Hands across the sea

Printed at top of card:- HANDS ACROSS THE SEA. Woven on Silk:- [image of USA and Irish flags, with man's and woman's shaking hands, but with man's hand having five fingers plus a (hidden) thumb and tassles below hands] Printed at bottom of card:-     WOVEN IN SILK       R.M.S. CEDRIC.

card:
cm long by cm deep

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.

From the recorded silk R.M.S. Caronia {gc408 on this site} which has the Grant name printed on the card, we know that embossed silks with an anchor design in each corner were made by Grant.

A second feature noted with these "anchor" cards is a secondary rectangular embossing enclosing the whole central design. It is believed this feature is unique to Grant, and it is this feature which has identified the silk postcard above as being of Grant manufacture.

There must however be a word of caution.
The striking feature of the silk above is that the man's hand has five fingers plus a (hidden) thumb. This five finger + thumb feature is noted in at least three HATS postcards attributed to Stevens. These being H.M.T. Empress of Britain, S.S. Persic, and S.S. Runic.
The woman's hand in the silk above is also entirely different to the Grant silks recorded with the "anchor" design.

It is also noted that these "five fingers & thumb" cards have a very distinctive design, defined as a " tear-drop design ", on the reverse:

 

reverse of this postcard, with distinctive " teardrop " design