Portugal

PT-371930

Porto, Portugal

Russia

RU-2885675

The Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas and the Epiphany, located in St. Petersburg, Russia.  

250th Postcard Received! Australia - USA

AU-398961

The 250th official Postcrossing Postcard Received!

What a wonderful card to receive for the 250th official Postcrossing card!  I'm a fan of cats and this cat, dressed in a red costume is a wonderful, if not somewhat surreal addition to the postcard menagerie.  

The card is apparently of a painting called "Court chamber herald's ceremonial costume" by I.P Lidval and Sons Company.  The card says that the painting was made in the early 20th Century St. Petersburg and appears to be from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The sender mentioned on the card that she has friends who will often pick up postcards for her when they travel, hence why this is a postcard of a Russian art (and, from the Russian printed language on the card, likely came from the Hermitage) on an Australian Postcrossing postcard!

My 250th card sent via the official Postcrossing website was registered!  The card was sent by  Postcrossing member wanderluster (sidenote: excellent username!) on 10 January, 2015 and traveled a distance of 9,683 miles to travel to Melbourne, Australia to my small suburb of Chicago in 13 days.   The card arrived on 21 January, 2015 and was registered only a few hours before the 250th Postcrossing postcard I sent arrived and was registered in Seoul, South Korea.

For the first 250 official Postcrossing postcards I've so far received, they've been sent from the following 41 countries which combine for a total distance sent of 1,169,595 miles!:

Germany (37)

Russia (33)

Netherlands (25)

The United States (22)

Finland (15)

China (11)

Taiwan (10)

Ukraine (9)

Czech Republic (8)

United Kingdom (8)

Belarus (8)

Turkey (6)

France (6)

Belgium (5)

Lithuania (4)

Australia (4)

Hong Kong (4)

Poland (4)

Canada (3)

Two postcards from each:

Brazil

Denmark

India

Italy

Latvia

Norway

One postcard from each:

Algeria

Austria

Azerbaijan 

Estonia

Ireland

Romania

Switzerland

Venezuela

Bulgaria

Spain

Sweden

Thailand

Indonesia

Malaysia

Portugal

Japan

The 250th Postcard Sent; USA to South Korea

The 250th postcard to arrive at its destination!

US-3171716

My 250th card sent via the official Postcrossing website was registered!  The card was registered by Postcrossing member MajorMinus- on  22 January, 2015 and traveled a distance of 6,565 miles to travel to Seoul, South Korea in 13 days.  The card had been sent on 9 January, 2015.

The card picturing a small lock of sheep was purchased at one of my favorite places to get postcards, Von's Book store in West Lafayette, Indiana.  

For the first 250 official Postcrossing postcards I've so far sent, they've been sent from the following nations which combine for a total distance sent of 1,166,649 miles : 

The United States (34)

Germany (32)

Netherlands (25)

Finland (17)

Russia (14) 

Japan (13) 

Belarus (13)

Taiwan (13)

Ukraine (13)

China (9)

Poland (9)

The United Kingdom (6)

France (6)

Hong Kong (5)

Czech Republic (5)

New Zealand (3)

Two postcards from each:

Latvia

Malaysia

Portugal

Italy

Norway

Turkey

Slovenia

Canada

Indonesia

Australia

One postcard from each:

Ecuador

Hungary

South Korea

Singapore

Slovakia

South Africa

Bulgaria

Spain

Sweden

Thailand

India

Lithuania

Belgium

Germany

DE-3288034

The above card is a real treat.  It was taken in 1914 and mailed to me one hundred years later in 2014.  The card sadly was damaged in transport in the right-bottom-corner.  

The image is of Victoria Louise of Prussia (13 September 1892 – 11 December 1980) the daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor.   The baby would be Prince Earnest Agustus, aka Ernst August IV, Prince of Hanover,  Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince of Great Britain and Ireland (18 March 1914 - 9 December 1987).  

I love older cards plus cards featuring royalty and this has both.  If this card was made shortly after the child's birth, that would be just a few months before the start of the First World War, which would result in the end of the Empire which he was potential heir to.  

Netherlands

NL-2483503

Nu Assis, by Swiss artist Christian Coigny.  The name of the photo appears to translate to "Seated Nude" or "Sitting Nude".  

Germany via France

FR-406683

Eltz Berg

The card is of Eltz Castle located in Germany.  Branches of the same family who owned the castle in the 12th Century still reside there according to the Wikipedia article for the castle.

Lost Postcards: Portugal

Lost Postcard: US-3078695

Card Mailed on or about: 10 November, 2014

Days Since Sent:  76 days

Sent to: Casal da Silveira - Famões, Portugal

Postcrossing User Sent to: Fosforo

This postcard of a beautiful Chicago skyline was mailed in November.  The user hasn't apparently logged into their account in about two months, so it is possible the person hasn't received the card yet or that the person has decided to stop participating in Postcrossing, but never officially left it.

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.

Canada

CA-448525

Bathing Beauty

This card is of a poster for the 1944 film Bathing Beauty staring Red Skelton and Ester Williams.

Romania

RO-84926

Castelul Bran

My first official Postcrossing postcard from Romania with a photo of a location in the country.  This is of Castle Bran, also known as Dracula's Castle.

Germany via Seattle

These cards were sent from my friend Valerie, knowing that I enjoy older-looking cards as well as World War II.  The card at the top is the pre-war Reichstag or House of Parliament in Berlin, Germany.  

