Layered typography by amateurs

>CollectionWunderkammer

Last spring I found some typographic postcards I’d never seen before. They seemed to be ‘QSL Cards’.
From internet: QSL cards are a ham* radio operator’s calling card and are frequently an expression of individual creativity — from a photo of the operator at his station to original artwork, images of the operator’s home town or surrounding countryside, etc. They are frequently created with a good dose of individual pride. Consequently, the collecting of QSL cards of especially interesting designs has become an add-on hobby to the simple gathering of printed documentation of a ham’s communications over the course of his or her radio career.
The phenomena seemed to have started in the USA around 1921. The cards I am showing are all from the late 50’s – 60’s.
To my opinion some of the designs – if we decide to call them that – have a quality that many professional work is often lacking . Chapeau!
*) Ham: in the English language, since the middle ages, hamming means: over-acting. In the early days of radio, amateurs used stronger signals to conquer the amalgamate of radio messages, hence being the disturbing element. Ham is therefore a mutineer term, adapted by radio-amateurs.