R.M.S. Abosso

[image of ship, with two masts,
a yellow funnel and flag of the African Steam Ship Co]

silk:
cm long by cm deep

Grant postcards usually have printed card designs, although it is now believed they also made two variety of embossed ship and Hands Across The Sea postcards.

The first of these variations has been identified from the recorded silk of R.M.S. Caronia {gc408 on this site}. This has the Grant name printed on the card, and has a distinctive embossing around the silk together with an anchor design in each corner (as the image above), with regional variations of the thistle and shamrock.

In addition to this distinctive feature of the embossing and four anchor designs, there is an additional rectangle pressing round the whole central design. It is this outer rectangle which defines the second of the Grant variations.

As regards the actual silk, there are recorded two versions of RMS Abosso:
The first is shown above (without the cranes), whilst the second is recorded as gc403 (with the derrick cranes).
From comparison with actual photographs we know the woven silk of gc403 (with the derrick cranes) to be an accurate presentation of R.M.S. ABOSSO, whilst the silk above (without the cranes) is actually that of either RMS Elmina (recorded as gc410) or RMS Falaba (recorded as gc412).