For those of us drawn to the somewhat fringe zone of postcard collecting and research, a passion/addiction officially known as Deltiology, good things indeed come in small packages. Those outside the postcard world are probably unaware that it is the third largest collecting hobby in the world, next to coin and stamp collecting, usually 4 x 6 inches. Over the last 150 years literally billions of postcards spanning every imaginable subject have been printed and posted from almost every country in the world. The history of postcards literally reflects history itself. The images could be romantic, humorous, scenic, educational, propaganda, advertizing or highly personal and tailored to village, town, city, country or continent… printed in large batches or just a handful. There were no boundaries when it came to postcard imagery… motorcycles included. They offered both image and word in a compact form plus the benefit of less expensive postage when compared to full sized letters, and prior to mass electronic forms of communication, postcards were the #1 form of messaging.
Inextricably bound with the postcards was the postal stamp. The first, known as the Penny Black, was printed by England in 1840 while the first adherable postage stamp produced by the United States appeared in 1847. 1861 was the milestone year for Deltiologists, noted as the year for the invention of the postcard, albeit a plain one without imagery. The design was copyrighted by John P. Charlton of Philadelphia, then ownership transferred to H.L. Lipman, the cards offered for sale until 1873 when the U.S. began printing its own postcards. Privately produced postcards with images first appeared in Austria in 1869 and the die was cast, the phenomena of illustrated postcard skyrocketing in popularity around the world. However, the U.S. government did not allow privately printed postcards until 1898.
One of the first of the new postcards was produced in Hungary in conjunction with the Franco-German war, the card appearing in 1870 with war-related imagery playing a large part in the proliferation of postcards particularly in Europe. In the U.S. a major push for postcards came with the printing of cards celebrating the 1893 Columbia Exposition held in Chicago. The first colored postcard was introduced in 1889 while images of the newly erected Eiffel Tower helped to greatly expand interest in postcards. The first cards showing real photographs began appearing in 1900.
In the U.S. you could not add writing on the address side of the card, so had to write on the image side, at least up until March 1907 when you could add text on the back of the card. In 1906 postcards benefited from another boost with the appearance of the Eastman Kodak foldable camera, amateur photographing booming and the resulting images transferable to postcards. European companies found the U.S. a burgeoning market, accounting for some 75% of their postcard sales. In 1908 the U.S. population was listed at 88,700,000. In that same year, some 678,000,000 postcards were mailed within and from America. The era was called the Golden Age of postcards, the height of its worldwide hobby status, but that changed with WWI as Germany had been the major producer of postcards. Another major factor was the advent and spread of the telephone as a means of rapid communication. The “movies” also contributed to a decline in postcard usage.
However the spark was kept glowing by the introduction of individually hand-tinted colored postcards produced in France and Belgium in the early 1900s and through WWI, many beautifully detailed, although their appearance was short-lived. In the 1930s the first of the linen postcards were produced, continuing to 1939 when chrome printing took over. 1940s WWII wartime shortages depleted production but never fully halted, soldiers often relying on postcards to family and friends. The next big leap began with the introduction of vivid color photographs of cities and landscapes appearing on the Modern or Photochrome postcards that proliferated after WWII. They were introduced by the Union Oil Co. and first sold in Western States gas stations, color now supplanting black and white cards.
The advent of the Internet and today’s electronic cards have had an impact, but postcards, recognized as an art form unto itself, still remain popular, especially with collectors who have nearly 150 years of postcards to choose from.
What follows are a few examples from the author’s collection of original vintage postcards, in this case with an emphasis on motorcycle themes, one of the almost infinite categories found among international postcard illustrations and a very popular one at that.
This special embossed color postcard was postmarked from Cuba, Missouri at 5:00 PM Sept. 7, 1908 by a person who signed her name Jannine to a Miss Edith Barker of Millers Falls, Massachusetts. The depiction of a wicker sidecar is accurate as many similar “chairs” were built to carry family and cargo. As for the “P F” on the gas tank, no reference could be found to link it to a real motorcycle made in Germany or the U.S. and its may the initials of the artist. The card itself was apparently printed in several different languages and sold internationally.
