The Inside Story By An IFPD Dealer
I am a collector, dealer and author of books specializing in signed artist postcards. Some of the familiar artists cards are those by Clapsaddle, Fisher, Christy, Gibson, Boileau, ONeill, Shmucker and Brundage. Comic artists include the well-known works of Outcault, Drayton, Dwig, Hutaf, Zim and Grigg, among others. But sometimes there are unsigned cards that pique ones interest, challenging the collector to find the name of the artist. Heres a case in point.
Mary H. Huber
I have been collecting an unknown artists work for a few years. Unsigned examples of the cards pop up under topical sections of children and comic. They are unlike any other artists work but I thought I could eventually link them to some artist I knew, but I could not. So I kept filing them away.
Much to my surprise I found the "missing link" in my own stock of Artist Signed cards. It is signed Mary H. Huber and was published and copyrighted by the Campbell Art Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The card is signed beneath the front illustration (see below), is postmarked 1918 and has a printed message on the back:
A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
When Santas unlocking
His stores for your stocking
Be quiet and still as can be;
Just heed well this warning
And then in the morning
A happy surprise you will see.