A very rare set of four Pre-World's Columbian Exposition postal cards from 1892, Chicago.

Below is a very rare complete set of four unused pre-Columbian postal cards. Published by the American Lithographic Company, New York. 

This complete set of four postal cards, from my personal collection, were issued in mid-1892 to invite world leaders and VIPs to the dedication ceremonies (held on October 21, 1892, even though the fairgrounds were not completed), and welcome them to the opening day of the World's Fair on May 1, 1893.

The official World's Fair seal (right) is not present on these postal cards which included 1¢ postage. 

When the fair opened in 1893, a set of 10 postal cards, then 2 more were added quickly, for a 12 card set, were the first commercially produced postcards to be sold to the general public in the United States.

Courtesy of my "Chicago Postcard Museum." 

You may examine these fantastic postal cards in high-resolution detail by clicking on an image.

Pre-World's Columbian Exposition 1893 - U.S. Naval Exhibit

Pre-World's Columbian Exposition 1893 - Fisheries Building

Pre-World's Columbian Exposition 1893 - Woman's Building

About the S.C. Skipton Stamp. Mr. Skipton was the first Editor of the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain. He was a rabid collector of postage stamps from around the world. Mr. Skipton always had a fondness for British stamps. During the last ten years of his life, he accumulated what may be considered the finest collection of the world's rarest postcards, in Great Britain, numbering over fifteen thousand specimens. Mr. Skipton used the ink stamp above to press on one of the postcards in each set he owned.

Pre-World's Columbian Exposition 1893 - Agricultural Building

The Back of the Pre-World's Columbian Exposition 1893 Postal Cards

Copyright © Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.