A highly desirable collectors item is on show at the Salford Museum and Art Gallery: a silk postcard dating back to the First World War.
These would have been bought by British soldiers to send home to their loved ones.
Crucially, they gave no indication of the horrors that young privates experienced on the front line.
The Eccles Pals, of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, for example, lost 180 men in 10 minutes at the brutal slaughter of The Battle of the Somme.
Popular images found on the cards included forget-me-not and pansy flowers (symbolising “remember me forever” and “thoughts” respectively), patriotic messages and symbols such as flags of the allies, regimental crests and badges.
There were two kinds of cards, one was a piece of embroidered silk mounted onto a card and the other was two pieces of silk sewn and mounted to form a pocket to contain a message or a silk handkerchief.
It is an intruiguing example of an industry which sprung up in the early part of the last century directly as a result of war, and despite the terrible tragedies befalling the men who bought them to send back to Salford, must have been a useful source of income for families in France and Belgium.
Sadly, many of the soldiers who sent these cards did not return home.
These postcards are now highly desirable collector pieces and can fetch up to £100 in good condition.
This and other postcards can be seen in the World War One exhibition at Salford Museum and Art Gallery on the Crescent, Salford.
