Classic Disney Postcard

Catalogue

Publisher: Ballerini & Fratini

Country: Italy (Florence)

Publication Era: 1940s

 

Notes:

The publishing house Ballerini & Fratini Montespertoli was founded in 1912 in Florence. Since its inception, the company has been at the forefront of innovative printing techniques and was the first company to specialize in greeting cards.

Typical address side of a Ballerini & Fratini postcard

BF001

BF002

BF003

BF004

BF005

BF006

Cat. Nos 10 - 12 are reserved for future use.

BF007

BF008

BF009         1941

BF013

BF014

BF015

BF016

BF017

BF018                     1946

BF019                     1941

BF020

BF021

BF022

BF023

BF024

To share or not to share? - that is the question.

I have stated above that Ballerini & Fratini shared images with Valentine & Sons.

On closer inspection, this appears to be not strictly true.

Let us take a more detailed look by comparing pairs of cards.

(Please ignore the differences in colour shades. These are not all my own scans).

Ballerini

Valentine

Ballerini

Valentine

Ballerini

Valentine

Clearly, one company was copying the other's images.

Whether this was tolerated or done by agreement, or even illegally, is impossible to determine now.

A Brit would probably say:

"Hey, Valentine was a reputable company. They would never copy from some Italian mob".

I guess an Italian would maintain the opposite view.

Anyone know for sure?