A cock ring-necked pheasant fans his iridescent tail beside a hen amid lush summer undergrowth — a vivid linen-era tribute to the bird that made Eastern South Dakota famous among hunters and tourists alike, captured in the rich, almost painterly color saturation that Curteich's "C.T. Art-Colortone" process was celebrated for. South Dakota adopted the ring-necked pheasant as its state bird in 1943, and by mid-century the eastern prairie was so teeming with the introduced Asian species that the region marketed itself as "Pheasant Paradise," drawing hunters from across the continent each autumn. The back of this unused card instructs the sender to affix a one-cent stamp — dating the postal indicia to the 1-cent domestic postcard rate era (pre-1952), consistent with the Curteich linen printing period of roughly 1930–1950. The catalog number 1B-H2411 places it in Curteich's "B" suffix run, suggesting a late-1940s print date.

SKU: PC-02222