Mechanical cards with an ironing theme!

Mechanical greeting cards feature a heavy card stock with an embedded ring that allows the card layers to rotate. Vintage cards printed in the USA date to the 1950s. Others printed in Germany may be even earlier, circa 1920s to 1930s. Here are two examples of vintage mechanical Valentine cards with an ironing theme!

To My Valentine: Better Watch What You’re About

Or Love’ll Flatten Your Heart Out (USA)

The card above features imagery of lady ironing with a sad iron. As she swings the iron from L to R her eyes move. It measures 6 7/8″ x 4 7/8″. The wording “LITHO IN USA” is printed vertically in tiny letters at the lower right front. Each side by her shoes can fold back to allow the card to stand.

To My Valentine (Germany)

Moving the lever at the bottom of this card L to R causes * the little girl to hang a cloth on the line * her eyes to move and * a little boy to pop up with a Valentine heart. It measures 6 7/8″ x 4 5/8″ and PRINTED IN GERMANY is printed horizontally in tiny letters at the left front. This is a flat card, without a built-in easel.

Any laundry day collection can be easily enhanced by adding “go-withs” that make a display pop. Be on the lookout for mechanical cards with an ironing theme!

Also in the Laundry theme …

This is a small but delightful B. T. Babbitts Premium Card advertising their trademark Best Soap. Pushing the notched end of the card downward in the slot causes the lady to “wash” clothes in the bucket. Inside the card (and on the back) are directions for how to redeem trademarks from Babbitts products for premiums. On the cover, inscribed on the wash tub:

Rub-a-dub-dub with Best Soaps you scrub
From the rising to setting of sun;
But use “Babbitt’s Best” and wash-day’s a jest
For at ten in the morning you’re done.

● Heavy card stock with vivid colors.
● Trademark 1907 on back cover.
● Size folded: 3 1/4″ square. Size opened: 8 1/4″ long x 3 1/4″ wide.
● Barely noticeable, non-displaced 1/2″ separation along the bottom fold.