La plus belle...

The most beautiful Gabrielle Petit post card is without any doubt the following. I saw it on ebay a couple of weeks ago but I was unable to buy it (I decided to go to the swimming pool with my son, instead of waiting for the deadline of the auction, and of course someone else bought the item). Too bad, but I am very happy with this scan too.



It's an extremely special post card.
First, it's a picture made by a photographer during her life and duplicated after her death in 1916 (maybe as late as 1920). The picture post card is much rarer than the ones of her statue(s). Curiously the verso site of the card is blank. There's no name of a publisher, nor are there any other printed items (lines or squares). This is rather strange and may suggest it's a real photo or a memorabilia. Since I don't own the object, I can not tell.
Second, the stamps, King Albert (national hero of the Great War par excellence), dated February (?) 1920 and stamped in Brussels. Six different stamps. Same image, but different value (5c, 15c, 25c, 30c, 40c). I don't know anything about stamps, but the buyer propably does. Maybe the stamps are rare; the fact that there's a whole series of them on the same card might makes them especially valuable as a collector's item.
Third, the post card was sent to a gentleman named Jules Gasthuys living in the '4 Rue Cachet' (rue Cadet?) in Paris. Both the man and his address are unknown today.
Fourth, the text. Underneath the picture there are two texts. The first one is a hand written text saying: Gabrielle Petit, 24 ans, notre héroïne nationale. Fusillée par les Allemands le 1er Avril 1916'. Below this text, the sender of the card added 'Si à Paris il y a de jolies femmes, en Belgique il y a des femmes courageuses. Vive Gabrielle Petit'. The name of the sender is not mentioned, so one can assume the addressee would probably know who it was from anyway. Maybe this person was his only acquaintance in Brussels. Intuitively I think the person sending this postcard was a woman, not very young, around 30 maybe? If you think of it, the second text is rather strange. Why would anyone send this as a personal message to a friend in Paris? One may even read some jealousy in it... Anyway, such passionate expressions of patriotic fervour are truly wonderful. It demonstrates that Petits memory was still very much alive in 1920, 4 years after her death. It may also demonstrate that Parisian women were still considered the most beautiful in the world.

Anyone who knows more about this post card (or similar post cards), do contact me.