Inscribed postcard of a Jewish pawnbroker & customer with a watch
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 3.500 inches (8.89 cm) | Width: 5.500 inches (13.97 cm)
Creator(s)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
Biographical History
The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.
Archival History
The postcard was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Postcard with a good luck message mailed from Philadelphia to Atlantic City with a cartoon of a Jewish pawnbroker and a non-Jewish customer bargaining over a large pocket watch. This postcard is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic visual materials.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Postcard with a color cartoon of a pawnbroker in pince-nez and an orange and yellow checked vest haggling over a pocket watch with a gentile customer in orange and yellow stripe trousers. The pawnbroker's right hand is flipped over his shoulder, palm up, as he talks about the watch he holds face up in his left hand over his counter. The customer watches with an anxious expression and holds out his right hand with an extended index and middle finger. The pawnbroker has stereotypical Jewish features, such as curly head and facial hair, a very big nose and red fleshy lips, and stands next to a window with J. Mc. COHEN PAWN BROKER with the pawnbroker symbol of 3 hanging orbs. The back has 4 postmarks, an address, and a green 1 cent United States postage stamp with an image of Benjamin Franklin. See record 2016.184.738 for another issue of this postcard.
front, right, cursive, black ink : I would like to say / how is the team / getting on tell / the boys I was / asking for them / and I wish you / and them good / luck and many / victories / Burns back, top center, postmark, stamped, black ink : PHILADELPHIA / AUG 18 / 1 – AM / 19 06 / PA. back, top center, postmark, stamped, black ink : ATLANTIC CITY N. J. / AUG 17 / 4 – PM / 1906 back, top center, postmark, stamped, black ink : WEST PARK / RECEIVED / STATION back, center, cursive, black ink : Mr Jos Green / 6006 Master St / N Phila / Pa back, bottom left corner, cursive, black ink : Mgr Calvin B.B.C
Subjects
- Pawnbrokers--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Stereotypes (Social psychology) in art.
- Jews--United States--Caricatures and cartoons.
- Jews--Caricatures and cartoons.
Genre
- Object
- Information Forms