This week, with Christmas just around the corner, it seemed the perfect time to share these two amazing Christmas postcards. Throughout the year, The Past Present has showcased a wide range of postcard images, all of which have been pictorial cards showcasing iconic Australian places and scenes, often of Sydney and surrounds. Yet postcards come in wide range of themes, and they were produced with an amazing range of different techniques.

The postcards above and below are known as ‘hold to the light’ cards. When held flat on the table, they show a day time scene, but when held up to the light, the scene magically changes to show illuminated windows and a frosty nighttime scene. First appearing in approximately 1898 in Berlin, hold to the light postcards seem to have been produced first by the Wolf Hagelberg company. In fact, sometimes they are even known as Hagelberg Design Cards.

The Hagelberg cards were mainly produced using a die cut technique, which is what the cards above use to create the amazing effect. The basic design would be printed using chromolitho or collotype processes, just like everyday postcards which we all know so well. Then, a specially created forme, which had the areas which needed to be die cut marked on it, would be laid over the card and the areas which were to be illuminated would be punched out using the forme as a template.  Another, address side, would be printed separately and between the two pieces another sheet of paper would be placed. Often this sheet was yellow. When the three layers were glued together, the card was complete, and could be held to the light to create the amazing Day to Night effect.

Merry Christmas from The Past Present!