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For your consideration is an exceptionally rare and historically significant signed real-photo postcard of Archduchess Blanca of Austria-Tuscany (18681949) with her two eldest sons, Archduke Rainer Karl (18951930) and Archduke Leopold of Austria-Tuscany (18971958), photographed in Vienna by Hermann Clemens Kosel and dating to 1914, or circa 19141915. Measuring approximately 5.4 by 3.5 inches, the sepia-toned portrait shows Blanca standing between her sons, both dressed in Austro-Hungarian military uniform during the opening phase of the First World War. The printed caption beneath the image identifies the sitters as Erzherzogin Blanca mit ihren Shnen Erzherzog Rainer und Erzherzog Leopold, while the lower right bears the photographers credit Phot. Kosel, Wien.
The postcard is boldly hand-signed in dark fountain pen by Archduchess Blanca Erzh. Blanca, an abbreviation of Erzherzogin Blanca. Her autograph is written prominently across the lower margin and is entirely separate from the printed photographic caption, transforming the card from a standard court portrait into a personally authenticated Habsburg artifact. The image is especially evocative in showing Rainer and Leopold in uniform at a moment when both were entering military service during the final years of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.
Archduchess Blanca, born Princess Blanca of Bourbon-Parma, was the wife of Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria-Tuscany and a prominent member of the Habsburg-Tuscany branch. Her sons Rainer and Leopold both served in the Austro-Hungarian military during the First World War. The portrait therefore combines dynastic and wartime significance, preserving an intimate family image from the empires final period. Hermann Clemens Kosel was a noted Viennese photographer closely associated with official Habsburg portraiture, and this image belongs to the same milieu of imperial family photography produced on the eve of the monarchys collapse.
The unused divided-back verso remains clean and retains later pencil collector annotations identifying Blanca, Rainer, and Leopold together with their life dates; no postal use or address is present. Condition is very good, with strong photographic detail, a clear autograph, and only light age-related handling wear. Combining a precisely identified Habsburg family group, period military uniforms, original Kosel court photography, and Archduchess Blancas autograph, this is a highly desirable surviving artifact of the First World War era and the closing chapter of the Austro-Hungarian imperial dynasty.