1910 – 86, 414 British bike riders have registered their machines. By this year 31 U.S. motorcycle companies are in still in production, although several have fallen by the wayside
1913 – Bike registrations in England have jumped to 180,000, nearly a 100,000 added in the previous three years.
The caption in both French and English relates to a motorcycle courier outrunning
German sentry’s rifle shots as he speeds on his mission through enemy lines. The artist’s name is listed…de Carrey apparently excerpted from another work titled “The Mirror.”
1915 – WWI U.S. Army Motorcycle Sidecar Mounted Machinegun Trooper
While the iconic Harley-Davidson first appeared in 1903, the company began supplying the U.S. military in 1915, it solo mount and sidecar machines gaining experience during 1916 when some 20,000 U.S. troops under the command of General John “Black Jack” Pershing were granted permission by the Mexican government to enter their country in pursuit of the bandit/revolutionary Pancho Villa. While they never caught up with him, even with their Harley and Indian motorcycles that could go where heavier vehicles could not, the American army learned valuable lessons including those concerning the new “Motor Mobile Infantry” and “Mounted Infantry.” Oddly enough their quarry, Pancho Villa, was an avid motorcyclist himself, preferring the Indian.
1915 – U.S. motorcycle registrations had skyrocket to an estimated 180,000. But by the 1932, of over 300 total original builders, only two will have survived: Indian and Harley-Davidson.
The colorized postcard dated Dec. 6, 1917 was sent from Greenville, South Carolina, site of a U.S. military training camp. While the driver of the sidecar rig dugs for cover, the rifleman aims his Springfield carbine at some imaginary enemy for this posed photo.
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When the U.S. finally entered the war in 1917, Indian gave its entire production to the military, almost bankrupting itself, selling them at cost and leaving civilian showrooms bare. Harley took a different strategy, providing 50% of its production, the rest going to the public. The Harleys, powered by 1000cc v-twin engines produced 15hp. The factory prospered, many bikes also going to the Dutch and Russian military including gun and stretcher carrying models. Harley-Davidson supplied about one third of the 70,000 machines ordered by the U.S. military, the remaining two-thirds divided between Indian and Cleveland. Of the 26,486 Harleys bought by the U.S., some 7,000 going to England and France where they served as convoy escorts, dispatch, scouting and reconnaissance vehicles.
1923 – Hand-tinted Postcard – Birthday Greeting – Germany
A count of late 1920s German motorcycle manufacturers indicates that over 500 different brands were in existence. The pre-WWII German economy was in a collapsed state, at once the fertile ground in which National Socialism set its dark roots, but also the setting in which motorcycle sales were experiencing a major slump. That ended in 1933, not coincidentally the year the Nazi party took control of the country, Adolf Hitler voted in as Chancellor. In that year German citizens did not have to pay taxes on motorcycles and a limit was placed on imported machines. Sales were further fueled in 1935 by the Wehrmacht who purchased large numbers for use by their motorcycle rifle troops, primarily sidecar equipped.
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During the Second Sino-Japanese War Imperial Marines fire at Chinese defenders from a sandbagged fortification. The machinegun is mounted into what could be a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the motorcycles having been imported to Japan in the early 1900s.
The humorous message of the postcard appears with both French and Belgian captions.
A rider appears well-attired for motorcycling complete with goggles, gloves and helmet although his passenger sits in a less secure side-saddle position minus any protective gear. The colorized postcard was dated June 7, 1940 and sent from the city of Torku, the oldest settlement in Finland, and located in southwest coast of country at the mouth of the Aura River. In 1996 Torku was declared the official Christmas City of Finland, then designated the European Capital of Culture for 2011.
