Tuesday Treasures - February 17, 2026

 St. Vincent de Paul had some small boxes of ephemera a few weeks ago.  I love looking through those!  

I found quite a few postal cards. Postal cards are government issue postcards with a printed stamp.  The first official postal card was issued by the Austro-Hungarian Empire on Oct. 1, 1869.  A year later Germany issued their first. Germany then quickly became known for publishing postcards, especially in the Golden Age of postcard production, 1890s-1914.  A few months later the UK joined in, followed by many other countries.  The U.S. was late to the game, the first postal card being published in 1873.

Region: Bavaria, Germany
Freistaat Bayern (Free State of Bavaria) postal card issued c. 1919, shortly after Bavaria declared itself a Free State within the Weimar Republic.  It is overprinted after the fall of the Bavarian Socialist Republic. 

Saargebiet (Saar Basin)

The Saar Basin was administrated by the League of Nations from 1920-1935.  The territory was formerly part of Germany.  During this 15 year period France had control of the area's coal mines, as compensation for the German destruction of French coalmines during WWI.  

This is quite an interesting piece of paper.  It's a piece of Japanese wartime censorship-office stationary c. 1942-1945.  It was later used by Australian Army field intelligence.  It was common for Allied forces to repurpose captured Japanese materials.  Australian Army field censors used numbered circular stamps, numbers tied to specific units or individuals.  It was used by the Australians rather like a cover letter, a cover envelope for a message or letter.

 

I got quite a few U.S. postal cards dating from the 1950s to 1980s.

This particular postal card is often misidentified as being older than it is.  Many claim it's from 1911-1914, however it's actually from the late 1950s to early 1960s.  The message on the front didn't appear in older postal cards, and the stamp is a modernized portrait of Jefferson. Postcard postage was still 1¢ in the 50s, and needed one additional 1¢ stamp in the 60s.  I could even use it today by adding 55¢!  You can't buy single postal cards anymore.

I also got some 5¢ 1968 Lincoln, 9¢ 1975 John Witherspoon, and an 8¢ 1973 Samuel Adams.

These from 1973 are commemoratives for the 100th anniversary of the first U.S. postal card. 

1988 from the series America the Beautiful.

U.S. 2002 commemorative envelope for the 100th anniversary of Crater Lake Nation Park.  The pictorial cancellation (or special event cancellation) was done at Centennial Station, a temporary postal station set up for the one day event, May 22, 2002.  

A commemorative postal card from the same celebration.

It had the commemorative pin with it.

Most items were only 25¢ and the one with Jefferson just 10¢!

Stamps and postcards have taught me a lot, and these FDC (First Day Covers, postmarked on the first day a  new stamp is issued) were no exception.   

These are from the Overrun Countries issues of thirteen commemorative postage stamps issued by the U.S. in 1943 and 1944.  They were a tribute to nations overrun, annexed, or occupied by the Axis powers in or soon after WWII.  The stamps depict the national flags, and the envelopes the flag along side the U.S. flag.  On the stamps the phoenix symbolizes renewal, and the kneeling woman with raised arms is breaking the shackles of servitude.  

Honoring the Oppressed Nation Czechoslovakia, July 12, 1943

Honoring the Oppressed Nation Greece, October 12, 1943.

The stamps were a response to claims U.S. stamps were "unattractive" and aimed to show the world America was in the war to to achieve world peace and not military dominance.  I can think of a current world leader or two who need to learn a lesson from these stamps.  These were $4 for both. 

Since that day the thrift finds have been scarce once again. Next week though, a fabulous find from the Goodwill Outlet!  It's the "best" ever found if we go by value.