Wild Postcards

What did we ever do without Photoshop?  This postcard from the Netherlands features photographic art — an homage to Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus — by Peter Gramberg, but is actually an advertising postcard for the weekly magazine HP / De Tijd.  Unlike many postcard collectors, I don’t generally mind advertising postcards (especially with themes like this one).  After all, the ad cards of today are the vintage ad cards of tomorrow.  Hey, in fifty years you might get ten bucks for this on eBay!

Here is the part where I was going to write about what was the De Tijd (“Time”) Catholic daily newspaper, how their readership declined following the end of pillarization in the Netherlands, how they merged with another pillarized publication and became a weekly magazine — but it’s late and I’m tired.  You will have to illuminate yourself today.

What did we ever do without Photoshop?  This postcard from the Netherlands features photographic art — an homage to Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus — by Peter Gramberg, but is actually an advertising postcard for the weekly magazine HP / De Tijd.  Unlike many postcard collectors, I don’t generally mind advertising postcards (especially with themes [...]

Yesterday was quite the red-letter day, mailwise.  I got home and found no less than six postcards in my mailbox, and no bills to spoil the cache.  Also, FedEx was nice enough to leave a box of postcards that I ordered to send out to you, from the good folks at RedStamp.com – Stylish Correspondence.

All the cards were terrific, but this yellow-shouldered parrot from The Tropical Blogger really stood out.  It comes all the way from Bonaire, which is part of the Netherlands Antilles, and is one of the “ABC” islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao).  Thanks for thinking of me!

The stamp is an issue from 2006 for Christmas and New Year’s.  Either this is an excess of postage for the card, or it means that Bonaire has enjoyed a few years without a postal rate increase.  I hope it’s the latter.

Yesterday was quite the red-letter day, mailwise.  I got home and found no less than six postcards in my mailbox, and no bills to spoil the cache.  Also, FedEx was nice enough to leave a box of postcards that I ordered to send out to you, from the good folks at RedStamp.com – Stylish Correspondence. [...]

Bob of Holland sent in this illustration of Amsterdam’s Nieuwmarkt (“New Market”).  The building which dominates the scene is De Waag, or weighing house, which was originally a gatehouse in Amsterdam’s city walls, but was converted when the walls were torn down in the 17th century.  Today, De Waag is a restaurant and cafe.

Bob tells me that this postcard, which is unvarnished and dates from 1957, was made for the yearly Kinderpostzegels (Children’s Stamps).  Since 1924, Kinderpostzegels has been an annual campaign in the Netherlands to produce stamps which are sold door-to-door by children themselves; a small surcharge is added to the cost of the stamp, which goes to a fund to benefit the welfare of less fortunate children both in the Netherlands and abroad.

Be sure to check out Bob’s site European Film Star Postcards, “a blog dedicated to the stars of the popular European cinema from 1895 till 1970, and to the fans who collected their postcards.”  Bob’s mini-biographies of the stars appearing on the postcards are superb.

Bob of Holland sent in this illustration of Amsterdam’s Nieuwmarkt (“New Market”).  The building which dominates the scene is De Waag, or weighing house, which was originally a gatehouse in Amsterdam’s city walls, but was converted when the walls were torn down in the 17th century.  Today, De Waag is a restaurant and cafe. Bob [...]

This is a card that I received from Esri, a four-year-old girl from Culemborg in the Netherlands.  She goes to school and can sign her own name, as you can see.  She writes (with some help from Mom): “Do you know Dora the Explorer? I like her very much and I want to have shoes with high heels just like my mother.”

I sent Esri a card with some pretty pink flowers (her favorite color), and Number Two Grandson thought she was cute so he sent her a card featuring Bugs Bunny.

Esri might consider rethinking the part about the shoes; most women I know have a love/hate relationship with high heels.  But I do know Dora the Explorer, and I think both Dora and Esri are ‘dorable.

This is a card that I received from Esri, a four-year-old girl from Culemborg in the Netherlands.  She goes to school and can sign her own name, as you can see.  She writes (with some help from Mom): “Do you know Dora the Explorer? I like her very much and I want to have shoes [...]