Two identical Tichnor Brothers postcards, first printings, 5.5 x 3.5, both featuring an artist’s rendition of the full length of the leviathan ship, with the printed caption in the bottom border entitled, ‘Steamer Titanic’: “Largest and most luxurious in the World. Launched at Belfast Ireland, May 1911. Length 882 ft. 6 in. Displacement 66,000 tons. On her maiden trip struck a mammoth iceberg on Sunday, April 14th at 10:25 P. M. in 41 degrees 49 minutes, north latitude–50 degrees 14 minutes, West longitude. The worst disaster known in Marine History. Sunk at 2:30 A. M. April 15, 1912, with a loss of over 1300 lives.” The first postcard, postmarked April 20, 1912, features a fountain pen note, “Thought I would send picture of Boat that went down”; and the second, postmarked April 22, 1912, reads, in part: “I have read the accounts of the sinking of the ‘Titanic’ till I feel sick. It does not seem possible for such a huge ship to sink so quickly.” These first Tichnor Brothers printings bear differing totals of lives lost in the wake of the disaster; this one, which reports “over 1300”; the second edition of the cards reported a total swelling to over 1500. RRAuction COA.
