The Metallic Postcard

Today we meet an especially cool kind of postcard-- the metallic. This is not to be confused with metallic-toned (I know, it's confusing). Rather, these are printed on metallic paper, so they have the sheen of coloured foil. I've not yet come up with any way to represent this in a still format, but the wonderful Graphics  Atlas includes little video clips of surface gloss on prints-- go here, to their metallic postcard entry, and tab over to "unique surface gloss." Otherwise, imagine very shiny, somewhat textured wrapping paper. 

Here is the card:

Even like that you can see it has a somewhat different appearance from regular dye-toned postcards. We can zoom in and see:

It's almost pebbly. Graphics Atlas (with an even greater zoom) tells us that this appearance is due to "matting agent particulates" added to the emulsion. I'll admit to not knowing why these are added, whether it's necessary or just for appearance, but all the metallic postcards I've seen share this property. 

The colour is achieved through dye-toning, as we've discussed before. All the metallic postcards of this type I've seen have been pink or pink-red, although this might be sheer coincidence as I've only seen less than ten. I think they're extremely beautiful, much more than can be conveyed through images or even animations. You may perhaps have noticed, but the card in the banner is one of these. 

This particular card was sent as a New Year's card, and has a New Year's greeting attached to it. Close up you can really see I mean attached--it's almost like a 3-D sticker. I really do suspect that as holidays approached, sellers just took out a bunch of relevant holiday greetings and put them on whatever cards they had on hand....

The new year is question is 1933-- the card is dated December 30, 1932. Again I'll admit to a small sample size, but these metallic cards appear to have come later, not until the late 1920s and early 1930s. 

The message is to Dedi from Alphonse, wishing her a good year, good health, love, luck and happiness. 

The back also has this printed on it. All the metallic ones I have do as well, so I assume it's related to the paper or process, though at the moment that's all I know. Maybe a starting point for research, though!

We won't end with anything deep or interesting or weird today-- just this close-up because I think the couple is especially cute.