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Brussels, Chateau de Gaesbeek (Belgium)
Unused old card, not too inspiring, with left perforated edge. Heavily aged. Grade: 2
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Windsor Castle from Home Park (England)
Unused Frith’s Series postcard 25613. Grade: 1
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Tower of London, St. John’s Chapel in the White Tower
Somehow we have two of these unused Gale & Polden cards #1856 available. Both are heavily aged, with various abrasions on both sides. Grades: 3
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Tower of London, In the Beauchamp Tower
This is Gale & Polden card 1857. We have two of them, from completely different print runs. The one we show in the scan is the worse of the two on the front (abrasions) but the back is clean and the text colour is dark brown, with no logo in the stamp area (Grade: 2, $2). The other has no abrasions on the front, but someone has written the date of Jan. 9, 1924 in the message area on the reverse. The manufacturer’s logo is in the stamp area and the print colour is a lighter brown (Grade: 3, $2).
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Tower of London, Chapel of St. Peter
As the caption of this unused Gale & Polden card 1859 tells us, “Beneath the altar of the Chapel of St. Peter-ad-Vincula lie the remains of Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, and the Duke of Monmouth.” Grade: 2
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Tower of London, Gateway of Bloody Tower
Unused Gale & Polden card 1848, though it has the date “Jan 9, 1924” written on the back and is stained around the edges. The caption could have said so many things, but instead writes “Above the Gateway of the Bloody Tower is seen the portcullis, the only one in England now in working order; probably it is the only working portcullis in the world.” Well, we have Google, and Wikipedia, which tells us: “In England, working portcullises survive at the Tower of London, Monk Bar in York, Amberley Castle, and Hever Castle.” Grade: 4
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Tower of London, View along the Outer Ward looking towards the Byward Tower
Unused Gale & Polden card 1850, with the date Jan. 9, 1924 written into the message area. Grade: 3
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Tower of London, Bloody Tower
The colourful history all encapsulated in the caption of this Gale & Polden card 1368. Did you know this was once called the Garden Tower? Things happened. Unused card but for the Jan. 9, 1924 date written into the message area. Grade: 3
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Warwick Castle, From the Bridge (England)
Online reviews for this old place (opened in 1068) are dauntingly mixed. We’re certain it wasn’t like this when the undivided back postcard was mailed in 1904 (one of our earliest) with two stamps and two postmarks. The whole card’s a bit messy but it just adds to the character. Grade: 4
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Guildford Castle Gateway (England)
Another of England’s many ancient castles still open for public view. Online reviews suggest the gardens are nicer than the castle itself, though. Old, sepia, Frith’s Series card 5187X, unused. And heavily aged. Grade: 2
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Guernsey, Castle Cornet
Unused card GLP72. We have two of these available. Grades: 1
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Warwick Castle, The Warwick Vase (England)
Unused, undivided back card. We always enjoy reading online reviews of older postcard subjects that have survived to the present day. This is no exception! Grade: 1
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London, Windsor Castle, Lower Ward and St. George’s Chapel
Unused, sepia Frith’s Series card 35385. Grade: 1
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Heidelberg, Das Schloss (Germany)
Unused, somewhat stained sepia card 3585 from Zedler & Vogel, dated 1909. Grade: 3
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Palais de Fontainebleau, The Chapel (France)
Unused, highly aged old card. Grade: 2
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Heidelberg Castle (Germany)
Unused. Grade: 1
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Milano – Castello Sforzesco (Italy)
Though this card was mailed in 1935, it was from the USA, with stamp and postmark, from one member of a postcard-collecting club to another. Upper left corner torn. Grade: 5
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Marienburg Castle, Mittelschloss (Malbork) (Poland)
Another of these old cards where we need to be very careful to place it correctly. Unused, heavily aged, and with two captions long enough to steer you in the right direction. Grade: 2 (We must verify availability)
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Camp Verde, Montezuma Well (Arizona)
