vintage and contemporary postcards and stamps from around the world


31 May 2014

flower fields

Greetings from the flower fields, tulips and hyacinths
unsent, circa 1939

30 May 2014

finest modern units

unsent, circa 1960
color by Len Lieffer
Greetings from Glen Manor Motel
60 Modern Motel Units. 10 Manor Rooms. Free TV. Closest Motel to KINGSTON Shopping Centre. Fully Air-Conditioned. Individual Room Thermostats. Telephone. Outdoor Heated Swimming Pool. Complimentary Tea & Coffee. Restaurant on Premises.
Located at 1155 Princess St on No 2 Highway West
Tel. 546-4285 (area code 613) KINGSTON, Ontario, Canada.

This is now a Knights Inn "each room in our motel features Wi-Fi Internet access, premium bedding and a 40" Smart TV."


29 May 2014

sunflowers and long hair

Jeune femme aux tournesols - Jules Joseph Lefebvre 1878
a French figure painter (1836-1912) 
between 1855 and 1898 Jules-Joseph Lefebvre displayed 72 portraits in the Paris Salon, 
most of them women. 
Unlike many artists, he used various models, and in many of his paintings 
the women had their long hair loose.
(they were also often nude, but that is something else altogether)
received from Germany
Sepia Saturday

28 May 2014

Callander

unsent, possibly 1934 the year the Dionne Quintuplets were born
(May 28, 1934 - happy birthday to the surviving quints, Annette, Cecile)

27 May 2014

Hands Across the Sea


sent Sept 10, 1910, Albany NY to Rochester NY
(seems an odd choice of card to send inland across the state)
Dearest E___
Hope all is well. Wish to hear from you, CE

26 May 2014

Interlaken

sent July 30, 1928 Interlaken Switzerland to Wichita USA

Dear Cousins, this shows our hotel in Interlaken - the one at the left, in fact all that building. In the distance is the majestic and beautiful Jungfrau - the 'belle' of the neighbourhood - always covered with dazzling white snow.
yours, E

25 May 2014

Pettson cyclar

received, March 2014, Sweden old farmer Pettson and his talented cat Findus
illustrator Sven Nordqvist

24 May 2014

Vaduz Castle

commemorating the 40th anniversary of  the reign of Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein.
Vaduz Castle has been the home of the Princely Family of Liechtenstein since 1938 (with Franz Josef being the first ruling prince to live full time in the principality) though they acquired it in 1712 when they purchased the countship of Vaduz. Franz Josef would become the longest ruling sovereign in Europe (51 years) at the time of his death in 1989.


23 May 2014

Paris... en flanant

unsent, real photo 1920s
Place de la Concorde
Les Éditions d'Art 'YVON', Paris 15, Rue Martel
I.B. 0571

'Yvon' was the pseudonym of the Parisien photographer Pierre Yves Petit who began publishing postcards of his photographs in 1919 under the Strolling around Paris series.

Postcard Friendship Friday

22 May 2014

Historic Central High School

Built in1892, this high school had its last graduating class in 1972. 
This was apparently the most popular building depicted on a postcard, with its 230' high clock tower and 10' diameter clock faces.
This is not anything like the high school I attended 
(which was not immortalized on a post card, either).

Sepia Saturday

21 May 2014

retro vacation

a 1920's 10,000 Lakes road map illustration from the book Minnesota Vacation Days
by Kathryn Strand Koutsky and Linda Koutsky published by Minnesota Historical Press

received from US

19 May 2014

Sussex

unsent, date unknown

M.F. Peck map, published by J Salmond, Sevenoaks, England

16 May 2014

Helter Skelter


 sent around 1910? indecipherable writing, no stamp

An amusement ride, with scores of people queuing to climb the stairs inside the lighthouse, then slide down the outside.

15 May 2014

sandy beach

sent Jul 22, 1910 Norfolk, Virginia to Paris, Ontario

Out for a time 
while enjoying the sun and we are thinking of you.
Uncle Sam and Aunt Alice

No-one here is going to get sunburnt shoulders.
There are plenty of people wearing black, which seems an odd choice for a hot summer's day!

The Ocean View Resort on Chesapeake Bay is about eight miles from the city. It had a good hotel, fine bathing and fishing, and many thousands frequented it between May and September. Little open car trains ran back and forth every hour from the city during the season.

13 May 2014

Lake Louise

Lake Louise
Banff National Park
Canadian Rockies
1960
Byron Harmon
One of nature's masterpieces and set in a vast amphitheatre of lofty mountains is this jewel of the Canadian Rockies. On its shore is the luxurious Chateau Lake Louise.

11 May 2014

Liepzig is to bloom

A postcard for ordering seed packets of wildflowers for attracting 
butterflies, bees and beneficial insects. 
With this handful of seeds you can turn a small piece of land into a blooming landscape.
it came with these two spring flower stamps - a crocus and a tulip, first issued in 2005

10 May 2014

Quints

These five sisters, born during the Depression, were the first quintuplets to survive infancy. The girls were taken from their poor French Canadian family by the government who feared exploitation but then exploited them anyway. They soon became a huge tourist attraction and thousands of people travelled to the Northern Ontario town of Callander to see them playing through a one way screen at the hospital across the road from their family home. Meticulous records were kept of their progress as they were studied, tested and examined over the nine years they lived in the hospital. Although they themselves had limited exposure to the outside world, the girls were featured on anything and everything that could have their image plastered on it. Only two of the Dionne sisters - Annette and Cécile - are still living and will be 80 years old on May 28th.

Sepia Saturday

09 May 2014

Post Office Tower

The Tower itself is 580 feet with a 40-foot lattice mast above it. It weighs 13,000 tons and contains 780 tones of steel. The two lifts travel at 1,000 feet a minute and the Revolving Restaurant near the top of the Tower makes between 2 and 3 revolutions each hour.
1966, unsent

08 May 2014

Fraser Canyon

"New Alexandra Bridge" built 1965.
Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park, B.C.
unsent card

07 May 2014

Roath Park

Roath Park, officially opened 1894; lighthouse built 1915
Valentine's, unused, from an original water colour by B F C Parr

06 May 2014

Soldatenfriedhof

Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof in Lommel, Belgium
sent May 19th 1968, writing indecipherable and in German

04 May 2014

breadbasket

Ukraine is known as the 'Breadbasket of Europe" due, in part, to its fertile steppes of black soil. With Russia's recent move into Crimea and now controlling many of the Black Sea ports used by Ukraine for export, this could be in jeopardy.
The stamps of traditional breads are from 2013. On the left is a loaf and on the right is a braided kalach.

02 May 2014

Siesta Motor Court

These look more like small attached houses than a motel. 
Sent Aug 1952

Located at south city limits in the heart of  an extensive vacationing area on beautiful Thunder Bay and Scenic Huron Shore Highway (US 23). Close to bathing beach and all outdoor sports. Steam heat - Private baths - sound proofed - insulated - free garages - attractive central lobby for convenience of guests - grounds patrolled at all hours.  Moderate rates. Ph 939
Dear Alma & George
Having a wonderful trip, but the scenery 
through here is nothing like it was in Ontario. 
There is always something to see and all are enjoying it.
Love, Isabella & Bill

01 May 2014

bacchanal



undated and unsent photographer H Herrmann, Berlin
                                                         
Bacchus was the Greco-Roman god of wine, intoxication and ecstasy 
which leads to bacchanalia as a feast involving much drinking and dancing
which is perhaps evidenced here