I do not have very many postcards cancelled on either New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. The oldest that I do have are a few postcards found over the years all on the Ganzachen 1899 New Year 1900 green 5-pfennig Reichspost postal card. I have one unused copy and five that were posted from different cities in the German Empire on either December 31, … Continue reading New Year’s 1899/1900: Postcards from Germany
Whenever I receive a postcard, I ALWAYS look at the stamp side before the picture side to see where it was sent from (and to admire the stamps, of course!). This one confused me momentarily. I was pleased to see it was from Germany (and it was the third I’d received from that country via Postcrossing within just a few days) but the view on … Continue reading Postcrossing: Greek Monastery from Germany
One of the things I love about stamp collecting and postcarding is that both provide an education on things you never knew existed before seeing them portrayed. I had never heard of bathing coaches (or wagons or machines), for example, prior to receiving the pictured card on 2 April, the fifth Postcrossing postcard that I received in 2021. It was mailed 19 days before from … Continue reading Postcrossing: Bathing Machine from Germany
I honestly don’t know what to say about this card but it is a nice image of two rowboats on a river. It arrived in Phuket on 2 April 2021 after having been mailed on 13 March from Nettetal, a municipality in the district of Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated in the Lower Rhine region, some 5,884 miles from Phuket. The card made … Continue reading Postcrossing: Boats on a River from Germany
A series of computer “events” and extremely slow internet has seen midnight of 5 March come and go, causing me to miss yet another daily postcard post. I have wanted to post this card for several days now and will do so before going to sleep. At least I have the day off from work tomorrow. This is a semi-maximum card, I suppose, as the … Continue reading A Postcard A Day #25: 6 March 2021 – Bavaria Statue
This postcard may be somewhat controversial due to the subject matter and images in these days of political correctness and sensitivity. However, a part of the reason that I have spent a lifetime collecting stamps and postcards is the history they convey. The past bears remembering the bad alongside the good. Pretending that the dark periods of history, the events we wish to forget, did … Continue reading A Postcard A Day #14: 20 February 2021 – Hitler Seizes Power
I suppose the first time I became aware of what many collectors call “ATM labels” or “ATM stamps” was in the early 1990s when the United States began testing computer-vended postage via their new Eca-Gard machines which weighed mail and provided rate information. Customers could purchase stamps of any denomination from 1¢ to $99.99. The coil stamps dispensed by the machine featured a denomination in … Continue reading A Postcard A Day #12: 18 February 2021 – ATM or Franking Labels
I received this Postrcrossing card from Germany almost two years ago (despite the year typo in the info box above). It’s an interesting card depicting an old shipping company poster that was mailed from an old medieval city. Magdeburg is the capital city and the second largest city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and is situated on the Elbe River. It was one of the most … Continue reading DE-3930760: Magdeburg, Germany
Of all the countries that I have postcards from, Germany ranks in second place in the category of most cards received. To date, I have received one card more from Russia and one card less from Finland. I believe that more of my German cards come from the state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of the country. Freiburg im Breisgau is a famous old German university town … Continue reading DE-5563255: Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Postcards to Phuket 