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Wonsan, Camping Souvenir of Songdowon International Children’s Camp (set of 11) (DPR Korea)
Eleven unused cards in a cardboard cover (lower right, in the scan, along with three samples from the 11). We’ve not also showed the aquarium, swimming pool, rock climbing, football, and a really snazzy dormitory. Definitely not like the summer camps we attended! Grade: 1
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Ice skating (DPR Korea)
Unused card saying: “Our party’s love for the people … let’s make it bloom more brightly”. This card has coloured pre-printed postage of the DPRK flag on the reverse. Grade: 1
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Buena Park, Knott’s Berry Farm, Ghost Town, The Little Red School House (California)
Unused postcard KBF-12 from the park itself. Aging but clean. Grade: 1
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Ocean Park (set of 3) (Hong Kong)
This set of three unused cards is still sealed in its original wrap, so we are showing you the back, which has thumbnail photos of the three cards inside. We’ve excised the original price, though. (Side note: how many postcards are sold these days with legal warnings telling of a choking hazard for children under 3 years due to “sharp edges”?) Gosh … Grade: 1
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Balneario de Ojo de Agua Costa Rica
Unused. Grade: 1
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Manila, Rizal Park, Children’s Playground (Philippines)
Restored in 2010, on an unused card from 2012. Grade: 1
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Bandung, Karang Setra (Indonesia)
Unused older card, serrated edges, captioned (on the reverse) in Japanese, French, and Dutch. Grade: 1
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Shenzhen Image (set of 19) (PR China)
You could ask — as we initially did — why only 19 cards in the set, of course one must be missing. But not so. This is deliberate, because the set was issued in 2017 for the XIX International Botanical Congress. And what a set it is: unused, postage pre-printed 4″ x 7-1/2″ cards with impressive views of modern day Shenzhen’s various attractions. The scan for this entry 31800145A shows the sort of vinylized cover and one of the cards. Scans B and C show other cards for different categories, including Window of the World. Disclosure: we live right across the border from Shenzhen and didn’t know half of these places existed. Two sets are available. Grades: 1
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Ocean Park (Hong Kong)
From a series of unused cards that don’t have captions. Because we live here in Hong Kong, we have filled in some of the gaps to let you know where the pictures were taken. Considerable social pressure exists on this theme park to stop live animal shows. Grade: 1
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Ocean Park cable cars (Hong Kong)
From a series of unused cards that don’t have captions. Because we live here in Hong Kong, we have filled in some of the gaps to let you know where the pictures were taken. Ocean Park is one of Hong Kong’s two main theme park attractions (along with Disneyland). Grade: 1
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Shenzhen (PR China), multiple attractions (set of four)
Kindly get your coffee and relax because this description may take awhile. It’s a set of four unused cards, each measuring 4″ x 11-5/8″, so they are well oversized. The red paper wrap identifies this China Post product, from 2018, and our scan shows the front of one card (the other three are similar but with different places) and the reverse of another. All cards have pre-printed, coloured postage and a kind of “shadow” graphic further identifying most of what’s on the front. Clearly these cards fit many of our categories–in fact, they set the record–because Shenzhen is a city of about 15 million people and has everything, including Window of the World, a major theme park. So, if you have any questions aboout these Shenzhen postcards, please ask us. Grades: 1
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Playgrounds, Burrel (Albania)
A bit basic in the way of attractions, but when this (unused) amusement park postcard was printed in 1989. maybe folks were saying it was better than nothing. Mild aging on the reverse. Grade: 1
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Greetings from Myrtle Beach, Pavilion (South Carolina, USA)
We thank Wikipedia for this (abridged) description of The Pavilion: “The Myrtle Beach Pavilion was a historic pay-per-ride, 11-acre amusement park that was located at the corner of 9th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, down from the Family Kingdom Amusement Park. (It) had well over 40 different attractions and included the wooden rollercoaster Hurricane: Category 5. Despite efforts made by citizens to save the park, it was lost to redevelopment in 2007. While the park was officially closed and became a vacant lot on 9th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, some rides and attractions were moved to Broadway At The Beach.” Anyway, the Curteichcolor card 5C-K301 is unused but very slight aging. Grade: 1