The card below is the same building, but in an image taken at the end of the war.  The building had both been damaged purposefully by the Nazis before the war in the famous Reichstag fire as well as damaged during the Battle of Berlin at the end of the war in Europe.

Belarus

BY-1311460

This card is of a hand-drawn picture of a bear that was made on a page of an old Russian-language dictionary.

USA - Washington DC

From the Newseum in Washington, DC.  

I got this card for my friend Erika Thomas currently a co-anchor of Youngstown, Ohio's WKBN's.  She was a journalism student at the time.   

Finland

FI-2133545

Loving Cups of Spring

From the colors and paper, this card likely was made in the 1970s.  It is another in the series of cards that do not match their location as the photo is clearly of the White House and the card was sent from Finland.

South Korea

A direct swap card from South Korea.  This is of a royal ancestral memorial service in Chongmyo Shrine.

Taiwan

TW-1287519

Taipei Municipal Bailing Senior High School

Photo of the steps and mural in the school.

Russia

A direct swap from the Postcrossing Forums.  This one is from Russia and features a pinup nude women with her back turned to the artist.  The women appears to be getting ready to sunbathe.  

USA - Indiana

The Mechanical Engineering Building, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

The postmark on this card is barely legible.  I can only make out that it was mailed in 1911, which would make this card 104 years old this year.  Interesting, this card includes a return address and was mailed by Lottie from 1014 Brown Street, in Lafayette, Indiana to a Miss Clyde Sink[?] of Kappa, Indiana.  Kappa is (or possibly more likely was) so small that I cannot find any record of it online.

In case you can't read that?  The message reads:

Dear Sister and All - We are all well and hope you all the same.  Donald and I are by ourselves this week.  Will is at Monticello to an[?] opening.  Donald and I are going over Thrusday and stay till sat. and come home with Will.  I have agot a cousin living over there and we are going there.  I want to go to Flora the first of April have not been home since Xmas.  Why don't [illegable] of you people come down?  I am coming up soon maybe.  Good Bye, Lottie.

USA - Ohio

A postcard of the Ohio State Buckeyes.  

Congratulations on winning the national championship!  Go Big Ten!

USA - Illinois

Rotunda and Tiffany Dome - Marshall Field & Company's Store, South State Street Building

My friend Lindsay, knowing that I love postcards, Marshall Fields, and Chicago, sent me this wonderful card of the Marshall Field's State Street flagship store, located in downtown Chicago.  The card appears to be quite old, but is undated and unused.  The only date on the card is a mentioning that this feature of the building was unveiled to the public on September 30, 1907, so the card possibly dates from the early 20th century. 

Marshall Field's Building still exists (and is currently owned and operated as a Macy's); however, most people still know it as Marshall Fields.  The building and store occupies an entire city block.

Russia

A direct sent card from the postcrossing forums.  This beautiful painting is by Belarusian artist Leonid Afremov who now paints in the US.  The painting is called "Magical Bridge."

Belarus

BY-1297176

This pretty black-and-white card from Belarus showing a wintery scene sadly doesn't say where it's from.  It appears that the sender placed the stamp right over the bit that explains what the card is of!  What little I can make from it says that it is of a bell tower.

USA - Indiana

A card sent by the John Purdue Club thanking a donor for giving to the program at Purdue University.  This card was sent by a Purdue University volleyball player and features the unofficial mascot of the university, Purdue Pete holding his iconic sledgehammer.  

Netherlands

NL-2483494

A card of Claudine Auger portraying Domino Derval in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball. 

Lost Postcard: Taiwan

Lost Postcard: US-3048658

Card Mailed on or about: 22 October, 2014

Days Since Sent:   77 days

Sent to: Taichung City, Taiwan

Postcrossing User Sent to: a22525740

Yet another in the series of "Lost Postcards" that were sent out but haven't arrived to their destination yet.  This card is of The Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.  It is a larger-than-normal postcard that was sent in October 2014.  I have a feeling that the user had listed that they liked museums but now I see that they mention that they like museums apart from modernism.  Oops!  

This user is still active at last check so either the card is lost and hopefully will turn up at some point!  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: China

Lost Postcard: US-2977536

Card Mailed on or about: 8 September, 2014

Days Since Sent:  121 days

Sent to: Jiaojiang, China

Postcrossing User Sent to: Victor134

This card was a card I got from a packet of Pomegranate cards.  It is Portrait of Catellano Trivulzio by Bernardino de Conti (Italian, 1494-1522) and is housed in the Brooklyn Museum.  

The card was sent to Jiaojiang District, China, located near the coast.  The user hasn't logged into Postcrossing for months and never registered a card, so this one possibly arrived and then just was never registered.

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Belarus

Direct Swap from Belarus.  The card shows various good-related items: sunflowers, wheat, bread, and possibly flower: all with golden outlines.  What a pretty card on a cold, grey winter's day.

Belarus

BY-1288522

A card from Minsk, Belarus. 

Germany

DE-3156591

A building named "Dockland" which is an office building near the harbor in Hamburg, Germany.

Russia

RU-2659878

Yoshkar-Ola, Russia, which is a 10+ hour drive from Moscow (or a 2 hour flight!)  The card shows Spasskaya tower and Register Office building at sunset.

Netherlands

NL-2488479

This is another of those cards that I like,but have no idea why this was a card.  There isn't anything on the back to show why the card was made or from.  It looks like it should be an advertisement for a dog food, as the women is feed the dog a plate of meaty goodness.