OLD POSTCARDS , LETTERS AND DOCUMENTS

OPENING UP CANADA'S NORTH
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first official airmail flight from "fort resolution , north-west territories "
to "fort mcmurray , NWT " (today one of canada's oilsands boomtowns)
dec 15 , 1929

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two envelopes commemorating newfoundland's entry into the canadian confederation on march 31 , 1949 .

the funny thing is that the first envelope shows the "little canadian beaver" welcoming the "big newfoundlander" .
this one was posted on the day of the joining in on march 31 , 1940 in st. john's , NFL .

the second envelope was posted in ottawa , canada's capital , a day late , on april 1 - an april fool's day joke ?
hbg

a "field post letter" mailed on june 21 , 1915 to the "right honourable sir wilfred laurier" in ottawa . laurier was the leader of the canadian liberal party .

note the statement on the left :
"i certify on my honour that the contents of this envelope refer to nothing but private and family matters" .

postcard mailed in NYC on oct 16 , 1902 and delivered in hamburg/germany oct 27 , 1902 - see delivery stamp on left - it was customary to stamp mail upon delivery .
so it took 11 days for the letter to travel by SHIP-POST , that's about what it now takes for AIRMAIL-POST now !
and the cost was TWO cents !
hbg

Wow, those are really neat

postcard sent by my grand-dad to his son (my dad) on sept 11 , 1917 .
my dad was serving in the german army (in the war to end all wars !) ;
he had benn called up when he turned 18 in oct 1916 .
i guess the card was sent in the hope to make the soldier-son forget about the war for a moment or two .
the card is called DER LIEBESSCHWUR = THE PROMISE OF (everlasting) LOVE .
hbg

above : front of postcard sent from ADEN (at that time part of british india) on 8 may 1898 to hamburg , germany , where it was delivered on 21 may 1898 between the hours of 7 and a.m. !(mail was stamped both when received by the post-office and upon delivery !)

one might guess that someone visiting aden/india in 1898 had some interesting news to tell family at home . well , let's see :

aden , 8 may 1898
dear aunt !
sitting here in the GRAND HOTEL DE L'UNIVERSE drinking iced lemonade and being fanned by an arab to keep me cool . great , isn't it ?
greetings to you , louise , elisabeth , johannes and all other aquaintances ,
your nephew , max suhr

??? that sure sounds like some interesting place he was visiting
he must have thought telling his aunt about "iced lemonade" was really exciting !
sure hope he didn't forget any of the relatives names , that would have been a major upset back home !

this has always been one of my favourites

trying to resurrect the thread !

postcard mailed july 1923 - during the runup of the german inflation -
the rate was MARK 4,200 !!! (equivalent to about 10 pfennings or 10 cents !) .
postal rates - and prices - increased every few days .
finally the cycle was broken on dec. 1 , 1923 when the REICHSMARK was discontinued and the RENTENMARK took over - and a penny was worth a penny again !

a letter from june 1924 . the inflation had ben over for six months and postal rates were back to normal again : it again cost 10 pfennigs to mail a letter !

postcard sent from SIDNEY - NEW SOUTH WALES to hamburg ,
it was mailed in sidney on may 23 , 1896 and was delivered in hamburg on july 6 , the marking actually indicates "6-7 V" which means it was probably the first delivery of the day betwen 6 and 7 VORMITTAG (before NOON !) .
considering that the steamships weren't very fast in those days and would stop at many ports - not a bad service at all .
hbg



btw the writer states :
you probably thought i had forgotten about you , but i was just too lazy to write . it is totally boring here - no amount of money will buy any kind of entertainment !
greetings to family and friends (he names several !) WILLY .

(here he wasted 1 1/2 pence to say absolutely nothing !
he probably could have bought himself a beer for 1 1/2 pence !
quite amazing , really !)
hbg

in 1979 i spent several weeks in austin/texas .
mrs h joined me after a week and we visited many of the local landmarks including the LBJ museum and library . as a souvenir i obtained this commerative card with president johnson's portrait by madame elizabeth shoumatoff .
(we also visited the LBJ ranch which we very much enjoyed)

provisional stamps issued by the ALLIED MILITARY GOVERNMENT after the end of WW II in germany .
they were pretty plain - simply imprinted with their value .
since people where hoarding coins for their metal value - copper pfennigs were hardly circulating at all - , people and businesses used stamps extensively as change currency . i have a sizable hoard of those stamps , but they are more of sentimental value . zillions were printed so they have little value - UNLESS affixed to a letter or postcard , in that case they can be quite valuable !
hbg

letter posted in vancouver on sept. 29 , 1891 , delivered in kingston , ontario on oct. 6 .



while the envelope looks a little beat up , an eight-page letter contained in the envelope is in almost pristine condition .
the letter was written by a missionary nurse who had travelled by train to vancouver to embark on a ship bound for china .
it is quite a discriptive letter in which she tells about the journey to vancouver to her friend "anne" (Mrs. Fowler , B.A.) .
it's one of the more interesting pieces of my collection.
hbg

german advertising sticker for CABLE-TV from the 1980's