“…part of Montezuma Castle National Monument. The water … was diverted through ditches by pre-historic Indians to irrigate their fields.” (If they were pre-historic, how do we know?) Unused card S-47615-2. Grade: 2
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Warwick Castle, Courtyard Entrance (England)
Unused old postcard. Grade: 2
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Meiningen, Schloss Landsberg (Germany)
Only if you’re desperate for such a card. Mailed, no stamp, no postmark, messy reverse. Grade: 5
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Old Fort Niagara, French Military Kitchen, The Castle (New York, USA)
Unused Curteichcolor 6C-K134. Aging somewhat. Grade: 2
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Heidelberg, Das Schloss (Germany)
Mailed in 1932 with two stamps and postmark. A little bit of postmark ink transfer on the front. Grade: 2
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Herstmonceux Castle (East Sussex) (England)
Unused old real-photo card. Grade: 2
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Koblenz, Schloss Stolzenfels am Rhein (Germany)
We aren’t certain what caused the upper and lower edges of this unused old card to be rough. Perhaps cut from a set? Otherwise clean. Grade: 2
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Berati, Fortified court of the castle (Albania)
An older card, captioned in Albanian and English, unused, and smudged from handling over many years. Grade: 2
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Durrësi, view from Venetian Castle (V-VI C. AD) (Albania)
Unused Arba card 458. Grade: 1
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Elbasani Castle (cen. II-III AD), night view (Albania)
Unused Arba card 892. Grade: 1
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Elbasani Castle (cen. II-III AD), day view (Albania)
Unused Arba card 893. Grade: 1
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Gjirokastra, The Castle (Albania)
Gjirokastra (Gjirokaster) is a charming place. Distinctly divided into much older and much newer areas, and with this impressive castle dominating everything, the card gives you a good idea of how it feels to be there. The castle, by the way, is far from a “relic,” with music festivals and a captured US “spy plane”, and who-knows-what else. Unused Arba card 781. Grade: 1
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Kruja, The Castle (Albania)
Although Kruja is an attractive small town in its own right, this postcard of the castle looming above is especially flattering. How, somehow, did they make it look like Switzerland? Unused Arba card 557. Grade: 1
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Kruja Castle (cen. V-VI AD) (Albania)
Unused Aeditions card 802. Grade: 1
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The castle of Kruja (Albania)
Unused card from 1988, once again before development started to take over. The fundamental scene remains, though. Grade: 1
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Lezha, Castle and Skanderbeg Tomb (Albania)
Unused Arba card 488. Bilingual captions. Grade: 1
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Lezha, The Castle and Skanderbeg’s Tomb (Albania)
Unused Arba card 619. Bilingual captions. Grade: 1
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Saranda, Lekuresi Castle (Cen. XI AD) (Albania)
We think of castle postcards, we think of Scotland or Germany or wherever, but Albania is replete with old structures that seem still to be in use, one way or another. Here’s Sarand’a entry, on an unused Arba card 389. Grade: 1
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Shkodra, Rozafa Castle (Albania)
We don’t do this to you often — we like to tell stories but not open a schoolroom — but in this case, just because the castle’s history goes so far back, we’ll tell you what Wikipedia says (slightly abridged): “Due to its strategic location, the hill has been settled since antiquity. It was an Illyrian stronghold until it was captured by the Romans in 167 BC. The fortifications, as they have been preserved to date, are mostly of Venetian origin. The castle has been the site of several famous sieges, including the siege of Shkodra by the Ottomans in 1478 and by the Montenegrins in 1912. The castle and its surroundings form an Archaeological Park of Albania.” And this is an old, transitional-period (1988) unused postcard. Grade: 1
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Shkodra, Rozafa Castle 232 (Albania)
Unused Aeditions card 232. Grade: 1
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Shkodra, The Castle (4th cen.) (Albania)
Unused, very very slightly smudged Arba card 542. Grade: 1
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Tirana, The castle of Petrela
Unused 1988 card, bilingual Albanian/English captions, from the transitional period. Grade: 1