Happy Independence Day!

A couple of pieces for you on the 4th of July, 2020.  I'm staying in.  If you go out, be safe.

 This card is circa 1940.

First Day Cover 1976

The history of Tyne and Wear is too complicated to go into here but here's a picture.

Watermelon for Everyone!

These are strange times we're living in.  Thought this would be appropriate.

I have a small collection of these cards, known as "Tall-Tales".  They feature mostly exaggerated fruits, vegetables, and animals.  This one dates from around 1910.  There is a second version with the same card number 530 but with a younger man with a mustache.

Happy Hanukkah!

Today is the first day of Hanukkah.  I don't own a menorah or more properly, a hanukkyah.  I do have this nice first day cover from 1996.  Happy Chanukkah to all my Jewish friends and to anyone else who would like to join in. 

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I'm going to watch my Bears play the Lions today then have a small family gathering.  Hope you all find something to be thankful for today.

Hard to believe this beautiful card is 111 years old. 

According to Wikipedia:

"On Thanksgiving Day afternoon (November 28), a crowd of 25,000 turned out in Philadelphia to watch unbeaten Pennsylvania host unbeaten Cornell. Quarterback Albert Miller guided Pennsylvania to a 17-4 win. Though Penn "found the boys from the shores of Lake Cayuga a harder proposition than she looked for", wrote a New York Times reporter, they "closed the season without once drinking from the bitter cup of defeat, and to-night her followers are claiming at least equal rank with Harvard.".

The University of Chicago Maroons in 1908

Of course, on the North Side, fans were still basking in the glow of the Cubs recent World Series repeat win over Ty Cobb and the Tigers from Detroit.

A Postcard from The Pyrenees

My main entree into postcard collecting was a gift to my wife of French scenes.  Here's one I chose at random.  

 Pau Le Gave et les Pyrenees vus de la Place Royale Les Basses Pyrenees

( Pau The Gave and the Pyrenees seen from the Place Royale The Low Pyrenees)

"The Pyrenean mountain range was formed between 80 and 20 million years ago as a result of the Iberian landmass (what is now Spain and Portugal) colliding with the much larger Eurasian landmass in the region of what is now southwestern France."

I couldn't find any reference online to a Mlle Genevieve Boutel.  I had better luck with the stamps.

This stamp issued on February 8, 1945 was part of a series issued in a variety of denominations. It's known as Broken Chains, a reference I assume to the liberation of France from the Nazi's.  The 50 centime stamp had a print run of 234,842, 000.

Franconville is currently a suburb northwest of Paris.  One of its notables was post-impressionist artist, Marcel L'Enfant.
You can see his work here:  https://marcel-l-enfant.com/

Thanks for stopping by.

Love the Drake!

How does one begin a blog?  Well, I guess this one has already begun.  My first post was of a Ron Santo postcard.  Not only does it express my love of sports and the Cubs but also my love of Chicago.  You will see a lot of my city here.  There's nothing particularly significant about this postal but I have to start somewhere.

I'm still really a neophyte when it comes to postcard collecting.  I know some of the lingo and the history but I'm still learning.  Feel free to correct me if I get something wrong or share your knowledge either about the hobby or the specifics of a card.

I'm a North Sider so this is a familiar sight, that is, the more recent view of this area.  What you're looking at seems to be a pre-1930 view.  The Palmolive Building is shown without it's beacon which was added in 1930.

The sign was illuminated in 1940, a year before this postcard was mailed.

One of the things that attracts me to deltiology is the time capsule aspect.  This card has captured a specific moment in time and place.  Who were Harry and Tony?  What was going on December 29, 1941?  December 1941.  Pearl Harbor.  America was just three weeks into WWII.  I did a small bit of research on Tony Geluso.  If I have the right man, he was about 28 years old and had, at least recently, been living with his parents and younger brother.

Anthony appears to have enlisted in the Navy, survived the war and lived to age 69.  He married his wife Esther just after the war in 1946.  

The address the Geluso's were living at seems now to be occupied by a newer building housing the Kent County Human Services.

Founding member of the Moody Blues, Ray Thomas was born on December 29, 1941.

 

That's about all I have.  Please don't expect this of every postcard.  Thanks for stopping by.

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