Antique & Vintage Postcards

Under a wide Balkan sky with mountains rolling blue in the distance, a circle of young men and women in full traditional dress spin through the kolo — the ancient Slavic round dance — while a crowd of villagers in white caps and fezzes press in close to watch, their faces caught mid-laugh and mid-clap in this vivid hand-colored postcard titled Kolotanz in Bosnien ("Kolo dance in Bosnia"). The women's billowing yellow and black dimije (harem-style trousers), the men's embroidered vests and sashed waists, and the presence of both fez-wearing Muslim and cap-wearing Christian participants hint at the extraordinary ethnic diversity of pre-WWI Bosnia. Published in 1910 by Pacher & Kisić of Mostar (No. 348/1910, card no. 1493), this card belongs to the same celebrated ethnographic series as its companion costume card in this batch, and the two together form a compelling portrait of Bosnian folk culture on the eve of the events of 1914 that would change the region forever. The four-language reverse (Cyrillic, Bosnian/Croatian, German, Hungarian) is identical in format to the publisher's wider series.