[Blind Box] #3: Fly Fishing Postcard
Item #03. Fly Fishing Postcard (Unused)
- Creator: Rembrandt-Noble Publishers
- Object Type: Postcard
- Creation Date: ca. 1960s
- Origin: Colorado Springs, CO
- Dimensions: 6 x 4 inches (standard “Continental” postcard size)
Fear not! Item #02 was not omitted. Rather, it’s been momentarily leapfrogged since it was discovered to be a component piece(s) for Item #11. Whether this separation is intentional remains to be seen.
As for the item in question…
Noble, the postcard’s Colorado Springs-based publisher, created a number of out-of-doors themed compositions, each with a unique series number on the front caption plate (A187, in this case). The green caption field was originally blank, and filled with a custom “Greetings from [Name of Town or Resort]” during a second printing. This allowed Noble to market the image to distributors in other fly-fishing hot spots (As it happens, Thousand Springs is actually in Hagerman, Idaho, over 800 miles NW of Colorado Springs). For this reason, it would have been in Noble’s best commercial interest to produce an image with little topographic specificity, hence our fly fisher’s incredibly generic backdrop. This happens to be a topic I’ve touched on before, in a companion essay to an online gallery of tall-tale postcards.
That this postcard was printed sometime during the 1960s is predicated on two features: printing method and size. The Photochrome (or simply “chrome”) halftone color printing method for postcards began around 1939. American postcards that predate the 60s, however, were generally smaller than the 4 x 6 inch “Continental” standard we maintain today. To discover other clever ways to date postcards, take a gander at this site.
Based on the estimated circa date, mailing this postcard would have cost $.03, .04, or .05, depending on the actual year of purchase.
Finally, the Wikipedia entry for fly fishing is both exhaustive and fascinating. “…a growing population of anglers aim is to catch as many different species as possible with the fly…” …Fascinating.