At the moment the postcard was written Germany was making major advances in its takeover of Western Europe, France falling a few days later. On the preceding March 12, 1940 Finland signed an armistice with the USSR, ending the brief Russo-Finnish war that began when the Soviets invaded Finland on November 30, 1939, the Finns putting up a valiant fight against the much large Russian forces. Finland would later ally itself with Germany and against the USSR after Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Then in March 1945, Finland declared war on Nazi Germany. The small Finnish population, less than 4,000,000 at the time, lost nearly 80,000 men and women in the war.
As early as 1937 the U.S. military visited the Harley-Davidson factory intent on finding a suitable motorcycle for the war they saw as inevitable. Toward that end the Milwaukee company sent the head of its factory service school on a cross country tour of every Army camp east of the Mississippi, logging 200,000 miles on his Harley EL “Knucklehead.”
By 1939, the Army had compared various Harleys and Indians as well as a BMW clone produced by the Delco Corporation. It chose Harley-Davidson, but required that it could reach 65 mph, be able to ford streams 16 inches deep and not overheat at slow speeds slogging through muddy fields.
A commercial postcard heralds the national “Armed Forces Day” as celebrated in Defense District 17 located in Vienna and which covered the area of Northern Austria and southern Czechoslovakia. The main image is of a Kradschutze or motorcycle trooper aboard what appears to be a Zundapp sidecar combo, it and the BMW the two main workhorses of the German army during the war. The cartoonlike illustration including images of women and children was designed to promote the “family” atmosphere of the event, part of the program to encourage civilian support and identification with the military. (The artist has incorporated a license plate registration for Anhalt, an area of middle Germany located between the Harz Mountains and the River Elbe.)
1953 – England – Triumph Thunderbird 650cc – “The Best Motorcycle in the World”
An illustration from the Triumph factory’s 1953 catalog appears on a commercial postcard.
The previous 500cc vertical twin Triumph powerplant was bored out to 650cc to appeal to the power hungry American market. Designated as the 6T Thunderbird, the name conjured up the Triumph’s stellar engineer Edward Turner during a visit to the U.S. The new model was debuted in Paris at the Monthery racecourse where three factory riders average 92mph over 500 miles after the riders had ridden from the factory in England to the track and then back again, providing some high profile press for the new machines which was further enhanced when Marlon Brando rode a 1950 Thunderbird in the “The Wild One” in 1953, although the conservative owners of Triumph officially objected to their machine appearing in a rowdy biker movie. However they did not complain about the big jump in Triumph sales that followed the release of the film. The last Thunderbirds were made for English consumption in 1966 by which time the even more famous Bonneville had taken center stage.
The caption on the reverse of the card reads: “Every feature of the 1961 Norton was a direct development of Grand Prix racing. It was the know-how gained from winning races all over the world which gives a Norton bike race-bred performance which is second to none. By 1961 the Norton had won 32 T.T. races.”
The Manxman derived its name from the famous Isle of Mann race course, the island also home to the famous tail-less Manx cat. Norton also built the famous Manx single cylinder racers that earned the company so many victories. On November 7, 1960 the first new 650cc Norton Manxman with the vaunted Featherbed frame was launched for the American market only. It was later followed by the larger displacement 750cc Norton Atlas in April 1962 because of the American market demand for more power. However the Atlas proved too expensive to build, profits meager and the cause of growing financial problems for the company. Fortunately in 1968 the new Commando appeared to save the day, at
least temporarily.
An example of a limited production privately produced postcard shows the creation of Angela Johnston and David Cargill of Des Moines, Iowa. The 1948 Harley-Davidson Panhead’s 74 cu. in. motor was pumped up to run the quarter mile in 12.09 seconds at 120 mph. The caption on the reverse lists the owners’ complete home street address and even phone number. It also reads, “A metal sculpture. A kinetic array of Coca-Cola nostalgia. A collage of advertising.” Certainly, things go better aboard a customized Harley.
