Hold-To-Light Postcard

The item below belongs to a good friend of mine, Bruce Linders, he started collecting 1904 world's fair postcards about four years ago. The sample card below is a type of postcard that is very desireable by postcard collectors. It called a hold-to-light postcard, it gets its name from holding the card up to a light source and the building lights up. This effect was accomplished by punching small holes in the postcard and then gluing a piece paper to the back. The paper was printed in color before it was pasted to the back to achieve the different colors in the windows and ont the lights. The sample card below is of the Machinery Building and was printed by the Samuel Cupples Envelope Company in St. Louis, Missouri. The print on the left hand side of the postcard reads "Samuel Cupples Envelope Co. St. Louis Mo. Sole World's Fair Stationers". On the reverse side is a place for a stamp that reads "Postage domestic one cent to foreign countries two cents". The top photo is what the postcard looks like when viewed without backlight. The lower photo is a simulation of what the card looks like when it is backlit.





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If you have questions or comments regarding the 1904 World's Fair feel free to contact me at Terry's 1904 World's Fair Page.