Enjoyed seeing the color version too, thanks for finding and adding that.
I think most of us would prefer the original painted example to the black and white, but unfortunately that probably cost too much to reproduce in that fashion. A conversion to black and white was a less-expensive printing method. Considering this card was for charity, there's a good possibility that they tried to keep expenses as low as possible?
I like the fact that Thoma himself most likely added the border illustration, it certainly looks like a continuation of his hand. I'm fairly sure they wouldn't have let another artist fiddle with his original artwork? Such a transgression would have been an insult. To me the broken/curled halbred shafts don't represent anything specifically, I think it's just a clever Art Nouveau style for fitting the entire length. Great crown there, too.
The Baden-marked card is really neat and the saying is fabulous, a colorful summation of the time, from the German standpoint. I'd like to leave the translation to someone else this time, don't want to be too big of a hog ...
