This entry in The Exonumia Corner is among my favorites, as it combines three hobbies, coin collecting, stamp collecting, and postcard collecting. This brown sepia-toned postcard was copyrighted in 1906 by H.I. Robbins of Boston, Massachusetts. Its design is simple with lucky four-leaf clovers and horseshoes diagonally across the front with SAVE / 99 / MORE in large letters on three lines at the center. “Save 99 more what?” you may ask, and the answer is readily apparent. In a glory of sun rays at the upper left corner of the front of the postcard is a bright and lustrous AU 1906 Indian cent; it no doubt began life as a Mint State coin, but it has been around for 108 years and actually saw service in the U.S. Mail. The postcard is postmarked at Warren, Massachusetts on February 18, 1907, at 1 PM, and its delivery postmark shows it arrived at the home of Dr. E.A. Schillinger of Lee, Massachusetts the very next day, February 19, at 7 AM. There is a dark green one-cent Franklin stamp for postage. It’s remarkable that, 100+ years ago, one cent of postage got a postcard from one town to another in less than 24 hours! Did Dr. Schillinger need to save “99 more?” Or perhaps the good doctor was a coin collector and a friend thought he’d get a kick out of the postcard’s admonition. No matter the origin of the card or its sentiments, it now resides in my exonumia collection, much of which is permanently displayed on velvet trays on my desk at work. Coins, I just can’t keep away from them!
Next time we’ll take a look at the coinage of the Nation of Celestial Space!
