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Original antique postcard in worn, pre-owned condition. The original postage stamp has been removed and is no longer present. A portion of the stamp area is presently covered by a small piece of white paper or old adhesive label material. The Christine, North Dakota circular postmark remains clearly recognizable and is dated April 11, 1908, at 3 PM.
The card has general age and handling wear, including toning, discoloration, scattered spotting, surface rubbing, edge wear, softened and bumped corners, and several visible creases. A pronounced horizontal crease extends inward from the right edge of the illustrated face, with additional lighter bends and wrinkles elsewhere. The reverse has writing, postal ink, scattered marks, staining, and residue associated with its original mailing and subsequent handling. The embossed design remains visible, and the principal Easter illustration retains pleasing color despite its age.
This card is being offered for its combination of an early Christine, North Dakota postmark, local postal usage, attractive German Easter artwork, PFB publisher identification, and 1908 dated cancellation. Please examine all photographs carefully, as they are an important part of the condition description.
Offered here is an original antique Easter postcard mailed locally at Christine in Richland County, North Dakota, on April 11, 1908.
The postcard bears a circular cancellation reading:
3 PM
1908
N. DAK.
The clearly dated Christine cancellation makes this an appealing piece of early twentieth-century North Dakota postal history. According to published postal records, the Christine post office was established in 1884 and remains in operation today. This postcard therefore represents usage during the office’s relatively early years, when North Dakota had been a state for fewer than twenty years.
The card appears to have been addressed to:
Miss Melvina Thompson
Christine, N. Dak.
Honey Bee Farm
The address is particularly interesting because the card seems to have been mailed locally within Christine. The inclusion of “Honey Bee Farm” provides an appealing glimpse into rural mail delivery and community life in Richland County during the early 1900s. Portions of the handwriting are somewhat difficult to interpret, so prospective buyers should consult the photographs when examining the recipient’s name and farm designation.
The postcard was mailed on April 11, 1908, shortly before Easter, which fell on April 19 that year. It was therefore mailed eight days before Easter Sunday and was likely intended to arrive as a timely holiday greeting.
The face presents an attractive embossed Easter design featuring three newly hatched yellow chicks gathered beneath budding pussy-willow branches. The chicks are shown against a rich green background, while additional branches extend across the upper portion of the design. Beneath the illustration is the simple holiday greeting:
“A Joyful Easter.”
The restrained composition, Art Nouveau-influenced lettering, embossed details, pussy willows, and softly colored chicks are characteristic of high-quality European holiday postcards produced during the Golden Age of postcards.
The reverse is marked “Printed in Germany” and bears the PFB publisher’s trademark together with the designation “Serie 6841.” PFB was associated with the German postcard publishing firm Paul Finkenrath of Berlin. German printers were internationally recognized during the early twentieth century for producing finely printed, embossed, and richly colored greeting postcards for the American market.
The back is printed in several languages, including German, French, English, Italian, Dutch, Hungarian, and Russian, identifying it as a universal or international postcard format. This multilingual design reflects the broad international market served by German postcard manufacturers before World War I.
The card contains a handwritten personal greeting and appears to have been signed by a relative or family acquaintance. Some of the message is faint or difficult to decipher, but the original handwriting adds meaningful historical character and preserves a small piece of correspondence from rural North Dakota in 1908.
Although the original postage stamp has been removed, the Christine cancellation remains strong enough to identify the town, state, date, and time. The absence of the stamp is reflected in the condition description and recommended price.
Christine is a small community in Richland County in southeastern North Dakota. Its post office was established in 1884, five years before North Dakota achieved statehood in 1889. This card was mailed approximately twenty-four years after the post office opened and only nineteen years after statehood.
This postcard should appeal to collectors of North Dakota postal history, Richland County memorabilia, Christine postmarks, early rural correspondence, locally mailed postcards, antique Easter greetings, German-printed postcards, PFB postcards, embossed holiday cards, chicks, birds, pussy willows, and Golden Age postcard artwork.
This is an original 1908 postcard and not a modern reproduction. The postcard shown in the photographs is the exact item the buyer will receive. It will be packaged carefully for shipment.
ITEM SPECIFICS
Type: Printed Postcard
Postcard Type: Divided Back
Primary Subject: Easter Greeting
Secondary Subject: Chicks and Pussy Willows
Holiday: Easter
Town: Christine
County: Richland County
State: North Dakota
Country: United States
Postmark: Christine, North Dakota
Cancellation Date: April 11, 1908
Cancellation Time: 3 PM
Post Office Established: 1884
Post Office Status: Currently Operating
Postal Usage: Mailed
Usage Type: Apparent Local Christine-to-Christine Mailing
Stamp Status: Original Postage Stamp Removed
Recipient: Apparently Miss Melvina Thompson
Delivery Location: Apparently Honey Bee Farm, Christine, North Dakota
Message: Handwritten Personal Easter Correspondence
Era: Divided Back Era, 1907–1915
Exact Year: 1908
Publisher: PFB / Paul Finkenrath
Series: Serie 6841
Printing Location: Germany
Printed Marking: Printed in Germany
Style: Embossed Easter Greeting
Features: Embossed, Multilingual Back, Handwritten Message and Dated Postmark
Primary Theme: Postal History
Additional Themes: Easter, Holidays, Birds, Chicks, Pussy Willows, Rural Life, North Dakota History and German Printing
Material: Paper
Color: Multicolor
Unit of Sale: Single Unit
Number of Items: 1
Condition: Pre-owned antique condition with age wear, creasing, toning, staining, edge and corner wear, writing, postal markings, and missing postage stamp. Please see the complete condition description and all photographs.
