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Postcard 1910s Belfast Ireland Small Irish Novelty Pull-Out Valentine & Sons
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Pre-linen · 1912

Postcard 1910s Belfast Ireland Small Irish Novelty Pull-Out Valentine & Sons

Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK1912Pre-linenFair-Good

Hidden inside the coat of a cheeky, shillelagh-toting Irish lad dressed in emerald green — his broad smile and tilted hat radiating Edwardian mischief — a concertina of miniature black-and-white photographs unfolds to reveal the proud city of Belfast in remarkable detail. This "Mailing Novelty" published by Valentine & Sons of Dundee and London is a quintessential example of the pull-out souvenir card that delighted recipients in the 1910s: lift the flap on each side of the boy's coat and a ribbon of real photographic views spills out, including Belfast City Hall, Harland & Wolff's shipyard (then actively building the ill-fated RMS Titanic-class liners), Shaw's Bridge, and several parks and memorials. The card was sent by a traveler named Ed to his aunts Julie and Ann in Akron, Ohio, its breezy message promising handkerchiefs and Irish coins as souvenirs and hinting he might be home "maybe by Xmas time." The reverse carries the Valentine's "Mail Novelty" copyright notice and a G.P.O. shape-approval stamp confirming it qualified for the cheaper Printed Paper postal rate — a clever commercial workaround of the era. Card no. 1024 on front; publisher code 42-1 on inner strip.

$32.95
Fair-Good
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PC-05418 · Valentine & Sons Ltd., Dundee and London
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