An advertisment

For a furniture depot in Bordeaux.  I wonder why they chose this picture as an illustration.  Perhaps their chairs are especially comfortable?

Artist's inspiration

Here is a postcard illustrated by the artist Frédéric Régamey. It is an advertisement for Vin Mariani which was Bordeaux wine treated with coca leaves. Here you see examples of before, during and after.  The wine extracted the cocaine from the leaves which very much altered the drink’s effect (Queen Victoria drank it too!!). The wine was exported to the US where it was eventually replaced by Coca-Cola during the prohibition. While researching Vin Mariani and Frédéric Régamy I was interested to discover that he made the drawings from his own autoportrait – useful information for me as his brother was also F Régamy (Félix) and drew in a very similar style…

The postcard is in very poor condition and is over 110 years old. Thank you to Wikipedia for the drawing and information

Exquisite!

How else can I describe this beautiful little card? It’s not really a postcard but an advertisement for a shirt maker. The characters are in relief and the dress, coat and roses on the fan are silk.

I’m not sure how old it is, but it is in very good condition. Be sure to click on the image for a better view.

Flight of fancy

A different type of card today. This postcard was based on a poster for Air France around 1948, just when the world was opening up again after the Second World War. I love the colours, I wonder how many people were inspired to travel by it?