Antique & Vintage Postcards

Nestled against a rugged granite canyon at 11,425 feet — the last outpost of trees and vegetation before timberline dissolves into bare alpine rock — the log-built Glencove Inn sits in serene isolation on the legendary Pikes Peak Auto Highway in this brilliantly hand-colored linen-era postcard, a row of open-topped touring cars parked outside hinting at the adventurous motorists who made the twisting mountain road a bucket-list American drive in the 1920s. The towering ponderosa pines frame a sweeping view of snow-streaked upper slopes, and the warm amber tones of the log structure glow against the deep-green forest — a masterclass in the Sanborn Souvenir Company's chromatic artistry. Published by Sanborn Souvenir Co. of Denver and numbered 5668-29 (suggesting a 1929 copyright date), this card documents the early automobile tourism era in the Colorado Rockies at its most romantic. The Pikes Peak Highway, opened in 1916, was a toll road drawing tens of thousands of visitors annually by the late 1920s, and Glen Cove Inn (as it is now known) still stands today as a historic waystation, making this an unusually traceable piece of Colorado road-trip history. Unused and unposted, the card is in excellent condition with vivid color and no significant defects.