When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
A 3.5x5.5" vintage lithograph photo postcard from the estate of a vintage postcard collector. This was part of a huge collection of antique postcards.
* We always automatically combine orders for shipping, so add as many postcards as you’d like to your order!
Photo Overview
This antique postcard features a finely detailed pen-and-ink style portrait of Ezra Meeker, the famed Oregon Trail pioneer, shown in three-quarter profile with his characteristic long white beard, flowing hair, and round spectacles. The artist renders Meeker in rich cross-hatched lines that emphasize his age and intensity, and the caption beneath identifies him clearly as “Ezra Meeker - Oregon Pioneer.” The card presents like an early 20th century printed art postcard, ideal for collectors of Western Americana, Oregon Trail memorabilia, and historic pioneer personalities.
Ezra Meeker (1830-1928) was one of the best-known pioneers of the American West, celebrated for his late-in-life campaigns to mark and preserve the Oregon Trail, which he re-traveled multiple times by ox team, automobile, and even airplane to raise public awareness. His work helped spark nationwide interest in preserving key segments of the trail and shaped how Americans remembered westward expansion. Serious collectors of Western history ephemera and pioneer portrait postcards will want to secure this scarce Ezra Meeker piece before it disappears into another collection.
Print analysis:
This is a printed art postcard on postcard-weight cardstock, not a real photo postcard; the front image shows fine line lithographic or halftone printing rather than continuous-tone photographic emulsion. The blank, undivided back without a postcard layout suggests an early 20th century production, likely c1910s-1920s. As it is a mass-printed card derived from original artwork rather than a photographic print from a negative, the Type 1-4 photo classification does not strictly apply, but by analogy it would correspond to a Type 2 (contemporaneous printed postcard) produced close in time to the creation of the artwork.
Condition: All postcards we sell are in fair to excellent vintage condition. Please see photos for any tears, folds, smudges, or other age damage that may be present.
