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.
Antique embossed Thanksgiving postcard mailed from St. Francis, Kansas, in November 1913.
The colorful front features an elaborate oversized letter “A,” a turkey displayed on a serving platter, a pumpkin, and an ear of corn tied together with a blue ribbon. The blue-and-gold Gothic lettering reads “Thanksgiving Greetings,” while the printed sentiment reads:
“A Souvenir
The sweetest Thanksgiving tune
Is the dinner bell at noon,
When we all may use our spoon.”
The design is heavily embossed, with raised decorative scrollwork, lettering, food, and agricultural imagery. Card number T-31 appears near the lower edge.
A handwritten date of November 27, 1913—the date of Thanksgiving that year—appears at the beginning of the message. The postcard was subsequently mailed from St. Francis, Kansas, on November 28. St. Francis is the county seat of Cheyenne County in far northwestern Kansas, making this an appealing piece of early Cheyenne County postal history.
The card retains its original one-cent green George Washington postage stamp. It was addressed to a rural-route recipient in Herndon, Kansas, and the correspondence side contains an extensive handwritten Thanksgiving message.
An attractive combination of embossed holiday artwork, turkey and harvest imagery, Thanksgiving-day correspondence, and early Kansas postal history.
CONDITION
Fair antique condition with substantial age and handling wear. The card has multiple creases and wrinkles, including pronounced horizontal and diagonal creasing, worn and rounded corners, edge wear, scattered stains, foxing, surface soiling, discoloration, and general age toning. There is a noticeable chip or small area of paper loss along the upper edge, together with additional edge roughness. The reverse has extensive handwriting, postal ink, and areas of surface wear. The original one-cent Washington stamp remains attached, and the St. Francis postmark is identifiable despite overlapping the embossed design and handwriting. The embossed front remains colorful and visually appealing. Please examine both scans carefully for the complete condition.
ITEM SPECIFICS
- Type: Embossed divided-back postcard
- Occasion: Thanksgiving
- Mailing date: November 28, 1913
- Message date: November 27, 1913
- Postmark: St. Francis, Kansas
- County: Cheyenne County
- Destination: Herndon, Kansas
- Postage: One-cent George Washington stamp
- Subject: Turkey, platter, pumpkin and corn
- Printed greeting: Thanksgiving Greetings
- Printed sentiment: “The sweetest Thanksgiving tune is the dinner bell at noon”
- Card number: T-31
- Publisher: Not clearly identified
- Postage condition: Posted
- Writing: Extensive handwritten message and address
- Era: Divided Back Era
- Country: United States
- State: Kansas
- Theme: Thanksgiving, harvest, turkey, food, holidays and postal history
- Features: Heavily embossed and color printed
- Original/Reproduction: Original antique postcard
KEYWORDS
St Francis Kansas postmark, Cheyenne County postal history, 1913 Thanksgiving postcard, antique turkey postcard, embossed Thanksgiving greeting, George Washington stamp, Herndon Kansas, harvest postcard, pumpkin and corn, Thanksgiving dinner, dinner bell at noon, divided back postcard, Kansas postal history, Thanksgiving Day 1913, holiday ephemera and card T-31
