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Postcard 1890s Gruss aus Zurich Switzerland Lithograph Tonhalle Künzli
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Pre-linen · 1897

Postcard 1890s Gruss aus Zurich Switzerland Lithograph Tonhalle Künzli

Zurich, Switzerland1897Pre-linenGood

Lithographed in the luminous chromolithographic style that defined the golden age of European "Gruss aus" (Greetings from) cards, this late-Victorian triptych of Zurich scenes glows with the warm amber and cerulean palette of Gebr. Künzli's finest production — three vignettes elegantly arranged: the old St. Peter's Church tower nestled in a circular cartouche upper-left, the magnificent Tonhalle concert hall presiding over the promenade upper-right with its ornate iron fencing and gas-lit boulevard, and a sweeping panorama of the Limmat River waterfront below, the twin towers of the Grossmünster and St. Peter rising above the old town rooftops. The Tonhalle depicted here is the original 1895 building (not the current hall), making this card almost certainly a Déposé No. 39 issue from Gebr. Künzli dating to c.1895–1900 — among the earliest and most collectible Swiss multiview lithographs. Gebr. Künzli (Gebrüder Künzli) of Zurich were pioneers of Swiss postcard publishing and their chromolithograph series command consistent collector premiums. The undivided-back format (no address division line on reverse, message written on front) is consistent with the pre-1902 Universal Postal Union era. A charming artifact of Gilded Age travel culture when sending an elaborately printed card from the Continent was a mark of sophistication.

$34.95
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PC-00396 · Gebr. Künzli, Zürich
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