Patriotic Cards

An Illustrated History of the Embroidered Silk Postcards is the standard reference book on embroidered silk postcards. It contains references to over 2600 different cards with over 270 illustrations. The section on Patriotic Cards lists 235 Better Patriotic Designs plus 261 cards with Flag designs. The cards listed below are additional cards discovered since the book was published. The latest additions are shown in RED.

Patriotic cards form one of the largest sections of embroidered silk postcards available from the First World War period. To ease viewing and simplify the section, it is divided into separate pages for cards with Better Designs and cards with Flag Designs. Cards with Seasonal Designs, such as for Christmas, have their own section.

In addition to designs based around flags, patriotic cards includes those with other patriotic symbols, such as the battlefield flowers - the poppy, marguerite and cornflower, which grow wild on up-turned ground, and are conveniently red, white and blue - the national colours of many countries, including Great Britain, France and the United States. The patriotic element on a card is usually significant, but can be as little as a red, white and blue ribbon binding a bunch of flowers.

New cards are discovered regularly. All the Better Designs are described in full following the format established in my book. The Flag Designs are a list of captions, as to describe each card would be impossible. It has to be remembered that a single caption can be associated with many different designs, and they may be horizontal or vertical with and without an envelope front to take a small printed greetings card.

Captions are only listed once. If they appear amongst the Better Designs, they are not repeated in the listing of cards with Flag Designs. Many captions are in the French language, which is understandable as most cards were manufactured in France. Cards with captions in German are also known. The are listed in alphabetical order to aid reference.


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