Goldfish as a gift

Goldfish as a gift

Postcard Description

"OH vat a peautiful bresendt for Uncle Jacob's golden vedding"

This early 20th-century postcard depicts a Jewish character presenting a goldfish in a bowl as a wedding gift, with the caption written in phonetic Yiddish-accented English.

Stereotype Theme: Jewish Cheapness

This postcard exemplifies the "cheap Jew" stereotype, one of the most persistent antisemitic tropes in early 20th-century popular culture. The humor relies on a pun between "golden wedding" (50th anniversary) and a literal "gold fish" - suggesting the Jewish character is too cheap to buy an appropriate gift.

Important distinction: The "cheap" stereotype differs from the "greedy" stereotype. While greed implies hoarding wealth, cheapness suggests unwillingness to spend money even when appropriate. Both were common themes in Jewish stereotype postcards.

Linguistic Stereotype

The phonetic spelling ("vat," "peautiful," "bresendt," "vedding") mocks Yiddish pronunciation patterns, representing the "w" as "v" and "th" as "t" sounds. This linguistic caricature was common in early 1900s postcards depicting Jewish immigrants.

Publisher Information

Publisher: Taylor, Platt & Co.

Taylor, Platt & Company was a New York-based postcard publisher (1906-1916) located at 1161 Broadway. They specialized in comic postcards, including numerous cards featuring Jewish stereotypes with exaggerated dialects and physical features.

Postcard Details

Date: Postmarked 1916
Artist: Unknown
Printer: Unknown
Rarity: ☝☝ (not common)

Historical Context

This postcard was produced during the "Golden Age" of postcards (1905-1915) when millions of comic and stereotype postcards circulated in the United States. Jewish-themed cards were part of a broader trend of ethnic humor postcards targeting various immigrant groups.

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