Gladstone

silk:
cm long by cm deep

Gladstone must have been a very popular statesman for Stevens to have made this postcard, as the British postal authorities prohibited the posting of any silk postcards during Gladstone's life. It would be circa 5 years after his death before silk postcards were permitted.

This silk is a reduced size version of the Stevens portrait silk of Gladstone, recorded as so288.

It is believed that Stevens sold his silks un-mounted, for the buyer to mounted in their own cards. Below is an image of this Gladstone silk, mounted in a continental postcard. It is not known whether this postcard was made during Gladstone's life, and hence exclusively for the continental market (i.e. silk postcards were not permitted in the UK), or whether, like the Stevens card above, it was made after his death.

same woven silk portrait, mounted in a foreign postcard:

rear view of this foreign postcard: