Found Postcards: To South Africa

Previously Lost Postcard: US-3266178

Card Mailed on or about: 5 March, 2015

Days Since Sent: 175 days 

Sent to: Nelspruit, South Africa

Postcrossing User Sent to: KcLowther

Received: 27 August, 2015

This card of piles of corn has taken longer than usual to arrive at its destination.  Corn is one of the major crops of my home state of Indiana.  There is even a well-known slogan/jingle for Indiana Beach (a Monticello, Indiana amusement park) which says "There's more than corn in Indiana . . . At Indiana Beach!"

I'm featuring it because this is currently the card that has taken the longest amount of time to get to its destination at 175 days.

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.

Lost Postcards: To Belarus

Lost Postcard: US-3172155

Card Mailed on or about: 9 January, 2015

Days Since Sent:  76 days

Sent to: Minsk, Belarus

Postcrossing User Sent to: SodaPost

Sunset Reflected on a Lake

Purchased at one of my favorite postcard stores, Von's Books located in West Lafayette, Indiana, this card of a sunset reflected on an Indiana lake was sent to Minsk, Belarus.  I sadly don't have another of this card to check if the card says which lake is featured in the photograph.  

Minsk, the city that the card was sent to, dates back to 1067 A.D. and is the capital city of the Republic of Belarus.  The country only became independent in the early 1990s with the fall of the Soviet Union and borders Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia.  Belarus is one of the most prolific Postcrossing nations ranking 6th (March 11, 2015) behind only Germany, Russia, the US, the Netherlands, and Finland in the number of postcards sent.   

Belarus and Minsk in particular have been in the news lately due to peace talks taking place there in regards the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. 

The Postcrossing user, Katerina, has been active recently.  Belarus sometimes is known to have one of the longer travel times for postcards of the top 10 countries (along with Russia and China), so it is possible that this card is just taking a bit longer to arrive than normal.

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Germany

Lost Postcard: US-3166409

Card Mailed on or about: 6 January, 2015

Days Since Sent: 70 days  

Sent to: Uetze, Germany 

Postcrossing User Sent to: Vanetti 

Day Dress, 1862/1864

This card comes from one of my favorite art exhibits, the Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity exhibit in 2013 at the Art Institute of Chicago.  The exhibit featured not only Impressionism paintings, but also articles of clothing like those in the paintings and from that period.  

This white day dress is an American design, made of white cotton pique embroidered with black soutache and is part of the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.    

The Postcrossing user, Vanessa, hasn't been online in about two months, so it is possible that the card arrived and she just left Postcrossing without bothering to register the remaining cards she has received.  Considering the US/Germany mail turnaround seems to be one of the quickest (often taking less than two weeks for cards to arrive), it is possible that this card arrived in mid-to-late January and just never was registered.  

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcard: To Ukraine

Lost Postcard: US-3115898

Card Mailed on or about: 2 December, 2014

Days Since Sent:  69 days

Sent to: Kiev, Ukraine

Postcrossing User Sent to: zhovkivchanka

This beautiful postcard is of one of my favorite paintings from an Art Institute of Chicago exhibit called Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity back in 2013.  The card is of a painting by French artist James Tissot (1836-1902) and is called July: specimen of a Portrait, c. 1878.  This dress was featured in not one but two of the artists works on display at the exhibit.  The original painting is located at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Postcrossing user, Anna,  is still active, so hopefully this card is just taking its time getting to Kiev.  Of course, over the past year since the upheaval of the Euromaidan protests and then the issues in Crimea and the rest of the eastern part of Ukraine, it seems that mail service getting to and from Ukraine has been a bit of an issue (quite understandably considering the situation!)  I have high hopes that this card will arrive eventually.

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: to Russia

Lost Postcard: US-3094564

Card Mailed on or about: 19 November, 2014

Days Since Sent: 76  days

Sent to: Moscow, Russian Federation

Postcrossing User Sent to: SistersM

This card is of the painting Spirit of the Night by British artist John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836-1893).  It was mailed in November and still has yet to arrive at its destination.  The card was sent to a pair of young sisters who mentioned a love of fairies in what kinds of cards they enjoyed receiving.  At last check they hadn't checked their account in a month, so it is possible that the card may still arrive.  Hopefully the card will still arrive.  

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.

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.

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.

Lost Postcards: To Malaysia

Lost Postcard: US-2865283

Card Mailed on or about: 1 July, 2014

Days Since Sent:  113 days

Sent to:  Batu Pahat, Malaysia 

Postcrossing User Sent to: Wei_Ye

Yet another of the cards I've sent which seem to be taking an unusually long time to get to their destination.  Today's card was on its way to the Asian nation of Malaysia.

This card of a Sunset over an Indiana lake with two individuals fishing has gone missing in the mail.  It seems that Batu Pahat is both a town but also a district in the same area.  The user, at last check, was still active, so hopefully it is just taking a very long time to get there.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailboxes.

Lost Postcards: To Russia

Lost Postcard: US-2931938

Card Mailed on or about: 12 August, 2014

Days Since Sent:  64 days

Sent to: Shchyolkovo, Russian Federation (just outside of Moscow)

Postcrossing User Sent to: Vladimir666

This is a fairly popular card that I mail out.  I actually have sent this card out in both color (as in here) and in black and white.)  The card shows the skyline of Chicago with the Hancock Building in the far right and the Sears Tower (which was officially renamed but no one calls it anything but the Sears Tower), the tallest building in the US (though the new 1 World Trade Center in New York was named as taller....we just kinda ignore that over here on the third coast.)

This card was sent to Shchyolkovo, Russia, which appears to be just outside of the capital city of Moscow.  The user is still fairly active (and Russia seems to have notoriously long times for cards to get to their location), so hopefully this card will get logged in at some point.

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Russia

Lost Postcard: US-2726846

Card Mailed on or about: 4 April, 2014

Days Since Sent: 181 days

Sent to: Kostomuksha, Karelian Region, Russia

Postcrossing User Sent to: dasha_95

This card of a "Hoosier Lamb" ("Hoosier" being the term for anything or one from my home state of Indiana) was last seen on its way to Russia. I thought it might be a nice card to receive around the Easter season.

Kostomuksha, the destination for this card, is a relatively young town (established in 1977) only 19 miles from the Finland-Russia Border.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailboxes.

Lost Postcards: To Lithuania

Lost Postcard: US-2803222

Card Mailed on or about: 22 May, 2014

Days Since Sent: 127 days

Sent to: Vilnius, Lithuania

Postcrossing User Sent to: NastyaSivec

This is another in a series of Indiana wildlife, nature, and sights that I get from the famous West Lafayette, Indiana book/record/bead store Von's.  This card shows a pink/purplish blooming tree with a small red cardinal (the Indiana state bird) hiding in the bottom right of the card on one of the tree branches.  

This card got sent to the capital of Lithuania in May and still has yet to reach its destination.  The user hasn't logged into the website for a few months, so it is possible that the card arrived but was just never registered since NastyaSivec decided to give up on the website.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Ukraine

Lost Postcard: US-2720042

Card Mailed on or about: 31 March, 2014

Days Since Sent: 173 days

Sent to: Lviv, Ukraine

Postcrossing User Sent to: ValentinaTinossi

This card of the National Lake Shore along the Indiana coast of Lake Michigan was mailed to Lviv, Ukraine.  Lviv, located in the western part of the country is near the Polish/Ukrainian border and was a Polish city prior to the Soviet Union taking that area over after the end of World War II.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Belarus

Lost Postcard: US-2826553

Card Mailed on or about: 6 June, 2014

Days Since Sent: 105 days

Sent to: Minsk, Belarus

Postcrossing User Sent to: Uliasha

Sent to a 9-year-old girl living in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, this card seems to have disappeared in the transfer.  The card is of a peaceful scene of two horses in an Indiana pasture.  The user, at last check, was still active, so it could be that this card got lost in the mail.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Australia

Lost Postcard: US-2788595

Card Mailed on or about: 13 May, 2014

Days Since Sent: 128 days

Sent to:  Southbank, Victoria, Australia

Postcrossing User Sent to: ininamira

My guess is that this card may have had a bad address.  Doing a quick Wikipedia search for this post, it seems that Southbank, Victoria is actually a region of the city of Melbourne and the postcrosser didn't put that on address for her cards.

This postcard is from the Pomegranet company and is of a drawing of a "Theater" from A Modern City by the French designer and architect Robert Mallet Stevens (1886-1945).

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To China

Lost Postcard: US-2574882

Card Mailed on or about: 2 January, 2014

Days Since Sent: 258 days

Sent to: Shanghai, China

Postcrossing User Sent to: axiu

I collect art cards and this was my last copy of the famous Seurat painting, Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte – 1884 or, in English, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884.  The rather large painting is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago and I had decided to mail this card off since I was sure (being one of the most famous paintings in the collection) I could easily replace it on my next trip to the Art Institute.

Sadly, when I did return, they had run out of this card (but assured me that they will get more in when they order more postcards.)  

The postcrossing user sees to have stopped logging in and the card possible was delivered but never registered on the website.  

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

Lost Postcards: To Russia

Lost Postcard: US-2624874

Card Mailed on or about: 2 February, 2014

Days Since Sent: 226 days

Sent to: Moscow, Russia

Postcrossing User Sent to: yoziki

This postcard of snow-covered deer was purchased on a trip to visit relatives in Wisconsin.  The card was mailed from my home a few states away in early February and became my third postcard to go missing after 60 days.  

This postcard is missing.  Please check your mailbox.

Special Posts: Lost Postcards - Taiwan

Lost Postcard: US-2540576

Card Mailed on or about: 5 December, 2013

Days Since Sent: 284 days

Sent to: Tainan City, Taiwan

Postcrossing User Sent to: QingHuaCi

"Four Hoosiers"

This card jokingly calls these four donkeys as "Four Hoosiers"

This postcard is lost.  Please check your mailbox.

       Today I begin to cover the sad topic of lost or missing postcards.  In the world of Postcrossings, these are cards which a person sends out but never get registered.  After 60 travel days on any card, Postcrossing will permit you to get a new address so you are not stuck with a series of cards are taking a very long time to get to their destination.

       This week we will have only lost postcards.  Hopefully one day they will be found.

       Lost cards can happen for any number of reasons:

• the various international mail systems "ate"/lost the card
• the user decided to stop participating in Postcrossing and therefore never registered the card
• the sender wrote an incorrect address on the postcard
• it was mismailed to the wrong country (such as being sent from the UK to the US, but getting sent to Sri Lanka!)
• the postal system in the country has been suspended due to natural disasters, war, or political strife
• etc.  

       Even in at least one known case, a postcrossing card sent from the Netherlands was noticed among the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight number 17 which was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014.  (In that case, Postcrossing alerted the sender so they could send the card again.)

       I have so far encountered a number of these lost cards.  Hope remains that maybe these cards will turn up at their destination.   Hopefully, one day, I will have a post where I can return to one of these lost cards and announce that they finally have been received and registered.