Collections - Vintage Silk Postcards from Spain

When I was two years old, my parents sent me this sweet post card from a trip to Europe and I have kept it in a scrapbook for years.  When I started writing a post about vintage post cards, my first thought was to pull this out and include it in my post:

My post card is from Languedoc, France, but it was made in Spain (the back of the card says "Arte Hispanico"). It shows the traditional dress of the region, the coat of arms of Languedoc and a drawing of the Basilica of Saint Sernin in Toulouse, France.

After reading a little more about vintage post cards, I discovered that my card was of a design very popular in the 50's and 60's, mostly in Spain. Many of these types of post cards were painted by an artist named Elsi Gumier and the clothing was hand stitched from silk. Each card has a flag or coat of arms in one corner and a drawing representing something from the region in another part of the card. I found these examples of other post cards by the same artist:



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 They really aren't worth much - most of these sell on eBay for between $5 and $10, but I think it is interesting to have a vintage piece of history sent to me by my parents when I was a child. My father also used to bring me a doll from each country he visited but sadly the collection was misplaced in one of our many moves.

What are your favorite things to collect when you travel?