Thursday, April 30, 2015

Germany


DE-3532184

Karte aus dem A D M O S

 This black-and-white card features an artistic shot of a nude women in front of a black background with her fair obscured by her long hair.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Finland


FI-2196425

Albert Edelfelt's "At Dock in Copenhagen, 1890"

This card was one of three cards mailed at the same time for the above postcrossing card number.  The card, by finish artist Albert Edelfelt, shows sailors on board a ship while it is docked in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.  

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

USA - Ohio


This is a postcard of a display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  The image shows two mannequins holding a German or East German flag as one stands atop four pieces of the Berlin Wall and the other one stands atop a Trabant

The display is meant to represent the end of the museum's Cold War exhibit and, according to the card "serves as a tangible reminder of the triumph of democracy and freedom over communism."  

Ever since learning about the Trabant cars, I've loved them, despite all of their faults (such as being slow, poorly constructed, etc.)  

Oddly, this exhibit has only been on display one or two times that I've been at the museum.

Monday, April 27, 2015

United Kingdom


The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Probably still best known in the US as Prince William and Kate Middleton, this card was a direct swap card.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Russia


This direct swap card of a cat playing with some bells comes from around Belgorod, Russia, located near the border with Ukraine.

I love how this cat's eyes are soooo impossibly green!

Friday, April 24, 2015

Russia


RU-2955026

Tula - Monument of Peter I

This card is of the monument of Peter I, better known in the west as Czar Peter the Great, located in Tula, Russia.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

United Kingdom


GB-585547

Stonehenge

This card of Stonehenge is among the quickest cards I've seen mailed.  It took only 5 days for the card to arrive, though less when you consider that the sender took a day before he mailed it!  It also comes with these lovely stamps on the back, too!


Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Lost Postcards: To Dominican Republic


US-3211888

James Dean

Card Mailed on or about:  February 1, 2015
Days Since Sent: 81 days
Sent to:  Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Postcrossing User Sent to:  itscarmina23

One card in a packet of 100 cards for $15.00 from Pomegranate, this card of the late movie star James Dean was sent to the capital of the Dominican Republic.  Dominican Republic is a small nation of just under 10.5 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti in the Caribbean Sea.  
From a Postcrossing community perspective, the Dominican Republic is a very rare country.  The nation has only 53 Postcrossers and the cards which are sent from there are still in the low 4-digit range.  The top user, has only sent out 150 cards, and has been inactive in 3 years!

The user was active about a month ago, so it could just be that she hasn't received any new cards and that my card may still show up.  This would have been my first card either received from or sent to the Dominican Republic.

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Russia


RU-3004333

Winter in USSR

A postcard reproduction of an apparent travel poster of winter in the former Soviet Union dated from 1935.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Australia


AU-380054

Portrait of Madame Claude Monet 

This painting of Madame Claude Monet painting in 1873 by French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir and was on view at the National Gallery of Victoria. 

The postcard also has an awesome stamp from Australia featuring the visit of Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge (aka Kate Middleton), and their child Prince George to Australia. 



Sunday, April 19, 2015

India


IN-116169

Snake Charmer

This card, of a snake charmer from India was sent the same day that the Indiana spacecraft Mangalyan into mars orbit.

The card features these excelent stamps featuring Mahatma Gandhi, the FIFA 2014 World Cup, and the Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital in Delhi.  


Saturday, April 18, 2015

Netherlands


NL-2670756

Zeeland

A beautiful beach of the region of Netherlands known as Zeeland.  It came with an awesome cow stamp and a stamp of a child holding something which I cannot make out from the photo.


Friday, April 17, 2015

Germany


DE-3512038

Tübingen

This card features the city of Tübingen, located in southern Germany.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Russia


RU-3030994

Moskvich-403 vehicle from the 1962-1965 time period.  

It also came with this awesome Sochi 2014 Olympic stamp below.





Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Ireland


IE-79827

This awesome card of an orange and white cat came from Ireland, traveling very quickly to get to me in only 5 days time!  It also had some awesome stamps, including an awesome stamp of a British Shorthair cat as well!


Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Finland or Lithuania


FI-2196425 (?)

Vilnius

This card is a bit of a mystery to me.  It was mailed to me by someone in Postcrossing and I suspect it may have been one of 3 cards mailed in the above official postcrossing card in an envelope.  I can recall what the other two cards were fairly easily, but the third one escapes me.  Due to circumstances and the process of elimination, I'm pretty sure that the third one was this one.

This would be odd since the card is of Vilnius, Lithuania..which isn't Finland.  The card is blank, but lists the image as "The office building".  The card itself seems to have a date of 1990 on it, so it may predate the fall of the Soviet Union by about a year or so.

It is clearly a card of some mystery.

Monday, April 13, 2015

France


FR-430745

La Ciotat Station Climatique

A reproduction travel postcard of La Ciotat resort area.  The area is located on the Mediterranean Sea.

The card also features some awesome stamps, including this one of Sagittarius (aka Sagittaire)



Sunday, April 12, 2015

Germany


Munich - St. Peter

This card of St. Peter Church in Munich, Germany sent to me by my friend Val on her latest trip to Germany in September 2014.  

The church is, according to wikipeida, it is "the oldest recorded parish church in Munich and presumably the originating point for the whole city."

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Finland


FI-2196425

Makiata . It's not afraid of bees , honey wants that .

