger train heading through the Royal Gorge in Colorado. As you scan down the three images, you can see that it looks like they just continued to print and print and print without changing the ink. I know that is not the case because these cards come from two different post card eras and represent two different publishers. The first card is from the time immediately after the Post Office allowed people to write messages on the backs of cards. It is known as the Divided Back era (1907 – 1915). The photo is actually quite crisp and clear as I look at it. The water has movement in it and the rocks show the fissures very well. This card is unused, so I don’t know exactly how old it is. Within the next few years, though, I can almost guarantee that it will be a centenarian. The second card is the same picture printed by the same printer and published by the same publisher – HH Tammen Curio Company. But, now the businesses have found out that you can save lots of money by adding a white border around the same pictures they have been printing. The post card number and title have not changed: 5955. Going Through the Royal Gorge, Colorado. Parts of the rocks, the rails and the river have disappeared as the printing process cropped the picture. There are no changed made to the back. This card comes from the White Border era (1915 – 1930).

The third card is printed by the same printer, comes from the White Border era and uses the same picture. However, it is now being published by the Van Noy-Interstate Co., of Denver, (1914 – 1926) Colorado. The details are much less crisp and the fringe on the back of the observation deck is now red and white instead of the green and white in the other two cards. The title has not changed but it has a new number: 4367. You can see that the Van Noy-Interstate Company wanted to do more than just tell you about the picture. They have added the now familiar box in the upper left hand corner of the card that gives a fuller description of the feature on the other side of the post card. I am not sure if you can read the message, but it looks like it was used by a student to let someone know that she is not very sure about an assignment she had just handed in. The most fascinating thing that I find about the HH Tammen Curio Company is the use of the little “space critter” as their logo.

If anyone who reads this blog knows where the little fellow originated, I would be very happy to hear from you.

I am Holding a lot of History in my Hands

Both of these cards belong to the era before a message could be written on the back of Post Cards – March 1, 1907.

The top card is a black and photo of the Southern Pacific train depot in San Antonio, Texas. The message is written by someone who actually worked at the depot. He is letting someone in his life know that he has been posted here (two years and a month after the depot opened) and is very happy about it. The message is to E. F. Vandivere who lives in Blue Ridge, Georgia. It was written by “Gib” on August 24, 1905. The card was mailed at 2:30 PM on August 25, 1905 and arrived in Blue Ridge two and half days later – August 28th at 7 AM. The card is very sturdy and I can see why it would have lasted as long as it has. The bottom card is of the same depot. This card was mailed almost exactly 18 months later. It was mailed on February 27, 1907. Two historic things to mention about this card: 1) it was mailed two days before messages could be written on the back of post cards – March 1, 1907 and 2) it was written the day this depot “burned to the ground”. The handwritten message at the bottom of the card says, “Hello Mother, this building burned to the ground today. Will write you soon Chas.”

This card was published by Raphael Tuck & Sons. Raphael Tuck & Sons began in England in 1866 Raphael retired in 1881 Adolph took over the family business. By 1894, a year after they were appointed official printers to Queen Victoria, they printed their first Souvenir Cards. Then, when postal regulations were changed, after much lobbying by Tuck and others, the company entered into the post card printing and publishing arena. This is one of their cards. As you can see, they saw that the United States was ready to burst into the post card buying frenzy that history records. I have two postcards from the same post card era (pre-March 1, 1907). I have two postcards that are well over 100 years old. I have two postcards of the same depot sent 18 months apart. The one card was written the day the depot burned. The same card was printed and published by the printers who printed for Queen Victoria and have the seal of the Royal Family. I have a lot of history in my hands when I hold these two cards.

If only this was a poker game!! I would have four of a kind – at least, at first glance I would think that.

The top two cards are the same picture. It is of a steam engine pulling passenger cars past the “hanging bridge” in the Royal Gorge of Colorado. In one of my earlier blogs I talked about how the same picture has been used by several publishers and printers. In this case, it is the same publisher and the same printer – thus the same postcard number (4427) on the front. The difference is found on the backs. The Interstate Company published the first picture – the one on the top right. The following information was gleaned from the website: www.metropostcard.com Van Noy Railway Hotel and News began a series of mergers and acquisitions in 1914, starting with the Brown News Company. On October 1, 1914 they began operating as Van Noy News. In 1915, the Company began consolidating operations with the New York City based Interstate News Company. The company name was changed to Van Noy-Interstate News Company in 1917, but the company headquarters remained in Kansas City under the leadership of Ira C. Van Noy. As a result of changes in railroad passenger train service, Van Noy Interstate began to focus more on the hotel side of their operations. In 1922, the Company acquired the Gem Fountain Company, and in 1926 the company began operating as the Interstate Company. (End of reference from the website) The printer not only of these two cards, but of all four cards, is the H. H. Tammen Curio Co. Again, from the website: They were a novelty dealer and important publisher of national view-cards and Western themes in continuous tone and halftone lithography. Their logo does not appear on all their cards but other graphic elements often remain the same. Their logo is a curious little critter.

