I love the look and feel of vintage and antique items. My collections contain quite a few beautiful items that I enjoy sharing.

Vintage Alfred Mainzer Floral Postcards

I have some very beautiful vintage collectible postcards that I would like to share. I found them in a drawer in my mother's house. She was an avid yard sale and church white elephant sale shopper.

Although Alfred Mainzer, Inc. was located in Long Island City, New York, all of their vintage floral postcards were printed in Belgium.

You would probably recognize their vintage dressed cat postcards. There was a series of cards with cats, kittens, and some dogs dressed as humans doing day-to-day human tasks. (Animals dressed in clothing, performing human tasks, are known as anthropomorphic.) However, Mainzer produced many different postcard designs.

The company is still in business today and makes greeting cards.

Anemones

Here are two different flower postcards, both entitled Anemones. The one on the left is numbered "427" and the one on the right is numbered "442."

Forget-Me-Nots

This is a very nice group of forget-me-nots. It has a really old world feel to the design, colors and background. The forget-me-nots, as are violets, are a favorite theme in the Victorian era. Many a Victorian card, particularly for Valentine's Day, were decorated with forget-me-nots

Field Flowers and Fieldflowers

The card on the left is labeled Field Flowers (#415) and the one on the right is titled Fieldflowers (#403)

To me, the one on the right appears to be field flowers collected in the fall while the one on the left appears to depict flowers collected during spring. Interesting, today we would probably call these "wildflowers." I wonder if this was the terminology used for wildflowers back then or if it is just the way the company chose to label them.

Daisies

This postcard is a lot more vibrant than the rest. However, it still has a vintage look to it. It is number 410. Some of his other designs seem more appropriately named "daisies" than this one—although these are shasta daisies.

Carnation Alpine Ox-Eye

The Carnation Alpine Ox-Eye postcard has a darker background than some of the others. There is more contrast, but it does make the flowers stand out. This is number 418.

Violets—One of the Prettiest

All of the Florals Shown Above

Maybe some of these remind you of the flowers in your garden or a bouquet you received.

Dating Postcards

One way to determine approximately when a postcard was published is to look at the manufacturer's address on the back. For United States addresses, one or two-digit zone numbers were introduced for large cities in 1943 and remained in effect until 1963. In 1963, the five-digit ZIP code was introduced across the US.

As this card has a zone number, we know it was produced between 1943 and 1964. The absence of a zone code could mean it was produced before 1943 or the printer's address was not in a large city.

The back shown is the same for all of the flower postcards shown in this article. The only difference between them is the flower title and number. Another way to tell is if the postage amount is listed in the stamp area. Some have the cost of postage printed on them. If you look at this list you can get a good idea of what it cost to mail a postcard in a particular year.

Chicago Postcard Museum - History of Postcard Rates

© 2012 Ellen Gregory

Did you enjoy looking at these floral postcards? Do you have a collection of your own?

anonymous on May 27, 2013:

The poll about relaxing isn't working for me today...a bug or glitch I suppose. My answer was that I found looking at your flower postcards both relaxing and refreshing....by the time I reached the first daisies I noticed that I was drawing in a cleansing breath....you drew me into this wonderful vintage world. I have to say...all your collections are giving you sweet opportunities with the new Squidoo desire for adding a personal touch, how excellent for you to be able to share your loves! :)

Lorelei Cohen from Canada on May 22, 2013:

Your vintage postcards are beautiful. Thank you so very much for sharing.

Mary Norton from Ontario, Canada on May 20, 2013:

This is really interesting. These are Collectibles I am not even aware of.

dellgirl on April 23, 2013:

You have shared a beautiful selection of postcards. I love this lens! Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

hotsquid on April 16, 2013:

Those are beautiful postcards. Not many people send postcards these days anymore... :(

lesliesinclair on February 16, 2013:

I don't have a collection, but these are pleasing.

getmoreinfo on October 06, 2012:

I really like these Vintage Alfred Mainzer Flower Postcards

Rose Jones on September 22, 2012:

I am a postcard NUT! You did these cards credit.

eccles1 on September 05, 2012:

Yes they are so pretty

dream1983 on September 04, 2012:

Nice lens, interesting reading! Squidlike

psiloveyou1 on July 18, 2012:

These are beautiful and would be beautiful framed.

Virginia Allain from Central Florida on June 10, 2012:

I have some postcard valentines that are vintage. Love the old flower art.

Ellen Gregory (author) from Connecticut, USA on May 30, 2012:

@flycatcherrr: That is a shame. Probably stashed away in a box somewhere in the back of the closet or attic. It's surprising how many treasures you will find by opening boxes you had forgotten about.

flycatcherrr on May 30, 2012:

Kicking myself that the wonderful postcard collection I had as a child has disappeared *somewhere* over the years. My grandfather collected, too, and I had a number of his very old postcards. Sigh.

Teri Villars from Phoenix, Arizona on May 14, 2012:

I dated a postcard once. Since it didn't eat, it was a very cheap date, ha! Blessed

Michelle from Central Ohio, USA on May 09, 2012:

Beautiful lens. Flower postcards are ones I keep in my personal collection. I'll have to check and see if any of mine are his.

WriterJanis2 on April 16, 2012:

Visually stunning.

julieannbrady on April 16, 2012:

Very cool postcards! Printed in Belgium? His style is quite enchanting.