This and That: A Blog

 Thursday Postcard Hunt has the theme of Travelling this month.  First up is Trains.  1960s Pikes Peak Cog Railway train.  A cog railway, or rack railway , is a type that is used for steep grades, where conventional tracks wouldn't work.  They have toothed rails with cog wheels or pinions that allow this.  The most common train tracks operate at 10% or so, while cog rails can be 45% or more. I don't think I'd be comfortable on a train like that!  Prior to 1890 materials used Pike's Peak, however in 1890 the newly established U.S. Board on Geographic Names dropped the apostrophe.  This same board, in 2025, unanimously decided to deny the request to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.   1930-1945 view of the Cog Railway. Speaking of "peaks," illustrated travel postcards, like this is one from France, were at their peak in the Edwardian era.  c.1900-1915 California State Railroad Museum , Sacramento, CA My youngest chil...

  Thursday Postcard Hunt for this week is Architecture: Stations  Car Station, Swan Point, Providence, Rhode Island, USA postcard c.1908-1915   A car station was a trolley depot or streetcar shelter. The theater and tramway station in Laon, France  postcard c.1910-1914  The railway station in Vincey, France postcard c.1905-1910 Shelters is next week, the last of the Architecture theme.  

  Cee's Fun Foto Challenge The Crayola Box of 8 - Purple  

 Postcards Again!  I'm not sure if I mentioned how agreeable the manager at St. Vincent de Paul was on the "big haul" postcard purchase days.  Maybe it's because she was retiring in June!  One day she brought out boxes of antique postcards for me to look through, and told the volunteer cashiers to give me 25% off all my postcards that day!   Here's what I got (the dogs from the same day are under all the ephemera.)  There are the holy/prayer cards from a previous post.  The WWII ship photos will be featured on an upcoming Tuesday.  The only individual postcards shared today are two which come last, a case of "Last, but not least."  I got a lot of postcard books.  Amboise, France with tissue between each image. Amboise is on the Loire River. Chicago to La Junta Overland Set No 1 depicts scenes along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, and were produced exclusively for them. I got several postcard books of Pike's Peak from t...

 As promised last week, here are a few of the postcards and photos I got at St. Vincent de Paul.  I got these on a Tuesday, right as they opened (they are closed Sundays and Mondays), and when I went back on Friday either all the ephemera had sold, or they moved the boxes into the back to refill. I hope the second reason is the correct one! These first seven are part of a 1917-1918 censored wartime education series showing life in U.S. training camps.  Each postcard depicts soldiers preparing for overseas service.  The caption on the sides, " Passed by Censor, Washington, D.C ." shows they were officially approved for public release as part of the government's effort to show Americans the troops were well-trained and ready.  " A Fleet of U.S. Flying Boats " shows early Curtiss Model F or H-type seaplanes.  Another collage of seven, these depict the Vanport (OR) flood, May 30, 1948.  Vanport was Oregon's second largest city, sitting on reclaimed land p...

  Sunday Stamps brings us the letter R this week.  Nothing unusual about these first two R animals.  I just think they are particularly pretty stamps.    R ooster designed and engraved by Albert Decaris.  The Gallic r ooster is a long-standing symbol of France, representing pride, vigilance, national identity, and the dawn of a new day.  From the mid-1960s onwards the stamps were printed with phosphorescent bars for automatic sorting, and these show up under UV light.    France 1962  R hinoceros, Black R hino French Equatorial Africa 1947 R ufous Crowned R oller  Ghana c. 1967 R accoon Dog, of which there were seven species, but only two now exist, including this, the Japanese R accoon Dog.   Japan 2016 S  stamps are up next week.

  We've got Beaches today for Thursday Postcard Hunt.  Bermuda Pismo Beach, California  Cape Cod, Massachusetts  The beach and seawall at The Grand Hotel , Cabourg, France c1912-1914 Next week we'll finish up May with Forests.

A few weeks ago I wrote that I may have bought "a few" packs of postcards at St. Vincent de Paul.  What I meant was I bought 116 packs of two (or three in one case)!  Only two or three were repeats, but I wanted the other postcards in the packs.  This time they were wise enough to package them back to back so buyers could see both cards.  They don't always do that!  Many were antiques. That was the surprising thing.  I get the idea they only "antiques" they think are worth more are the holiday ones.   Here are some groups.   Foreign (they from Cuba, Israel, Italy, Mexico, England, France, Canada... more!), Buildings, Factories, Travel Hubs (airports, train stations) Large Letter, Vintage Street Views, Landscapes  I'd not seen a foreign Large Letter before, so this Canadian one was exciting! Two of my most interesting are these... Souvenir of  the War of 1914,  unused from Belgium This was likely printed between August and ...

 After buying two antique prints, these  steel engravings , both included here today as well, I took a look at the ages of my antique prints.  You hear the word antique  tossed around a lot, but what does it really mean?  It depends.  In the U.S., according to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, antiques are items at least 100 years old. Standards of value and insurance, and U.S. Customs use this definition.   With some exceptions, the UK follows the same 100-year rule, while some European Union countries use 50 years, and even 25 for certain categories. China requires government authentication for items over 100 years old before export.  So, if you're in the U.S., an antique is simply an item at least 100 years old. A few of my favorite prints are from the 1930s and 1940s, but they are not antique, only vintage . Vintage is 40-99 years old.    Retro  refers to new items made in an old style, reproductions that are not old ...