Shot from the Place du Palais in brilliant hand-tinted color, this mid-century chrome postcard of Monaco's Prince's Palace captures the Grimaldi family seat at its postwar peak — the crenellated medieval tower, the Italian Renaissance loggia, the sentry boxes with their distinctive diamond-pattern guards, and a sunlit courtyard packed with the wonderfully varied automobiles of 1950: Citroën Tractions, a Rolls or two, and numerous European tourers, all parked before one of Europe's smallest and most storied sovereign palaces. The card was mailed from Monaco in 1950 with a 30-franc Rainier III definitive stamp — just four years before Grace Kelly would transform this principality's image forever. The sender, writing to a couple in Spencerport, New York (Mr. and Mrs. E. Brierly at 5370 Ridge Rd W), describes touring Europe through Italy, Germany, France, Monaco, and England before heading home — a classic postwar Grand Tour by an American abroad.