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Monday, August 31, 2020

Germany: St Antony Iron Works in Oberhausen

On 11th August I got my first postcard after my holidays. The mail that arrived between then and today I will show in the next days. Hopefully I will be up to date next week. "Luckily" not much mail arrived in these days anyway.

The first card came from Germany and shows the St Antony Iron Works in Oberhausen. The St Antony Iron Works was founded in 1758, after bog iron had been discovered. It is known as Cradle of the Ruhr Industry, as it was the first iron works which was founded in the Ruhr Area. The furnace was lit for the last time in 1842 and the foundry was closed in 1877. Afterwards the most buildings were destroyed. What survived until today is since 2008 a part of the LVR Industrial Museum.


The normal definitive about the Cornflower (issued 01-07-2019) was used, but the postmark is quite interesting. It got the Covid-19 postmark from the mail sorting centre 46 in Duisburg. For some reason however that one is longer than the other ones I got. Unfortunately I do not know why.


Thank You very much Marcel!

Friday, August 28, 2020

Four Covers from the USA, Star Wars Stamps and Many Postcards

Last but not least or actually even the most stunning incomings during my absence came from the USA. Four covers arrived, all filled with postcards and stamps, which I decided to put together in one post, as the stamps on the covers are best seen together. 

Used over three of the covers was a stamp set I was looking for for years already: the complete set of US stamps for the 30th anniversary of Star Wars (issued 25-05-2007). Shown on the stamps are heroes and villains from the original triology and the prequels like Darth Vader, Emperator Palpatine, Queen Amidala, Master Yoda, Darth Maul, Princess Leia and R2-D2. Interestingly the stamps are printed with some type of varnish due to which most of the postmarks were wiped off. On the third cover the German Post used a "cancelled afterwards" cancel, but also of that not much can be seen anymore. Apart from the souvenir sheet with the fifteen stamps a single stamp with Master Yoda came out in the same year (issued 25-10-2007). That stamp was used on the fourth cover together with a stamp about Scooby-Doo (issued 14-07-2018) and two of the ten stamps about the Art of Ellsworth Kelly (issued 31-05-2019).



Among the stamps that were in the covers there were these two souvenir sheets about Bugs Bunny (issued 22-05-1997) and the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote (issued 26-04-2000). The other stamps that were inside you can see here on my stamp blog.


In total 14 cards were in the covers. Most of them show national monuments or national parks and all of them have cancels on the backside. This is the order in which they were in the covers.

The Chiricahua National Monument is shown on the first card. The Chiricahua National Monument was established in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona in 1924 to protect its extensive hoodoos and balancing rocks.



Fort Bowie was used as army outpost during fights with Native Americans for thirty years between 1864 and 1894. Located in Arizona, it is protected as National Historic Site.



Zion National Park makes an appearance on the first card from the second cover. The national park in Utah was established in 1919 and is known for its unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Its most famous feature is the Zion Canyon.



The Organ Mountains are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico. In 2014 the Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument was established, which protects both wilderness and many archaeological and cultural sites of interest. Located nearby is the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument. Of both national monuments there are cancels on the backside of the card.



Tuzigoot National Monument preserves a pueblo ruin on the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge in Arizona. The pueblo was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400, was excavated from 1933 to 1935 and was designated a national monument by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939.



Fort Union was founded in 1851 just three years after New Mexico was annexed by the USA at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War. Since 1954 it is a national monument.


The first card from the third cover shows the Red Canyon. The Red Canyon is located in the Dixie National Forest in Utah and is described as gateway to the Bryce Canyon National Park 15km to the north-west. I especially like the cancel about Smokey the Bear.



The Aztec Ruins National Monument was created in 1923. The ruins were built by the Pueblo Indians nearly a thousand years ago. Their name however is the result of a misattribution. They were not built by the Aztecs. As part of the Chaco Culture is the Aztec Ruins National Monument since 1987 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.



Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah or more precisely Thor's Hammer in the park is shown on the next card. The national park was established in 1928 and despite its name it is no canyon, but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters.



The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory built in New Mexico in the 1970s. Astronomers using the site have made key observations of black holes and protoplanetary disks around young stars, discovered magnetic filaments and traced complex gas motions at the Milky Way's center, probed the Universe's cosmological parameters and provided new knowledge about the physical mechanisms that produce radio emission. Also it has appeared repeatedly in American popular culture and especially Science Fiction movies since its construction.



Montezuma Castle National Monument is shown on the first card of the last cover. Also this name is the result of a misattribution. Originally the dwellings were built and used by the Sinagua people, a pre-Columbian culture, between approximately 1100 and 1425, but were abandoned more than 40 years before the famous Aztec emperor Montezuma was born. Also it is not a castle in the traditional sense, but more like a prehistoric high rise apartment complex.



