On the brown walls of the flattened, overlapping leaves of the sturdy fibered guano there was a picture in color of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and another of the Virgin of Cobre.
So a chrome card denotes a particular period of postcard production, postwar, from the late 40s through to the present, essentially, with glossy color photographs.
Alex's gaze is met by a bright burst of color that turns out to be Pez's bomber jacket, which is a shiny silk thing in such an elaborate, colorful floral print that Alex almost has to squint.