The first card is a single card sent to the St. Petersburg Address Bureau requesting the address for a woman named Zhbanova, a peasant woman from Tver' province. This card cost the information seeker 9 kop., which covered the cost of a return card with the information. Below left is the front of the card and below right the reverse. Notice the standard four-line inscription found on request and answer cards at the left with a bracket.
The second and third cards are similar to the one above, but from a different issue. They appear to be the same, albeit the ink is slightly different on each. The difference here is the direction the bracket points. On one, the bracket points to the left. On the other, the bracket points to the right.
Address cards used by the St. Petersburg Address Bureau are embossed with a clear oval emblem that contains the coat-of-arms for St. Petersburg. This embossed emblem is difficult to see even with the naked eye. The picture below is one that I played with on the computer so you can get the general idea of its shape. For more pictures and a description of this emblem, click here.
