This and That: A Blog

  Thursday Postcard Hunt : Sculptures or Statues Cigar Store Indian, XIX century, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC Lindworm Fountain in Klagenfurt, Austria. A Lindwurm is a mythical dragon-like creature in Northern and Central European folklore.   Depending on tradition and the story, Lindwurms can be good or bad.  Washington Park, Portland, OR Scottish knight and national hero,  Sir William Wallace , by Alex Carrick, Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland  c. 1940s Illustrations is next week's postcard theme.

 Yet again, more St. Vincent de Paul 1/2 price ephemera!   These two old joke cards are not postcards.  Both date from around 1915-1925. " Scotch " is now used to refer to the whiskey, but it used to refer to the people and things from Scotland . The note on the back, " I'm still butlering and being dignified as usual ," is probably a joke as well.  I did get postcards, quite a few since they were half-off.  Most were antique and only 38¢.    Here is one special birthday postcard.  1918 The bird lifts up for the birthday message.  I also got some unused WWII military humor postcards. These are five of them. Is it just me or does this fella look a lot like Bill Dauterive (Sgt. William Fontaine de la Tour Dauterive) from King of the Hill?   It's like they based his character's looks on this postcard!  At last, that's all for the 1/2 collectibles sale. 

 We're up to the letter U for Sunday Stamps .  U rchin, Sea Barbados 1965 U rial German Democratic Republic (East Germany) 1956 U nicorn Scotland 1958 Come back next Sunday for V .

It's Public Parks today for Thursday Postcard Hunt .   The lily pond at Shaw's Garden (now the Missouri Botanical Garden  - search " lily pond " for more images from the past),  St. Louis, MO  postmark 1909 Portland, OR Classical Chinese Garden     Princes Street Gardens , Edinburgh, Scotland with Scott Monument in the background. Postmark 1942 The famous Swan Boats in Boston Public Gardens , Boston, MA  This garden was the first botanical garden in the U.S.  Boston also has the honor of having the first public library.  It's not the oldest, but the first publicly funded free one. Next week we visit Beaches. 

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 ...

 My son and I went to St. Vincent de Paul for me to check out the "postcard situation."  The only new ones were the 5¢ ones, all Oregon, on a rack where customers wait in line to check out.  This time there were lots of deckle edged from the 1960s.  However, that's not what I want to share.  The manager approached me and asked if I buy other " paper items ," and of course I said I did, as did my son (who had gone out to the car).  She had just priced two big containers of ephemera, including photos, greeting cards, postcards, and more, and offered to let me look through them, even though they wasn't going on the floor yet.  I phoned my son and told him to get back in the store!  Antique Photos ($1.25, $1.00, 75¢) Three 13 1/2" x 10" photos, one here.  Taken in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1952.  The others are scenes from Cologne, Germany, and Sicily. Victorian Calling Cards (packaged up in bundles that came out to less than 25¢ each!) Som...