Antique & Vintage Postcards

Blazing turquoise sky, purple mountains, and a sun-drenched desert floor bursting with labeled specimens — this vivid illustrated chart card by Phoenix publisher Bob Petley captures twenty desert plants of the American Southwest in one gloriously educational composition, painted by artist Larry Toschik with the careful eye of a field naturalist and the color saturation of a roadside souvenir shop at its absolute chrome-era peak. Saguaro, organ pipe, ocotillo, prickly pear, barrel cactus, Joshua tree, yucca, cholla, agave, ironwood, palo verde and more crowd the canvas, each neatly labeled for the curious traveler. Unposted and in near-excellent condition, this card is a clean example of the Petley Studios series that defined mid-century Arizona tourism imagery.