-
Keräilymessut RY 1.82 (Maximum Card)
Keräilymessut in Finnish means collectibles fair, and that’s the only information on the back of this unused maximum card (issued on 30th January 1982) apart from what we see in the multiple postmarks. We say “multiple postmarks” because what you see on the front is only part of the story. On the back, there’s the same stamp and two more postmarks–one on the stamp, one to the left of it. So in a way this is a “Super-Maximum” card. Grade: 1
-
Keräilymessut n:o 3/1983 (Maximum Card)
Keräilymessut in Finnish means collectibles fair, and that’s the only information on the back of this unused maximum card, issued in February 1983. There is some postmark ink smudging on the reverse caused by stacking the cards, but we don’t consider this to be a defect. Grade: 1
-
Pentti Nikula and others (Set of 4) (Maximum Cards)
This is a set of four maximum cards from 5th May 1994. They are still in their original, unopened wrap so we can’t identify all four. The one that reveals the reverse is of Pentti Nikula, who won the European Championship in pole vault in Belgrade in 1962 — if that helps. These cards apparently were issued in conjunction with the European Championship in Helsinki in 1994. Probably grade: 1
-
Moomin skiing
There are many Moomin postcards. This is a nice one, mailed in 2014 with stamp, Priority label, and postmark over all that. Grade: 1
-
Finnish Winter activities
Mailed in 2013, with stamp and partial postmark. Grade: 1
-
Kokkola Winter Dance Festival
An advertising card from 2012, mailed in 2014 with stamp, illegible postmark, and Priority label. Grade: 1
-
Aurora Borealis
Mailed from Oulu, Finland, in 2014 with stamp, postmark, and Priority label. Grade: 1
-
Joulu …
The legend on the front says “Christmas is on its way to us,” and indeed the card was mailed in December, 2013, with two stamps and indistinct postmark. Grade: 1
-
Winter scenes
Mailed in 2013, the Priority label and stamp are there but the postmark isn’t. Therefore, Grade: 4
-
Fazer
Mailed in 2013, the stamp and a Priority label are there and the only reason we grade the card this way is because there’s no postmark. Grade: 4
-
Rowboat
From the Taneli Eskola collection. The card was mailed in 2014, but as often happens with contemporary Finnish postcards, the stamp wasn’t cancelled. (We should bundle them all up and send them back so someone can try again?) Grade: 4
-
Voi ilon …
The legend means, approximately, “Oh, the joy and happiness in days” and we hope you’re happy too, always. Card was mailed in 2014, has a Priority label, stamp, and faint postmark. Grade: 1
-
Turku, TKL 39 Tram
Captioned in Finnish, and mailed in 2014 with stamp, two Priority labels, and Tampere postmark. Nice. Grade: 1
-
Helsinki, HKL 233 (Adtranz/Transtech) 2002
There’s lots more in the caption on the back of the card … all in Finnish, and reasonably so. Mailed in 2013 with stamp, postmark, and blue Priority label. Grade: 1
-
Travel Poster, 1948
This is a nice card, but note that it’s the poster from 1948 and not the postcard, which is contemporary and was mailed in 2014 with stamp, faint postmark, and Priority label. Minor postal bumping. Grade: 1
-
Gambling
Captioned extensively in Finnish and Swedish, this ad card offers help in kicking the gambling habit. Mailed from Finland in 2014 with stamp, postmark, and blue Priority label. Some minor postal creasing and ink transfer on the front. Grade: 3
-
River
Mailed in 2019, with stamp, postmark, and small blue Priority label. Wish we were there now. Grade: 1
-
Kuopio
With stamp, postmark, Priority label, and another label placed when the card was forwarded to a new address. This card dates from 2019. Grade: 3 (only because of the new label)
-
Kuopio, Puijo
Contemporary card with a reprint of an old design … please note this. Mailed in 2019, with two stamps, Priority label, partial postmark, and pasted address label. This card was issued by Kuopion Filatelistikerho ry (#21) in 2019. Grade: 4
-
Finnish Air Traffic Company
Contemporary card of a 1938 poster, mailed in 2019 with stamp, postmark, and Priority label. Our sense of Olympics history is not too good, so we checked Wikipedia, and learned “The 1940 Summer Olympics … were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, to be held from July 20 to August 4, 1940, but were ultimately canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.” So that accounts for the rings. Grade: 1
-
Inge Löök, clock
Ms Löök’s Paletti card #50300, mailed from Finland in 2020 with stamp, postmark, and Priority label. Grade: 1
-
Kotka, multiple views
Mailed in 2020 with a global stamp that remains uncancelled. For that reason, Grade: 4
-
Lappi Lapland
Yes, we know Lappi means Lapland in Finnish but we’re just echoing the card. Mailed in 2020, the large Santa/Europa stamp is there but it wasn’t cancelled… There’s also a blue Priority label. Grade: 3
-
Hämeenlinna, Greetings
Multi-view and multi-lingual card mailed in 2020 with two (uncancelled) stamps… Grade: 3
-
Paletti
This card took us awhile to figure out. The captioning is all in Finnish, and the card was mailed from there a few years ago with large stamp, Priority label, and indistinct postmark. When we put the caption into Google Translate (how did life go on before we had this?), it came out as “Bold edition of an early 20th century postcard Pallette Collections”. It went on to say “A handwritten card is like a human touch on someone’s skin.” Not sure that helps much, but it’s all we’ve got. Grade: 1
-
Helsinki, Siltasaari
Siltasaari, or Broholmen, is a central neighborhood of Helsinki. Most of its area is unofficially known also as Hakaniemi. On this brilliant real-photo postcard, mailed with five stamps in 1952 (postmark and trilingual Par avion label also there), the caption is hard to make out — white on white is never a great idea — but you can if you try. Grade: 1
-
Finland for Holidays
The card started in Finland, went unused to Canada, and was mailed to Hong Kong in 2022 with three different (uncancelled) stamps. Highly international … Grade: 3
-
Saari
Moomin card MC 127, mailed with two (uncancelled) stamps. Grade: 3