Holy Land Postcard Appraisal

Vintage Multilingual Postcard of Mar Saba (Saint Sabbas) Monastery

This is a vintage postcard depicting the Mar Saba (Saint Sabbas) Monastery, a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley. The card features a sepia-toned or greyscale photographic print framed by a prominent orange or saffron-colored border. A notable characteristic is the multilingual captions identifying the location: Greek (top), Russian (right), French and German (left), and Armenian (bottom), suggesting it was produced for international distribution or pilgrims in the Holy Land. The construction is standard cardstock with rounded corners typical of the early to mid-20th century. Condition issues are visible, including significant corner wear, edge fraying (particularly on the left and top edges), and a crease across the upper right portion of the image. The stacking indicates it is part of a larger collection of approximately 100 cards from Bulgaria. The printing style is half-tone lithography, common for topographical souvenirs from the 1910s to the 1940s. The quality of the central image reflects standard commercial photography of that era, focused on architectural and landscape documentation.