Today all it takes is a Tweet, a text or a Facebook poke for you to receive some good wishes over Easter. The worst thing you can get is a clumsily composed text message reading ‘Heppi Iysterr’ – a verbal abomination you can choose to ignore completely.

Easter postcard from 1914 – courtesy of The Old Barn Door on Etsy

Some cards were the carriers of romantic messages, while others were your typical postcard sent from one part of the world to another, and carried away via lengthy train or ship voyages- Marika Azzopardi

However, there was an age when Easter cards, or rather, Easter postcards were the most fashionable and possibly, only things to send out at this time of year – a far cry from today, of course.

The postcard boom happened during what collectors refer to as the golden age of postcards, which stretched between 1902 and 1914 when picture postcards were all the rage.

Easter postcards were particularly popular during the Edwardian era and the popularity they reached at that point in time was never again repeated. They were the cheapest and most reliable means of communication available, and as publishers competed for the most artistic design, consumers had a ball choosing the prettiest, daintiest, most suggestive images they could find.

Postcards were used pretty much for any form of communication – from sending birthday greetings to requesting an appointment or thanking somebody for their service. Some cards were the carriers of romantic messages, while others were your typical postcard sent from one part of the world to another, and carried away via lengthy train or ship voyages.

Collecting antique and vintage postcards in this day and age is a popular hobby although going more specific is usually the trend. Easter cards make for one kind of thematic collecting that has collectors scouring markets and online shops and, while one can find hundreds of ‘average’ cards around, the search is particularly keen for the ever-elusive rarity to add to one’s hoard.

Speaking to two avid collectors provides an inkling of what one should aim for when embarking on such a collection. Sharon Foster manages an online collectors’ postcard store called ‘Sharonfostervintage’.

She started collecting cards mainly because she was drawn to the gorgeous images. “The history of each individual postcard tantalised me – where it was mailed from and to whom… what happened to the people who wrote or received the messages… very intriguing.

Easter postcard from 1909 – courtesy of The Old Barn Door on Etsy.

“Whenever I went to auctions or antique stores, I was drawn to the postcards. One of my friends was cleaning her house and asked me to sell some of her vintage postcards a few years back, and I agreed. Now I have hundreds of them.”

The Victorian era cards – mostly printed in Germany – have great colours, great attention to detail and are embossed, Ms Foster says. These postcards were known as penny postcards in the US and sold for a penny and the stamp cost another penny.

“The postcards from the 1920s are adorable and usually involve a child playing with a bunny, chick or other animals.” Ms Foster mentions Raphael Tuck and Sons as being probably the most well-known postcard publishers who issued thousands of cards, still very collectible today.

“The earliest postcards were called ‘undivided’ – they had no place for messages – simply a picture on one side and only place for the name and address on the other. Later postcards have the picture on one side and are divided into two sections on the flip side – one for the message and another for the address.”

The strangest Easter postcard Ms Foster has come across shows the Cross with cattle grazing inside its form. She just cannot imagine how the artist came up with the idea, since cows are not traditionally Easter animals.

Another avid postcard collector is Patricia Gale, who runs a similar online collectors’ store called The Old Barn Door.

She owns a large collection of vintage postcards, Victorian Trade cards, stamps, covers, postal stationery and books. Her postcard collection started as an offshoot of collecting stamps, something her father encouraged her to do as a child to help her understand better geography and history.

Today, Ms Gale is the proud owner of hundreds of holiday cards and Easter ones certainly make up a good deal of this collection.

Ms Gale confirms that while Germany was a leading publisher of the loveliest cards, even as early as the 1900s, it was constantly competing directly with England in this regard.

“Cards for every season were designed and printed widely, and Easter was one such holiday season that urged people to send out greetings. Easter postcards generally seem to fall into several different categories where style and presentation are involved: cards showing religious symbols accompanied by prayer or verses; fun and humorous cards with bunny rabbits and chicks; or cards featuring designs heralding springtime with flowers and floral decorations. It is often fun to look out for specialty Easter cards such as bas relief (3D effect) ones or silk ones.”

Easter postcard postmarked 1910 – courtesy of sharonfostervintage on Etsy.

While Easter postcards may be overlooked as being simply prettily decorated old scraps of paper, auction houses have found that the rarer ones can fetch good prices.

Although many of the more common cards can be purchased for just a few cents , some of the finer specimens or those containing the most titillating written messages, can excite collectors enough to part with hundreds of euros.

Find a card signed by a personality of times gone by and you’ve certainly hit the jackpot. But ultimately, it is their often-time curious designs, cartoons and pictures that draw attention – harking back to a day and age when the quaint, the cute and the naïve were still very much in vogue.