-
Brooke General Hospital, San Antonio (Texas, USA)
Often heard as Brooke Army Medical Center, on this unused, slightly aging Dexter Press postcard 45621 (DB-196). Grade: 1
-
Post Office, Gulfport (Mississippi, USA)
Unused old Mississippi postcard, with a rambling caption that covers the territory in a distinctive way. E.C. Kropp card 5621N, gentle aging. Grade: 1
-
Facts about Indonesia
Something for everyone on this fine postcard mailed in 2020 with two large stamps and postmark. Grade: 1
-
Montana (USA)
Among contemporary Montana postcards, you won’t find many more iconic than this. Mailed in 2020, with three different stamps and Missoula postmark. Grade: 1
-
Legislature Building, Dover (Delaware, USA)
If you collect Delaware postcards, this one is worth every nickel. Mailed in 1939 with its 1-cent stamp and clear Dover postmark, the message area contains only a stamp-like sticker for Delaware … showing the Legislature Building. Normally we would downgrade a card for having an extra sticker, but not this time. Grade: 1
-
Prambanan Temple (Indonesia)
Mailed in 2020 with two stamps, postmark, and the post office’s barcode sticker. And, yes, that’s the flag of Indonesia at the bottom. Grade: 1
-
Post Office, Laurel (Mississippi, USA)
Unused old E.C. Kropp card 30846 (9). Though unused, there can hardly be a more representative example of post office postcards than this one. Quite a clear flag, too. Grade: 1
-
Nanih Waiya State Park (Mississippi, USA)
Greetings from Nanih Waiya State Park, on an unused card whose caption squeezes a lot of information about sacred mounds, the Choctaws, dates, and so on, into seven lines. Now, about the flag … some version of this was Mississippi’s state flag until 2020, but as we understand it the current (and different) flag is still a work in progress. Stay tuned. Deep South card DS-713. Grade: 1
-
Plaza of States, and Space Needle (Seattle, Washington, USA)
This facility came up for the 1962 World’s Fair, and the postcard came along shortly afterwards. Unused, Plastichrome, P49456. Grade: 1
-
Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame (Wisconsin, USA)
Mailed in 2021, this card has the postmark and three different stamps (including one commemorating American football) and some postmark ink transfer on the front: in all respects an iconic card for this storied franchise. By the way, what happened to the “s” in “Packers”? Grade: 2
-
Philadelphia, Betsy Ross House (Pennsylvania, USA)
The front of this unmailed 1938 card is fine and as evocative of an old structure (and the old flag) as any card can be. But the postcard had been pasted at its four corners in a black album, and heavy remnants of that remain. Grade: 4
-
Dearborn, The Henry Ford Museum, Museum Tower (Michigan, USA)
The caption of this unused Curteichcolor card 2C-K17 reports that the “tower is an exact replica of … Independence Hall, Philadelphia … and contains even the mistakes made in the original building”. It might take more searching to find out what those are. Grade: 1
-
Mackinac Island, Biddle House (Michigan, USA)
There seem to be Biddle houses just about everywhere, but for this one, “origins … are unknown, but its New France architectural lines and heritage indicate it was built about 1780, at the time of the first settlement of Mackinac Island by Euro-Americans. The American fur trade grew significantly on Mackinac Island, and about 1822, fur trader Edward Biddle … occupied the house and refitted it to serve as a home for his family and a shop space to exchange trade goods for furs of the Upper Great Lakes ecosystem…” (Wikipedia) This Plastichrome postcard P71584 looks like 1960s, and is aging noticeably on the reverse. Grade: 2
-
Philadelphia, Betsy Ross House (Pennsylvania, USA)
We can’t resist showing you this (condensed) Wikipedia entry: “The Betsy Ross House is purported to be the site where seamstress Betsy Ross (1752-1836) lived when she is said to have sewed the first American Flag. The origins of the Betsy Ross myth trace back to her relatives, particularly her grandsons, William and George Canby, and the celebrations of the Centennial of 1876. Evidence for the precise location of Ross’ home came from verification provided by several surviving family members, although the best archival evidence indicates the house would have been adjacent to the one that still stands today. The 1937 Philadelphia Guide noted that, after the current Betsy Ross House was selected as the Flag House, the adjacent building where Ross may have indeed lived ‘was torn down to lessen the hazards of fire, perhaps adding a touch of irony to what may well have been an error in research.’ Although the house is one of the most visited tourist sites in Philadelphia, the claim that Ross once lived there, and that she designed and sewed the first American flag, sometimes called the Betsy Ross flag, are considered false by most historians.” Who knew?? Apparently lots of people. Unmailed card with a woman’s name and 1974 date written at the bottom reverse. Grade: 3
-
Did you know? Betsy Ross (USA)
When “Did you know?” cards are good, they’re great. When they’re not, well, they’re like this one. Some of the facts are interesting but they might have said this location was in Pennsylvania or even mentioned the dispute over whether she ever stayed in that house. If we’re getting all this wrong, forgive us, but the card was mailed in 2021 with an uncancelled round Global Forever stamp. Only because of that, Grade: 3
-
George Vanderbilt Hotel, Asheville (North Carolina, USA)
The hotel was converted to apartments for the elderly in 1969. The E.C. Kropp card 27157N–much older than that–is unused. Grade: 2