A beautiful and unusually substantial antique Christmas card, dated Christmas 1913, with a wonderfully atmospheric winter village scene.

The front features an oval monochrome image of cattle being driven through a snow-covered village, surrounded by an embossed cream mount and finished with a faded rust-coloured ribbon. Beneath is the rather lovely greeting:

“Thine Own Wish In Every Place Be Thine”

Open the card and there is another charming survival. Rather than being handwritten, the Christmas greeting was specially printed with the names of the senders:

Mr. & Mrs. John R. Cockram
425 Norwood Road, S.E.

with “Xmas, 1913” printed above.

At over 110 years old, it is a wonderful piece of Edwardian Christmas ephemera, combining an evocative winter scene with a very personal fragment of London social history.

There is age-related wear, discolouration and some wear to the original ribbon, all entirely in keeping with its age and visible in the photographs.

Date: 1913
Size: approximately 12 × 18 cm
Material: card and ribbon
Origin: London, England

A beautiful piece to collect as it is, frame for Christmas, or carefully repurpose for seasonal creative projects.

Repurposing ideas

• Frame the complete card, opened or closed, as antique Christmas artwork.

• Scan the winter scene for personal papercraft, gift tags or Christmas stationery.

• Use a reproduction of the image in a Christmas journal or scrapbook, keeping the original intact.

• Display on a small easel amongst candles, greenery and vintage decorations.

• Use as inspiration for Christmas wrapping, the monochrome scene would be beautiful copied onto cream paper.

• Create a shadow-box display with old ribbon, handwritten letters, photographs or tiny decorations.

• Use the typography as design inspiration, especially that wonderful illuminated red T.

• Photograph or scan the interior inscription for collage and journalling, the 1913 date and Norwood Road address are fabulous details.