When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Offered for sale is a genuine early postal-history postcard bearing a bold and fully readable March 24, 1910 cancellation from Melbourne, Florida, in Brevard County. The card is franked with its original green one-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp, correctly paying the domestic postcard rate of the period.
The circular date stamp reads:
12 AM
1910
FLA.
The Melbourne post office was established in Brevard County in 1880 and remains in operation today. This postcard was mailed only thirty years after the establishment of the local post office, making it an appealing early example of Melbourne postal history from well before the community’s later growth as part of Florida’s Space Coast.
Melbourne was still a comparatively small coastal Florida community when this card was mailed in 1910. Its later association with aviation, the space industry, and the development of Brevard County makes early postal material from the city particularly interesting as a record of the area before those major twentieth-century changes.
The picture side is a colorful floral greeting design featuring pink wild roses, buds, green leaves, and decorative script reading:
“Hearty Congratulations”
This attractive embossed-style or lithographic floral design is characteristic of early twentieth-century greeting postcards. A small publisher or printer emblem and the number “601” appear near the lower edge.
The reverse contains extensive handwritten correspondence in period ink. The message is dated March 23, 1910, one day before the card received its Melbourne postmark. The card appears to have been addressed to Mrs. Duke Gardner in Carthage, Maine, although prospective buyers should consult the photographs for their own interpretation of the handwriting.
The combination of a precisely dated 1910 Melbourne cancellation, intact one-cent Franklin stamp, early Brevard County usage, handwritten message, and colorful floral greeting design gives the card interest to both postal-history and antique-postcard collectors.
This is the original postcard shown in the photographs. It is not a reproduction. The card has substantial condition issues, which are described fully below and clearly shown in the supplied images.
POSTAL-HISTORY DETAILS:
Origin: Melbourne, Florida
County: Brevard County
Cancellation: Melbourne, Fla. circular date stamp
Postmark date: March 24, 1910
Postmark time: 12 AM
Post office establishment: 1880
Post office status: Still operating
Age of post office at time of mailing: Approximately 30 years
Postage denomination: One cent
Stamp subject: Benjamin Franklin
Stamp color: Green
Stamp present: Yes
Cancellation present: Yes
Postmark quality: Bold and substantially complete
Postal rate: One-cent domestic postcard rate
Postal use: Genuine mailed postcard
Message date: March 23, 1910
Destination: Apparently Carthage, Maine
Correspondence: Extensive handwritten personal message
ITEM SPECIFICS:
Type: Postal-history postcard
Postcard type: Divided-back greeting postcard
Era: Divided Back Era, approximately 1907–1915
Year mailed: 1910
Exact postmark date: March 24, 1910
Postmark town: Melbourne
State of origin: Florida
County of origin: Brevard County
Country: United States
Destination state: Maine
Destination town: Apparently Carthage
Picture-side greeting: Hearty Congratulations
Primary subject: Pink wild roses and floral arrangement
Additional subjects: Flowers, rosebuds, green leaves, congratulations, and decorative script
Image style: Color lithographic or printed floral illustration
Publisher or series number: 601
Publisher: Unidentified emblem present
Orientation: Vertical
Stamp: Green one-cent Benjamin Franklin issue
Postally used: Yes
Addressed: Yes
Correspondence present: Yes
Original or reproduction: Original period postcard
Quantity: One postcard
This postcard is in poor to fair vintage condition with substantial age, postal, handling, and storage wear. It is being offered primarily for its clear 1910 Melbourne, Florida, cancellation and historical interest.
The card has widespread wrinkling, rippling, creasing, and surface deformation across much of the paper. Numerous creases cross both the message and address areas. The card appears to have been exposed to moisture or prolonged dampness at some point, resulting in extensive waviness and an uneven surface.
There is substantial foxing and brown spotting across the floral picture side, particularly in the upper background and around the margins. Additional toning, staining, soiling, discoloration, surface rubbing, scratches, and handling marks are present.
The corners are rounded, bumped, softened, creased, and worn. The edges show rubbing, small bends, discoloration, and minor losses or separation. A pronounced crease or wrinkle is visible near the lower-right corner and along portions of the borders.
The reverse is heavily wrinkled and toned, with numerous intersecting creases. There is extensive handwritten correspondence in ink, together with pencil collector notations near one edge. Portions of the message and address are difficult to decipher.
The green one-cent Franklin stamp remains attached. It has cancellation ink, toning, and normal postal wear. The Melbourne circular date stamp is bold and readily readable, including the town, state, month, day, time, and year.
Despite its rough condition, the floral colors remain attractive and the central design, “Hearty Congratulations” inscription, stamp, handwritten correspondence, and important Melbourne cancellation all remain visible.
The postcard has not been cleaned, flattened, repaired, restored, or otherwise altered. It will be shipped in a protective sleeve with rigid support.
Please examine all photographs carefully before purchasing. The photographs form an essential part of the condition description and show the exact postcard the buyer will receive.
COLLECTING INTEREST:
Melbourne, Florida postal history
Brevard County postmarks
Early Florida cancellations
Florida Space Coast history
Pre-Space Age Melbourne
One-cent Franklin stamps
Early twentieth-century postal rates
Carthage, Maine postal connections
Floral greeting postcards
Congratulations postcards
Wild-rose illustrations
Divided-back postcards
Antique handwritten correspondence
American postal history