At least, that is what I can make of a translation using google translte.  Google claimed that that first word was actually not Finish but Moari....which I have no idea how it came up with that one.

The odd thing is...I'm pretty deathly afraid of bees.  

Friday, April 10, 2015

Netherlands


NL-2686503

A pair of yellow wooden shoes on a postcard from the Netherlands.  If the card had a windmill on it it would possibly be the most Dutch thing ever for a postcard from the Netherlands.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Russia


RU-2933361

Villeneuve-la-Garenne, 1872 by Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) (with additions)

This card of the above listed painting had some slight "additions" by the card sender; namely the monocle  dinosaur wearing a top hat and walking stick.  The sender said that she "always thought this painting lacks something...something dadaism!"

The original painting, without the prehistoric Mr. Peanut, is housed in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Turkey


Detail from the Piri Reis Map located in the Topkai Palace Museum.

This card, sent from my friend Neslihan in Turkey.  The map, from 1513, includes the costs of part of the American continents, which were supposedly based on Columbus's maps. 

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Russia


RU-2922765

Yalta.  Romanov Family

This card was sent by a a Russia who got it in a visit in Yalta.  The card shows Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia and his family.  I've always been fascinated with the Last Tsar and his family, so this was an awesome card to get in the mail!

Special Post: The Winecoff Hotel Postcard USA - Georgia to USA - Ohio


The Winecoff Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia

Old postcards are awesome.  Not only are they fun to look at (this style of postcard with the white edging is a particular favorite of mine and apparently dates from around World War I to 1930 or so.  

The other thing about older postcards that is awesome is that they show a small glimpse of some else's life a long time ago.   

This postcard was sent on April 7, 1930, so 85 years ago today.  The back of this postcard can be seen below.  The card's printed advertisement for the hotel reads:


HOTEL WINECOFF
Absolute Fireproof.  European Plan 200 Rooms Each With Individual Bath.  Located Nearer Than Anything to Everything on Atlanta's Most Famous Thoroughfare 
PEACHTREE STREET.

By the way, recall that the hotel is advertised as "Absolute Fireproof."  I'll be getting back to that.  This signed message on the card reads: 

April 7/ [19]30

Arrived at Atlanta 6:00 PM.  We are stopping at the hotel shown on the other side.  
Your father, A. F. Linn [?]

and the card is addressed to a Frank H. Linn of 511 Park Place in Springfield, Ohio.

Literally, this postcard was a quick message to his son back home that he had arrived at his hotel in Atlanta.

With older cards, I like to do some quick internet searches out of curiosity about the sender and receiver.  This can be difficult since people do move around quite a bit, but considering that the year this card was sent was 1930 and that year was a US Census year, it is a bit easier to find this out.  

The sender A.F. Linn was likely Alvan F. Linn, born September 23, 1864 during the US Civil War.  He was apparently a graduate student at Johns Hopkins and then an instructor of Chemistry at Wittenburg College in Springfield, Ohio.*  In 1922 he was also the Registrar.**  He passed away less than ten years after sending this card on May 8, 1939

It looks like the receiver, Frank H. Linn was born on or around August 31, 1897, making him about 32 when this card was sent.  He sadly passed away in April of 1974 according to web-searches.

The address of the card, 511 Park Place in Springfield, Ohio appears to possibly still exist and looks as if it is owned by Wittenburg University.

The subject of the front of the card is the Hotel Winecoff in Atlanta (originally opened in 1913).  It current is called The Ellis Hotel (since circa 2007) and is listed on National Register of Historic Places in the US.  

Seventeen years after this postcard was sent, the Hotel Winecoff was the sight of the deadliest hotel fire in US history.  On December 7, 1946, a fire in the hotel killed 119 people of the 304 hotel guests.  
I purchased this vintage card from an online seller located in Ohio.


*: The Johns Hopkins University Circular, vol. VIII- No. 68, Baltimore, November 1888, page 7 [link]
**:Patterson's American Educational Directory, Vol. 19, 1922 [link]

Monday, April 6, 2015

France


This card, from my friend Val sent on her trip to Paris, shows the view under the Eiffel Tower.  The painting, by G. Roux is entitled Fête de nuit à l'Exposition universelle de 1889, and is housed at the  Carnavalet Museum, Paris.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Indonesia


ID-107367

Baron Beach, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

This card is of Baron Beach.  This marks my first ever card received from Indonesia

Saturday, April 4, 2015

USA - Ohio


This card, from the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio is of a General Atomics RQ-1 "Predator" vehicle, better known as an unmanned Predator Drone.

Friday, April 3, 2015

United Kingdom


GB-576608

Help Us Save Paper

This card, from the UK, shows a 1940 poster.  The man on the right side of the card is running back to the double decker bus.  He is saying "Stop!  Stop!!  I forgot to put my ticket in your litter box!!!"  The small packet next to the ticket agent says "used tickets".  

Thursday, April 2, 2015

USA - Alaska


Alaska Wild Teas: Tea For Two

This direct swap from my friend Nicole in Alaska is an envelope-postcard containing the below tea.  What an awesome idea!  It is also the first piece of mail I've ever received fromthe state of Alaska!


Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Poland


This card, a direct swap from my friend Patrycja.  It is from the small city of Krynica Morska in the very north of Poland.  The card is a bit out of focus since the card includes a plastic bubble in the card containing small bits of amber.  

It also had this awesome stamp on the card's envelope of Disney characters, including Tinkerbell.