Antique & Vintage Postcards

From the dappled quiet of Graz's Stadtpark, a bronze maiden emerges — the "Waldlilie" (Forest Lily), standing atop her inscribed pedestal dated 1882, a small deer at her side, her back turned to the viewer as if listening to the ancient trees behind her; the surrounding iron fence and carefully tended plantings are captured in crisp silver gelatin detail in this real-photo postcard from wartime Austria, postmarked Graz, June 21, 1915 — just months into the First World War. The card bears the ornate oval rubber stamp of Schlossberg-Restaurant Fischer, Graz, suggesting it was sold or dispatched from that celebrated hilltop establishment. The inscription on the statue reads: "Waldlilie / Nassauer Dichters / Bromästuten Wees / den Freunden / der Steiermarkgalerie / 1882" — honoring the Styrian gallery's patrons. Addressed in German cursive to Fräulein Helen in Mürzzuschlag, Steiermark, the message is a wartime greeting from someone signing affectionately.