Image of Victorian Natal Day congratulations card

Natal Day Greetings

Q This delightful quirky card celebrating a person's birthday is from the late Victorian era. Do the four geese standing on a telescope have any significance?

The Collector

A Is it definitely a telescope? It seems not to collapse and it is a curious shape for such a device. My first thought was that it was rather more reminiscent of the bit, stem and tenon of a smoking pipe?

John R.

Q Come to think of it I haven't seen a telescope with that shape. Does anyone have any ideas about what the object is?

The Collector

A Having looked at the image I think it is a cigarette holder of the period. If you look at a Dunhill catalogue you will see similar images.

Valerie Jackson-Harris

Queries 2011/12

Matchmakers
Car Park Tickets
Exchange Rate Postcards
Christmas Card
Court Plaister
George Piercy Tye
Emily Schmäck-Stregen
Knight Engine Mystery
Diamond Jubilee 1897
P H Suchard
Natal Day Greeting
Mauchline Transfers

Query Archive

2003/4
2005/6
2007/8
2009/10
2011/12
2013

This regular feature invites answers by email to members’ questions on an item of ephemera.