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Flamingos at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute, Silver Springs, FL, circa 1970

Subjects
BirdsWildlife
Card type
Chrome
Date
c. 1970 (Chrome)
Front of Flamingos at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute, Silver Springs, FL, circa 1970, Virgil Hardy, KY, USA, c. 1970 chrome postcard
Front
Back of Flamingos at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute, Silver Springs, FL, circa 1970, Virgil Hardy, KY, USA, c. 1970 chrome postcard
Back

About this postcard

Two pink flamingos stand on a grassy lawn before a dense green hedge, with a chain-link fence and a patch of blue sky at the upper left. The birds are shown in profile, their curved necks and pale bills tipped in black set off by a few small red flowers at the lower left. The setting is Silver Springs, Florida, home of the glass-bottom boats, where Ross Allen's Reptile Institute kept flamingos as a colorful draw for tourists. The institute, founded in 1929, displayed snakes, alligators, and other wildlife, and the birds gave camera fans a bright subject. A vacation message on the back places the card in the hands of mid-century tourists exploring Florida's springs and Gulf beaches.

Postcard Details

Message · English, in pen

Hi Folks! It has been some cold here but we have plenty of sunshine. We are staying in a trailer park in the woods, on a small lake, where they caught a ten pound bass lately. We have picked up a lot of pretty shells on the Gulf and are enjoying ourselves Bertha & Buz

PublisherTichnor Bros., Inc.
FLORIDA'S SILVER SPRINGS Home of World Famous Glass Bottom Boats Flamingos as seen at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute offer camera fans opportunity for color at its best.
PostmarkedBROOKSVILLE, FL
Stamp
Addressed to
Virgil Hardy

Irvine, KY 40336

Postcard record

PostmarkedBROOKSVILLE, FL
PublisherTichnor Bros., Inc.
SeriesL-132
ConditionGood
Place addressedVirgil Hardy, Irvine, KY, 40336
Place mentionedSilver Springs, FL
PublisherTichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, MA
Stamp6c Pilgrims, brown
NotesGlossy chrome-finish card with a visible halftone dot screen; no white border, no printed text on the picture side; printed caption at upper left of back. Light edge and corner wear. Postmark: partially legible circular cancel reading ...VILLE / FLA. (Brooksville, Fla.) struck over the stamp area. Chrome-era divided-back card, printed "Lustrechrome" REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. MADE ONLY BY TICHNOR BROS., INC., BOSTON 15, MASS. (series L-132); 6-cent "1620 THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS" stamp; heavy brown foxing/staining over the whole back, especially around the stamp and address.

Cite this card

Flamingos at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute, Silver Springs, FL, circa 1970, postcard, c. 1970. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/flamingos-at-ross-allens-reptile-institute-silver-springs-fl. Accessed November 2, 2026.