The first card (top left) features a classic German image of good luck wishes, a flush of four-leafed clovers. Other popular symbols (not shown) are Maikäfer (lady bugs) and swine (but like the friendlier English “pigs”). Clover and lady bugs, of course, are not all that common in late December in Germany. But this isn’t a matter of logic. Rather unexpectedly and by contrast, the clock does resemble a real one, a popular model made by the Hamburg-Amerikanische Uhrenfabrik. Illustrations of it, from 1904, 1907, and 1919 catalogues, were reprinted in a December 2001 CLOCKS article. The sexist roles the children portray are another hangover from the past. There can be little doubt that she's the belle for whom he toils. This postcard was mailed on December 31, 1909, to a Herr Walter Weickert. From someone named...it might be “Georg,” or perhaps “Harry”?...well, it’s from someone whose penmanship hasn’t improved since then. The second card (top right), despite its childlike, playful scene, carried with it a more sober reflection. It was sent by Feldpost, the military postal system, by someone with the German forces, to a woman in a small town near Dresden. The postmark is dated December 31, 1916. The sender’s name and unit, etc. are penciled in at the top. He tells her that he’s sorry that once again this year, his greetings can only come to her by mail. And that they can only hope that the New Year will soon bring peace. A more cheerful view, for our own New Year and the pocket watch collectors among us, is that that does appear to be a pocket watch on that snowman. Although why someone would let the kids go outside, with a good pocketwatch, stick it on a snowman, and then throw frozen stuff at it, in the middle of the night, is hard to say. But then I’d not try to say what type of pocket watch it was, either. One can only conclude it’s no Ball. The third card (bottom left) was mailed on December 30, 1911, from a fellow named Ulrich, in Bavaria, to a Fräulein in Filbingert (in the Pfalz). He asked her to extend his best wishes, as well, to another young woman, a “Frl. Gretel.” Girls named Gretel aren’t all that common today. Two-timers named Ulrich are not unknown. The last card (bottom right) with its cheerful snowy forest scene is a favorite. Those interested in postcard progress will have noted that the girl’s face is a photograph. And there’s a tiny photo of a child’s face on her bell-tipped fool’s noisemaker, as well. Still it’s that snow bedecked, improbable clock that so appeals and makes us smile. The look on the hare’s face seems to show that he too knows that pendulums didn’t swing that far, even on New Year’s Eve. Then too, any portrayal of a hare excites those of us who live between German and English. And thereby prize the very wurst of Germlish puns. “Hear here, Herr Hare,” for example, would be bad enough. Here there's even mourning-after, hair-of-the-hare possibilities. The card was posted December 31, 1911, from Munich. We’re grateful someone saved it. If only for the hare’s part. And now I send die besten Glückwünsche zum Jahreswechsel to one and all! D.K. Stevenson (Germany) |