The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument in New Mexico is a complex of three Spanish missions, the Gran Quivira Ruins, the Abó Ruins and the Quarai Ruins. The first and the last are shown on these two cards. Once home to thriving Native American trade communities, in the early 17th century Spanish Franciscans found the area ripe for their missionary efforts. Gran Quivira is a national monument since 1909. The other two were originally New Mexico State Monuments, but in 1981 they were absorbed by the national monument, which got its current name in 1988.



The Death Valley National Park shown on the last card is not only one of the most famous national parks in the USA but also the largest in the contiguous USA. Famous for being one of the hottest places in the World, it is also home to the second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, Badwater Basin. In 2013 it was also designated as a dark sky park.



Thank You very much Sam-Quito for all these wonderful cards and stamps!

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Germany: Cospudener See

During my holidays I got three postcards from Germany.

One of them shows the Cospudener See. The Cospudener See is an artificial lake that was formed when a former open cast mine filled up with ground- and rainwater. It is a part of the Neuseenland south of Leipzig and has become a popular place of the local population.


The card is the official card of the Postcrossing Meet-up on the Cospudener See and was signed during the meet-up. The left stamp of the Bonn Panorama (issued 02-01-2020) was used on the card, which was sent in the Inselbriefkasten, a postbox located on a small island in the Cospudener See that can only be reached by boat.


Thank You very much Thomas!

Germany: History of Bielefeld

During my holidays I got three postcards from Germany.

One of them is the Chronicle Card of Bielefeld. Bielefeld is located on an old trade route between Rhine and Elbe and was founded by merchants. First mentioned in 1015, it got the town privileges in 1214. Also in the 13th century the Sparrenburg Castle was built and Bielefeld joined the Hanseatic League. In the 17th century the city became a part of Brandenburg. 


The Lighthouse Schleimünde is shown on the stamp (issued 02-07-2020).


Thank You very much Marcel!

Germany: Coast

During my holidays I got three postcards from Germany.

One of them a view of the coast, but unfortunately a name of any specific place is written nowhere. Sent it was from Föhr, one of the North Frisian Islands and the second-largest North Sea island of Germany.


The usual definitive about the Cornflower (issued 01-07-2019) was used for postage.


Thank You very much Mariel!

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

France: Châlons-en-Champagne

When I was on holidays I got two postcards from France.

One of them shows various views of Châlons-en-Champagne. Châlons-en-Champagne is a city in the Grand Est region of France. Until 2015 it was the capital of the region Champagne-Ardenne, which was merged with Alsace and Lorraine to form the new region Grand Est on 1st January 2016, and today it is still the capital of the Marne department, although Reims is more than four times larger. Two famous buildings in the city include the Saint Etienne's Cathedral (upper left corner) and Notre-Dame-en-Vaux (lower right corner). The latter is even on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1998 as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. 


The stamp is the French Euromed issue for this year (issued 13-07-2020) and is dedicated to the Bouillabaisse. Also take a look at the two different postmarks. While the left one shows the correct date but no city name, the right one mentions the city, but says 10th November 2015.


Thank You very much William!

France: Chaumont

When I was on holidays I got two postcards from France.

One of them shows various views of Chaumont. Chaumont is the capital of the Haute-Marne department. In 1814 Austria, Prussia, Russia and the United Kingdom signed an offensive treaty against Napoleon Bonaparte in the city. An interesting monument in the city is the Viaduct of Chaumont, one of the most important viaducts constructed in the 19th century. 


Andrée Chedid, a French poet and novelist, is shown on the stamp, which was issued for her birth centenary on 23rd March 2020. It got cancelled with the typical special postmark of French philatelic shops, so Chaumont this time.


Thank You very much William!

cover from France

When I was on holidays I got not only two postcards from France but also a cover.

Used on the cover was a magnificient souvenir sheet about the Notre Dame de Paris (issued 20-07-2020). As most of you will already know, last year the Notre Dame was badly damaged by a fire. To go along with the reconstruction stamps will be issued over the next years. This is the first in this new series. 


Inside was a single mint stamp about Olympe de Gouges (issued 29-06-2020), a French person of the Enlightenment who is famous for her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen of 1791. Like I already mentioned earlier for the EUROPA stamp some French stamps were delayed due to Covid-19. Both the Notre Dame and Olympe de Gouges were affected, as they were originally planned for April.


Thank You very much William!

