Antique & Vintage Postcards

A charming Irish colleen holds aloft a lucky shamrock against the rolling green hills outside Belfast — but the real surprise is hidden inside: lift the flap on the back and a cascade of miniature black-and-white views of Belfast unfolds like a tiny accordion, revealing Queen's University, Royal Avenue with its double-decker trams, the grand City Hall, and more. These novelty "pull-out" or "leporello" cards were enormously popular Edwardian souvenirs, produced in great quantities by Valentine & Sons of Dundee and London, one of Britain's most prolific postcard publishers. The illustrated figure wears traditional Irish dress — red skirt, white apron, floral shawl — and the verse reads: "Just look beneath if you wish to view / The spot where the Lucky Shamrock grew." Card number 1433, initialed E.J.H. for the illustrator. The pull-out strip is intact and the individual miniature views — including the busy commercial bustle of Royal Avenue — offer a vivid snapshot of Edwardian Belfast before the tragedies of the twentieth century reshaped the city.