Antique & Vintage Postcards

Pull open the oversized green Römer wine glass and out tumbles the whole Moselle valley — a charming novelty accordion-fold postcard shows a smiling young woman in traditional German dirndl (red bodice, white blouse, green apron) emerging from a giant Römer goblet, while tucked inside the card's fold are seven miniature photographic views of the Mosel river's most celebrated towns: Ehrenbreitstein, Cochem, Alt-Bullay, Marienburg, Traben-Trarbach, Berncastel-Cues, and Trier's Porta Nigra. Written in flowing Kurrent script across the top and bottom, the verse reads (translated): "The wine-god played the little maiden / to drink with him the golden wine; / if both were not so fine / he would be just a Hümmerpfahl!" — a playful Rhine-country toast. This type of "Leporello" or pull-out novelty card was enormously popular in 1930s Germany as a souvenir combining regional pride, wine culture, and landscape photography in one ingenious package.