Monday, August 24, 2020

My Trip to Regensburg and Austria

During my holidays I got ten pieces of mail. Five of them were postcards and five were covers. They were sent by five persons and came from three countries. These I will show in the next days, but let's start with the cards I bought during my holidays. Like usual I spent my holidays in Austria and earlier made a two day stop in a city in Bavaria, Regensburg this year. In total I got 35 cards for my collection during that time, of which just four are from Austria.

Regensburg is a city on the Danube river. It is the fourth largest city of Bavaria, the capital of Upper Palatinate, the seat of a Catholic Bishop and home to three institutions of higher education. Thanks to its very well preserved medieval city centre Regensburg is among the most popular tourist destinations in Germany. Since 2006 is the Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Without doubt the most famous views of Regensburg always include the Stone Bridge, a masterpiece of Medieval architecture and said to be the oldest preserved bridge in Germany, just like on these first four cards.



My main reason to visit Regensburg was the House of the Bavarian History. The House of the Bavarian History was founded as an institution already in 1983 and since than it organises the Bavarian state exhibitions in always changing venues. It was however just in June 2019 that the House of the Bavarian History opened its own museum in Regensburg. While the state exhibitions show specific aspects of Bavarian history, the museum only focuses on the time after 1806 when Bavaria became a kingdom, which is divided in different generations plus some aspects that span the whole time.





The Old Town Hall is one of the most important historic places in Regensburg. Between 1663 and 1806 it was the location of the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg, the deliberative body of the Holy Roman Empire which earlier convened in different cities around the Empire. It is possible to see the interior of the town hall with guided tours, but due to Covid-19 they are currently a bit different than usual, as some rooms of the building are too small to be shown with enough distance.



The history of Regensburg dates back to Roman times and in fact it is home to the largest Roman remain in Bavaria, the Porta praetoria, one of just two preserved Roman city gates north of the Alps. While it is already on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Old Town of Regensburg, it is also on the Tentative List as part of the transnational Danubian Limes. More Roman remains are on display in the Historic Museum, but unfortunately for some reason they are currently not allowed to sell postcards. Also a Roman wall can be see in the basement of a car park.

EDIT: As of July 2021 the Porta praetoria is now inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Danubian Limes.


Regensburg Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Regensburg and one of the most important Gothic cathedrals in Germany. Built on the location of a Romanesque cathedral that burned down in the late 13th century, the new cathedral with French Gothic architectural themes was completed over the next 200 years, however when it was completed in the 16th century, it did not look like it does today. In the 19th century it underwent a Neo-Gothic renovation and just between 1859 and 1869 the towers were added.




Located next to the Cathedral is the Cathedral Treasure, but I did not visited it and only bought a few cards in the shop. The Cathedral Treasure is just one of three sites of the Diocesan Museums Regensburg.




Another special feature of Regensburg are the Noble Towers. Noble Towers as found in Italian communes are mainly built for the represantation of a noble family, but in Regensburg they additionally were also used in other ways like for example as warehouses. The most famous of these towers in Regensburg is the Golden Tower.


The Regensburg Sausage Kitchen is located near the Stone Bridge. It is presented as oldest continuously open public restaurant in the World.


The Goliathhaus was once owned by one of Regensburg's noble families. It is especially known for the large painting of David and Goliath, which can be easily seen after you cross the Stone Bridge.


The Neupfarrkirche is a testimony of a dark chapter in Regensburg's history. It was built on the remains of the Jewish quarter. Originally the Jews of Regensburg were under the protection of the Emperor, who wanted a large sum of money from the city if they would want to get rid of them, which the city did not have. However when Emperor Maximilian I died in 1519, the city took the chance, expelled the Jews and constructed the Neupfarrkirche on the site to make the act irreversible.


The Thurn and Taxis Palace was the residence of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis and still belongs to the family today. It was originally the Benedictine Saint Emmeram's Abbey.


Last but not least from Regensburg I also got a set of three ad cards. I especially like the one reminding us of social distancing.



Although I spent my time in Austria in Tyrol, I also made a day trip to Salzburg, where I first visited the Hangar-7. Hangar-7 is an interesting architectural building that is shaped like an airfoil. It is owned by Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz and houses a collection of historical planes, helicopters and racing cars as well as a Michelin-starred restaurant.



After the Hangar-7 I also visited the Salzburg Museum once again, which is definitely more interesting to me. This year they show a state exhibition of the Salzburg Festival. Unfortunately like usual they do not have cards for the exhibition, so I bought this card of a Roman wall. Although this was already my third visit to this museum, this wall was never on display when I was there.


In Kitzbühel I bought a card of the Farmhouse Museum for my museum collection, although I did not visited the museum itself. The Farmhouse Museum is allegedly the oldest museum of this type in Tyrol.