Chock full of Mystery!

These four post cards contain a whole lot of mystery. The first is a tongue-in-cheek mystery: Where did they get food that grew so large? The other mysteries are things like: Who printed these cards? Who published the cards? Where were they sold? Why are they printed in black and white? How old are they?

The only answer to a question from above that I can provide is not very specific. The cards were probably printed in the Divided Back Era (1907 – 1915). After March 1, 1907 the public were allowed to write more than just the address on the back of the post card. A line was usually printed down the middle and, certainly at the beginning of this era, the two sides were labelled about which side was appropriate for the address and which was reserved for the message. Another hint is that the pictures on the fronts of the cards go all the way to the edges of the post cards. After 1915, in order to save some money on ink costs, the printers provided a border around the picture on the front of the post cards.

If you look at the numbers on the flat cars (right side) you might conclude that these cards were part of a series published by the company - whoever they were.

A careful look at the post card with the flat car holding the watermelon foreshadows this border. If you look to the right-hand edge of the post card you will see that there is white space between the scene and the edge of the card. Unfortunately, it is not something that was done on purpose. This card is at the bottom of the picture below. You can imagine that the part of the watermelon is missing from the left side of the card. It could easily be the width of the white stripe on the right.

This post card is at the bottom of the picture below. You can see that the box that contains the words, “PLACE STAMP HERE” is very close to the edge – compared to the three above it. This card didn’t go through the cutting machine very neatly. Another mystery: Who was on quality control?