Christmas card sent by Ferdinando de Paruta who was the Director of the International Couriers and Guides Office of Pera, Constantinople. Card produced by Sebah and Joaillier in Constantinople. Shows the extent of foreign business and companies established in Constantinople before the First World War when Turkey was on the German side (when most of the overseas companies then quit Turkey). With the declaration of the Republic in the 1920s, the remaining companies then left! It has taken 70 years from this point for the country to really move on from this difficult state.