Open card

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Example of a Prussian "Open Card" from 1866
Example of a card from a Ravensburger factory

The Open Card or printed matter card or card Avis was a precursor of postcards in most old German postal areas . Today they are often referred to as "agent cards" in collectors' circles, as they were mostly used to announce an agent visit or other business purposes. These cards could be sent at reduced postage for printed matter.

history

Open mail was originally not allowed in the old German states , with the exception of postal orders . Printed matter had to be sent with a criss-crossed wrapper made of paper, the so-called "cruciate tape". These broadcasts were called "cruciate band broadcasts". In 1865, open cards were the first to be introduced in Prussia by a general decree of May 30, 1865 to June 1, 1865. This eliminates the time-consuming and therefore costly relocating of cross or wraparounds. Almost all old German states or postal areas (namely Baden, Bavaria, Braunschweig, North German postal district , Oldenburg, Saxony and Württemberg) soon followed this Prussian model. When postcards were introduced in the German postal areas in 1870, the open card was discontinued at the same time.

The oldest known full-page illustrated cards:

  • December 5, 1866: Oldest known German postcard (no open card, but "sample consignment suitable as letter post") from lithographer Wilhelm Schneider, Worms , postmarked December 5, 1866, sent from Westhofen to Offstein , with two 1 Kreuzer postage stamps ( Thurn-und-Taxis-Post ), printed on light green cardboard. In 1987 the card was auctioned by the Kruschel auction house. Starting price was 3000 DM and the hammer price was 5500 DM.
  • March 28, 1867: A card that was discovered at a flea market in 2007, with Berlin postmark: PE No. 12 from March 28th 1867, with Prussian postage stamp, Michel No. 16
  • October 30, 1867: This so-called "Breslau card" was long considered the oldest of its kind.

  • Map by Wilhelm Schneider Worms

  • Second oldest card

  • Wroclaw Card: Third oldest card

features

As a rule, the address and the printed message text are combined on the front of the cards, on which the franking was also to be stuck, while the back was mostly unprinted. They were to be pasted with postage stamps. In addition to the address of the recipient, only the sender's details and, in the case of business advertisements, the signature were permitted as handwritten notes. The back was not released for any individual messages. Sometimes they were provided with mostly small picture prints. Only in exceptional cases does an illustration take up the full back of these cards; these can be seen as forerunners of postcards in Germany. Some are supplemented with graphic representations on the front in an effective advertising manner.

literature

  • Hanspeter Frech: The postcards from the former postal union countries and the German Empire , self-published Hausach 1991, pages 16 to 21

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Mirror, mirror, on the wall - who is the oldest in the whole country? A contribution to the history of the (picture) post (view) card (3) In: Philatelie - The collector's magazine of the Association of German Philatelists, Issue 310 of April 2003, page 54 f
  2. ↑ a b c Hanspeter Frech: History of the development of illustrated postcards , in: Michel-Rundschau No. 10/1994, pages 766 to 768
  3. ^ Postcard collector's letter (bulletin of the postcard interest group and the Philokartisten Union), No. 175, June 2010, page 2
  4. ↑ Hanspeter Frech: The postcards from the former postal union countries and the German Empire , self-published Hausach 1991, page 399
  5. ^ Arnold Linke: Views and maps are like picture postcards. Supplementary to the early history of the postcard , in: Post- und Telekommunikationsgeschichte, Issue 1/1997 , ISSN  1430-4597 , page 63
  6. ↑ Deutsche Briefmarken-Zeitung , issue No. 19/1986, article: ways of the postcard (III), page 1046
  7. ↑ a b Auction catalog with lists of results from the Walter Kruschel auction house, Berlin, April 29, 1987
  8. ↑ Postcard-Collector's Letter (Bulletin of the Postcard-Interests-Community), No. 175, September 2010, page 2
  9. ↑ AK Express No. 123
  10. ↑ Hanspeter Frech: History of the development of illustrated postcards , in: Michel-Rundschau No. 10/1994, page 766
  11. ↑ Philalexikon keyword: printed matter card, accessed September 6, 2009, Author: Gert WF Murmann
  12. ^ Zumstein special catalog: The postal stationery of Switzerland , Verlag Zumstein & Cie., Bern 2002, page 39
  13. ↑ Working Group North German Post District ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 6, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.arge-ndp.de
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Maassen: Mirror, mirror, on the wall - who is the oldest in the whole country? A contribution to the history of the (picture) post (view) card (4) In: Philatelie - The collector's magazine of the Association of German Philatelists, issue 311 from May 2003, page 53

Web links

Commons : Open card  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files