Verkade Cards

I ran across these colorful cards in a local antiques store. I bought a pile and took them home to do research. In the early 1900s in Holland when you bought Verkade coffee or cookies (a company still in existence!) these chromo-lithograph printed cards came with your purchase. There werre different themes: shells, plants, animals, birds. People collected whole sets and kept them in albums.


I used the cards to enhance the covers of photo albums. A rectangle slightly larger than the cards is cut out of the book board to ensure that the cards are flush with the cover and won't fall off. Then I covered the boards in my all time favorite Japanese linen bookcloth. Finally, I inset the cards into the cover.

This periwinkle shell reminds me of the summers we spend in Maine. There are beaches filled with the colorful shells of these marnine animals. I personally like the bright yellow shells!


This is an angel wing shell. We find these in Maine too but they are so delicate to the touch that they often disintegrate before we can get them home.


The raw linen of the bookcloth compliments the earth tones on the cards.


This final beauty is the Sand Piper, a bird that lives in the dunes of coastal areas. I love the vivid colors of the chromo-lithograph prints.


I'm really happy with the way the albums turned out. Needless to say, they are a limited edition.