Vintage original 3.5 x 5.25 in. German Ross-Verlag postcard depicting the German silent film actress, OSSI OSWALDA.
 
She is is depicted in an interior studio publicity shot wearing a plaid jacket and holding a pair of white gloves. It was signed in light green ink by Ossi Oswalda in, we believe, 1926 (see "Provenance" below), the year in which he appeared in six silent films. Printed by the renowned Ross-Verlag company of Berlin, it was posted in the German mail and the cancellation date is August 10, 1926. In very fine+ condition, a prior owner has affixed a large collector's stamp on the verso depicting Miss Oswalda in a silent film role.
 
Provenance: We purchased a collection of two albums of vintage original German postcards from a rare book dealer at an antiquarian book fair in Pasadena, California. Approximately half of the postcards were signed by the respective personalities and the ones that were dated by the actors are all dated "1926." We were informed by the dealer that these photographs came from a film collector in Germany who acquired the postcards at the time they were issued and then had them signed by the respective actors when he met them in person. 
 
*"Ossi Oswalda (February 2, 1897 – March 7, 1947), born Oswalda Stäglich in Niederschönhausen, was a German actress who mostly appeared in silent films. She was given the nickname “The German Mary Pickford” due to her popularity at the time. Oswalda trained as a ballerina and became a dancer for a theater in Berlin. She made her film debut in Richard Oswald's Nächte des Grauens (Night of Horrors) before being discovered by the actor and screenwriter Hanns Kräly, who in turn recommended her to director Ernst Lubitsch. During her early career, she starred in several films by Lubitsch, including The Merry Jail, I Don't Want to Be a Man, The Oyster Princess and The Doll. 
 
In 1921, Oswalda started her own film production company with her husband at the time, the Hungarian Baron Gustav Wilhelm Viktor Freiherr von Koczian-Miskolczy. However, during the next four years they only produced four films, all starring Oswalda. From 1925 on, she was contracted to Ufa. The couple divorced in 1925, and Oswalda began a high-profile affair with Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.
 
Oswalda's career waned along with the silent film era, and she only acted in two sound films, making her final appearance on screen in the 1933 film The Star of Valencia. She escaped Nazi Germany and emigrated to Prague with her partner Julius Außenberg in the 1930s. Later on, she became a stage actor, and in 1943, wrote the screenplay for the Czechoslovakian film Čtrnáctý u stolu. By spring 1947, Oswalda went bankrupt and was suffering from multiple health problems. At the age of 49, Oswalda died penniless in Prague, where she is buried at Olsany Cemetery."
*(source: Wikipedia)
 
Ross-Verlag in Berlin was a German publishing house specialized in photographs and photo postcards of artists. The owner of the company was Heinrich Ross (b. 10 August 1870; d. after 1954 as emigrant in the USA).
 
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