一张已有162年历史的世界上现存最古老的圣诞卡片12月3日在英格兰南部德维泽斯市举行的一场拍卖会上以1.6万美元的价格被拍出。

    据美联社12月3日报道，在这张手工着色的贺卡上，人们可以看到一家人围坐在桌子旁欢庆佳节的场面。本次拍卖活动的主办方亨德利·奥尔德里奇父子拍卖行的有关人员表示，这张圣诞卡片是于1843年印制的，当时这批贺卡总共印刷了1000张，而目前的“幸存者”仅有10张。这些圣诞卡片当年是由住在伦敦的亨利·科尔爵士委托让人制作的。做为维多利亚与艾伯特博物馆的首任馆长，科尔爵士已经被公认为商用圣诞卡片的发明者。

    此次拍卖的这张圣诞卡片最初被送给了一位名叫玛丽·特里普塞克的小姐，她是英国著名女诗人白朗宁夫人的好朋友。拍卖师奥尔德里奇说：“我们不知道是谁把它交给了特里普塞克小姐。我们只能猜想那时的人们肯定会将圣诞卡片视做一种非常新奇的事物。”

    拍卖会上，该圣诞卡片的最终买主是一本名叫《日新月异的问候》杂志的编辑杰基·布朗，他同时还是英国贺卡联合会的秘书长。奥尔德里奇表示，他对此成交价感到十分满意，这张卡片能留在英国贺卡行业圈子内是一件让人感到欣慰的事情。

    A 162-year-old Christmas card, one of the first commercial cards produced for the season, sold at auction in England on Saturday for $16,000.

    The hand-colored card, which shows a family celebrating around a table, is one of about 10 surviving from an original batch of 1,000 printed in 1843, auctioneers Hendry Aldridge & Son said.

    The cards were commissioned by Londoner Sir Henry Cole, who is generally recognized as the inventor of the commercial Christmas card.

    The card was bought at the auction at Devizes in southern England by Jakki Brown, editor and co-owner of "Progressive Greetings" magazine and general secretary of the Greeting Card Association.

    Auctioneer Aldridge said he was "pleased with the price and that the card is staying in this country within the greetings card industry."

    The card was originally sent to a Miss Mary Tripsack, a close friend of the poet Elizabeth Barrett, wife of poet Robert Browning. "We don't know who sent it to Miss Tripsack. We can only assume that they must have been of means as cards were a novelty at the time," said Aldridge.

    John Calcott Horsley, a British painter, designed the card for Cole, who was the first director of London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

    Cole printed 1,000 of the cards on a lithograph stone before having them hand-colored.

    The card drew some criticism from prudish Victorians because it shows some of the family enjoying a glass of wine, but that didn't stop the practice of sending cards from catching on.

    Although wood engravers produced prints with religious themes in Europe in the Middle Ages, the first commercial Christmas and New Year's cards are believed to have been produced by Cole in 1843.