NEW YEAR Elves & Gnomes on Antique Postcards

Elves (or Gnomes) appear on a wide variety of antique postcards - in this post, we look at a few who are decorating New Year postcards.  Above are two from a beautifully embossed series where the Elves are gathering money from the moon (wouldn't that be nice?) and putting bags of New Year coins down a lucky family's chimney.  The moon, and other details, are shining with gold added.  In parts of Europe, Elves in red hats are sometimes described as Santa, but we like to maintain a distinction between Father Christmas and these diminutive forest dwellers.

The Elves on the embossed blue cards below are blowing horns to welcome in the New Year; they appear with the classic New Year midnight clock.  Why do all the elves have long beards?  If you know the answer, we would love to hear it!  

Another great midnight clock card shows the Elves with bags of coins, with one climbing a ladder to adjust the hands of the clock, the other holding a horn to announce the New Year.  The horn player has keys on his belt, and the clock sports a fine sun-face on the pendulum.  Superior artwork along with bright colors and gold added make this an especially good Elf New Year design. 

In this European flat postcard the Elves are building a snowman - cooperation is needed to make the snowman as big as they want him...they also have white beards. 

Our last entry in this category of New Year Elf postcards shows shamrocks (or four-leaf clovers) for good luck and champagne for good cheer...a lively celebration of Elves with a horseshoe decoration to further the Good Luck message!

Price Estimates:  Elf postcards can be acquired at reasonable prices, from about $6.00 to $15.00 depending on condition and the elaborateness of the design, with embossing and metallic gold or silver adding to the value.  They are a fun sub-set of holiday designs, and liven up a collection with their fanciful artwork.  Remember, these estimates are for cards in EXCELLENT condition and they are only estimates.