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Kazan (Russia) (set of 18) – Kazan Riviera Aquapark (not postcards)
You can unfold the cover, remove the cards, see the fronts, and it is only when you turn them over that you see the reverses are fully printed (in Russian) with details of what they show. So, yes, they are unused; and no, you could not mail them as postcards in the usual way. But they are the right size and shape, and deserve listing here anyway. This set also marks the most different theme categories for any one entry, so there’s that. Inside, the Kazan Riviera Aquapark. Grade: 1
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Mississippi State Fair Grounds, Jackson (USA)
Unused. Grade: 1
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Ocean Park (Hong Kong) (Maximum Cards) (set of 6)
A set of six maximum cards, issued by Hongkong Post in August 2020, with philatelic postmarks. The animals include the King Penguin, Giant Panda, Meerkat, Sichuan Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Toco Toucan, and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin. All at that time to be found in one of Hong Kong’s two big theme parks, both of which had struggled mightily during the pandemic. Grade: 1
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Dutch Wonderland, Lancaster (Pennsylvania, USA)
This very-kid-friendly amusement park opened in 1963, and the card was mailed in 1979 with two stamps and a heavy postmark. One might deduce from this that the Gift Shop is the park’s prime attraction, but we know there’s more to it than that. Grade: 1
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Copenhagen, Tivoli Concert Hall at night (Denmark)
Unmailed card dated 1971 with a short message written across the reverse. We have several cards of Tivoli, though not listed under this category. Wander over to “Denmark” and you can see them there. Grade: 3
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Haw Par Villa (Singapore)
Also known as Tiger Balm Gardens, here’s an edited excerpt from their official website: “Built in 1937, Haw Par Villa, Singapore’s largest outdoor art gallery, is the brainchild of Aw Boon Haw, the philanthropist who gifted the world Tiger Balm. The eclectic park is a trove of Asian culture, history, philosophy and religion – quirky yet enlightening at the same time. Since 2015, it has been managed by Journeys Pte Ltd.” This is unused old A.S.M.K. & Co. card 32592-B. Grade: 1
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Osaka, Sen-nichi-mae (Japan)
On this mid-20th-century unused card, the area is termed as “Amusement Centers”. We don’t know Osaka well, but it seems to have been repositioned now — according to an official Osaka website (we’ve condensed a bit) — as “Sennichimae Doguyasuji Shopping Street is lined with specialty stores of all kinds of cooking utensils and kitchen items. Stores stocking tools accommodating (chefs) congregate in Doguyasuji. It started as an approach from Sennichimae of Hozenji temple to Odaishi worship at Shitennoji temple and Imaebisu Shrine lined with antique and sundries stores. In the early 20th century, they developed as wholesale stores and specialty stores of manufacturing. The arcade was built in 1970 to become the current 150m-long shopping street.” Same area? Wholesale stores are not amusement centers, usually. Grade: 1
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Tampa, Busch Gardens (Florida, USA)
Mailed from Canada (not Florida!) in 1993, with two stamps and obscured airmail sticker and also obscured postmark. Despite the consequent grade, the card itself is fine as it shows chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) possibly reacting to the cost of admission. Grade: 4
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Yunnan – Xishuangbanna Wanda Theme Park (PR China)
An unused card with perforated left edge from the Yunnan set as described in our PR China section. Two QR Codes are available, and there’s plenty online about this gigantic theme park. China doesn’t do things by halves. Grade: 1
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Pearl of the Orient (Set of 14) (Hong Kong)
“Look at the blue sea and the strong Hong Kong wind”. “Hong Kong’s thousands of lights”. “Pearl of the Orient”. These are some of the Chinese-language legends on the front cover of this set of (we believe) 14 postcards, even though the number “15” also appears on the side. There are 14 thumbnail images on the back cover. The whole thing is unused and sealed shut, so we cannot verify the number of cards. But what makes this special is that the set was produced in China for sale in China to Chinese residents who want to know what Hong Kong is like. Yes, this is a complex issue. And the park that qualifies for this category is Ocean Park, one of Hong Kong’s two large facilities. Grade: 1
