1907 Rose Company Vinegar Valentine Poem Postcards Set

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Rose Company Vinegar Valentine Poem Postcards
Year	1907
Size	3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″
Images	Color
Type	Postcards
Number in Set	Unknown

1907 Rose Company Vinegar Valentine Poem Postcards Overview

These postcards featured girls with humorous poems. They included both sports and non-sports subjects and at least two football cards are in the set. One football postcard featured a fan and a second depicted a player. The set also includes a golfer, a bowler, and an athlete (weightlifter).

These postcards are considered to be Vinegar Valentine issues. That genre includes various cards with comical or insulting depictions on them.

The football fan card features a Harvard college girl with a pennant with a football game playing out in the background. Her poem reads:

“No matter what the game or team,
You’re always ready to cheer and scream;
You’d be better off if you’d forget the college
And try to get some useful knowledge.”

A second features a football player (shown here) with a different poem:

“Because you let your hair grow tall
You think that you can play foot ball,
But it takes more than hair and a foot-ball suit,
To make you a player or substitute

The postcards have a decorative frame around the picture and a standard divided backing. The backs also identifies The Rose Company as the producer by their intertwined ‘TRC’ logo. Some also have The Rose Company name printed in small font along with a 1907 copyright date on the fronts.

Some pre-war baseball fans will recognize the producer of this series, The Rose Company. They also produced the 1908-09 Rose Company baseball postcards, one of the more famous baseball issues.

Collectors should also take note that a similar series was also created in 1905 by the Illustrated Post Card Company of New York. Those feature cartoon pictures and poems as well but are numbered and do not have the decorative borders.