The divider on a divided back postcard is an arrow pointing up with the letters “HHT CO” overprinted onto it. They existed from 1896 to 1953. (end of website reference). The third card is shared with another publisher. This time it is the Union News Company that published the card. (Once again a quote from the website - As a wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Company they became major distributors of postcards and other printed items through their newsstands at hotels, rail and subway stations. Their cards were published by a variety of different companies including American News, Curt Teich, Robbins Brothers, and Valentine & Sons. Sometimes only their logo appears on a card, but it is often hand stamped on cards not originally published for them.) Their logo is a diamond with UNCO in the interior.

The fourth card may look like the other three, but a very close investigation will show that it is not. It seems to have been taken a few feet up the canyon from the other three. It isn’t attributed to any particular publisher, but the HH Tammen Curio Company was also a publisher. They must have wanted some of the business that the other cards’ sales generated by selling it themselves. They changed the picture slightly, change the title on the front and give more information: The Royal Gorge Canon (interesting spelling of the word canyon! On some other cards the y is included and on some the Spanish squiggle on top of the n is there to pronounce the “ny” sound) of the Arkansas, Colorado. Height of Walls, 2,627 ft. D. & R. G. R. R. (Denver and Rio Grande Western Rail Road).

So, if I was a poker player, I would think that I had four of a kind. At closer examination, I see that I really do have four different cards. They were all printed by HH Tammen Curio Company and the word “Post Card” on the back is the same on all four. But this is where the similarity ends. They use two different pictures; they were printed for three different companies operating under four different names; three of the descriptions on the back are word for word copies of each other – the printings for the other publishers, but the fourth card – the one the HH Tammen Curio Company printed for itself – has its own unique description. The place for the postage stamp is in three different designs, too. It just goes to show you: a very close examination will show you the finer details and show that I really do have four unique cards, not four copies of the same card.

Here is how I see it.

Although all three of them were printed in 1925, the top card is the first one in the series. The three cards are numbered from top to bottom (the number is in the bottom right-hand corner of the card) 102668, 106179 and 106170-N. The first card was printed by Curt Otto Teich and distributed by the Union News Company. The Union News Company, like so many other News companies, was wholly owned by the American News Company. From New York City, they distributed postcards and other printed items through the newsstands in major hotels and railway stations. It is printed on good quality paper stock by Curt Teich’s company. This card must have been very popular. It is soon reprinted by Curt Teich’s company. This time it is numbered at the top (collectors now have a series to complete!!) and a new number is given to it in the bottom right-hand corner. This time, it is published by the Sanborn Souvenir Company in Denver. Curt Teich has changed the name of the printing process from “C. T. American Art” to “C. T. American Art Colored”. The bottom rendition of the card has the same number as the middle card with a dash N added. The “-N” is an indication that it is a reprinted version of the original 106179 card. The collector incentive number is still at the top.

However, on the back, all one can assume is that the Sanborn Souvenir Company was the only company that touched this card. They must have struck a deal with the Curt Teich Company to be able to publish and distribute the duplicate copies of the original picture for their use. Two things hint at the Curt Teich Company’s involvement. First, the numbers are the same except the –N that indicates a Curt Teich reprint and second, it is printed on the Linen Style of card that Curt Teich developed. The other two cards are on good stock smooth paper. There certainly was a lot of development in the postcard business regarding this particular view in 1925.

Here, are some illustrations of the same picture being used more than once.

The Picture on the right is the same picture as the one on the left. At least the copyright is owned by the same printer-publisher in both cases. The copyright is held by the Detroit Photographic Company from 1901. Now one could think that, “WOW! These two postcards are from before the March 1, 1907 decision.” But, to the alert sleuth, the differences on the front might be a sign of differences on the back. On the front, both cards are by the same company, both have the same card number (5107) and the descriptions of the picture are the same (Eight miles long, Canyon walls 2600 feet in height). The locations of the copyright indicator, the size of the font, and the double line in the description are indicators that something might be amiss.

Sure enough, when you turn over the cards, they are from two different post card eras. One was printed and mailed (Oct 28, 1906) prior to March 1, 1907 and the other came after that date. As you can see the top card does not have a divided back and the warning is there: “THIS SIDE FOR THE ADDRESS”. On the bottom card, the address is to be located on the right-hand side of the card and the message can be added to the left. P.S. We can see that it took two and half days for the post card to get from Salt Lake City, Utah to Manhattan, Kansas - from 12:30 PM on October 28, 1906 to 7:30 AM on October 31st – a distance of just over 1,000 miles.