Title
1903 Japan Smiling Geisha Kimono Hand Tinted South Australia Stamp Victor Harbor Postcard
Front Description
A hand-tinted collotype postcard showing a cheerful young Japanese woman laughing broadly at the camera with both hands raised behind her head. Her hair is arranged in a full traditional style. She wears a dark kimono with bold diagonal stripes tinted in purple, green and mauve, with a pale turquoise collar and a touch of magenta at the shoulder. A wide obi woven with a geometric key-fret pattern is visible at the bottom. The figure is cut out against the plain card, with a large blank area to the left for a message. Her open, natural smile is unusual among the more formal studio portraits of the period.
The sender wrote on the front in brown ink:
At top: “Victor 29 Dec 03”
At left: “Cold & miserable but heaps of Adelaide down here. Still the smile.
Bob”
Condition: toning, light soiling, a few small stains near the message, and minor edge and corner wear. See scans for exact condition.
Back Description
Printed in purple-brown within an ornate decorative border with corner blocks:
“Union Postale Universelle.
CARTE POSTALE”
followed by the Japanese text “萬國郵便聯合端書” (Bankoku Yūbin Rengō Hagaki – “Universal Postal Union Postcard”).
Franked with a South Australia one-penny red Queen Victoria stamp (“SOUTH AUSTRALIA – ONE PENNY”), cancelled with a VICTOR HARBOR duplex datestamp. The date is partly legible.
Handwritten address:
“Miss Stella Skipper
Hewitt Avenue
Rose Park”
Undivided back for the address only, with light toning and minor edge wear.
History
Victor Harbor, on Encounter Bay about 80 kilometres south of Adelaide, was South Australia’s favourite seaside holiday resort. It became especially popular after the railway arrived, and Adelaide families went there for the Christmas and New Year holidays. Bob’s note, “heaps of Adelaide down here”, captures the summer crowd, even though the weather was cold and miserable that December. The card itself is a Japanese souvenir, probably bought on one of Bob’s travels. Bob also wrote the Newcastle card to Miss Stella Skipper in this group, and he is probably the “Uncle Bob” mentioned in Hal’s 1907 Shanghai card. This card shows the family’s postcard exchange already going in 1903.
Estimated Era
1903. The sender dated the front “29 Dec 03”, and the card was posted at Victor Harbor. The undivided Japanese UPU back with “萬國郵便聯合端書” was used before 1907, and the message is written on the picture side, as was required for undivided cards. The South Australia Queen Victoria one-penny stamp was still in use in the early 1900s before Commonwealth stamps replaced the state issues in 1913.
Note: Coins & Banknotes Grading
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banknotes before proceeding with your purchase, as grading can be
subjective and varies from person to person. - Please do not place too much hope on grading companies to grade the notes accurately, as they can be notoriously inconsistent.
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than happy to assist. Please feel free to contact me anytime.
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