Vintage - Ice Skating Frog Couple,

A vintage illustration from a Raphael Tuck & Sons postcard (the Oilette series) featuring an ice skating frog couple. Raphael Tuck and his wife, Ernestine, began a business in London in 1866 selling greeting cards and pictures, eventually adding postcards which became the item the company was best known for. Although the business was in London, the color printing work was done in Germany, Raphael’s home country. Ernestine’s home country was Prussia, and the couples’ seven children were born there. Some of the sons became involved in the business and eventually took over running the business from their father when his health was failing. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was a “postcard boom” where everyone sent postcards to each other for every occasion and just to send notes to friends and family. These cards featured professional artists’ work, and a new hobby of collecting postcards sprung up. The company began sponsoring annual postcard collectors’ competitions with cash prizes, and this became a very successful marketing plan. In 1903, Tuck & Sons began selling various series of postcards, with the Oilette series becoming the most well known. The word “Oilette” is printed in one of the bottom corners of each postcard in the series. This card is blank inside for your own message.