Embossed floral "Best Wishes" card, Smyrna, GA, circa 1907

About this postcard

The design centers on a cluster of pansies and roses in pink, purple, yellow, and white that frames a gold-outlined rococo medallion. Inside the medallion, a woman in a red cloak and white apron crosses a stream on stepping stones toward a cottage and a distant church spire. Pansies and roses were standard greeting-card motifs; the pansy's name comes from the French pensée, or thought. Floral greetings like this were common in the early 1900s, when a bright bouquet and a small pastoral scene could carry a greeting with only a line or two of message. The brief note leaves the flowers and the scene to do most of the work.