Propaganda satirical postcard "The Fox and the grapes" ("My tooth hurts, even though my eye sees..."), 1939

The rarest original Soviet propaganda postcard from the pre-war period in excellent collector's condition. The publication was published in 1939 by the State Publishing House Iskusstvo and is a unique monument to Soviet political satire. The plot ironically reinterprets I. A. Krylov's famous fable "The Fox and the Grapes", adapting it to the current and extremely tense international realities of the late 1930s.

On the front side, the composition is divided into two symbolic zones. The right side is occupied by a monumental inaccessible rock in the form of a waving red banner with the letters "S.S.S.R.". The top of this rock is decorated with an abundance of Soviet land — ripe bunches of grapes and golden ears of wheat. In the lower left part there is a cartoon fox representing Nazi Germany, as clearly indicated by an armband with a swastika. The fox clutches its paws in rage and impotence, looking at the unattainable riches of the Soviet Union. The lower part of the postcard is decorated with a poetic text paraphrasing a classic fable.:

"He's picking my tooth,
at least the eye sees...
Lisa is very upset:
And the grapes are hanging high,
And impregnable
The wall!"

The reverse side is clean, has not passed through the mail, without traces of household pollution, ink inscriptions, blots or postmarks. The design includes a standard "Where To" address grid. / To whom" and the "Place for the stamp" frame. The large heading "Postcard" is duplicated below in the international Esperanto language — "POŜTA KARTO". The name of the publishing house is located in the upper left corner. In the lower part, under the dividing line, full publishing and typographic data are written in small print: the editor N. Bolberg is indicated, the price is 15 kopecks, the circulation is 100,000 copies, chromolithography of the publishing house "Art", Moscow, 1939.

This postcard has enormous historical, cultural, museum and antique value. It clearly demonstrates the nature of the Soviet pre-war anti-fascist propaganda before the conclusion of the Non-Aggression Pact. Such acute political plots were withdrawn from circulation and massively destroyed during the subsequent sharp turns of Soviet foreign policy, which makes the surviving pure copies the greatest rarity on the antique market. An impeccable exhibit for a serious private or museum collection of pre-war Soviet graphics, caricatures and philocarts.

Excellent collectible preservation for a paper artifact from the pre-war era. The postcard has no creases, tears, traces of wetting or restoration. The thick pre-war paper has retained its smooth texture and the natural light shade of the time (natural patina), pleasant to the eye. All the colors of the lithography on the front and the fonts on the back remained perfectly clear and contrasting.

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