Today I received a strange postcard – it looks almost blank, but it actually has some pink substance spread over it. When I hold it close to the light in a certain angle, I can make out some faint letters/words in the pink substance, but they seem to be written backwards so I can’t read them. I don’t think it’s a “joke” card, from a newbie on Postcrossing, or from someone who doesn’t care, because the written side is full of great stickers and plenty of writing. When I registered it, the sender turned out to be a well-seasoned Postcrosser who’s been doing it for nearly 10 years. None of his other sent cards look strange like mine, either.
Does anyone have any idea of why I might’ve gotten this postcard? I’m wondering if maybe a photo/illustration was glued on and it fell off during the mailing process, but it doesn’t seem too likely since most postcards don’t have glued on images…
I’d appreciate any insight that anyone might have! Thanks!
Might have been a photocard perhaps & it’s faded or perhaps something got spilled on it in transit, but why not just write him & ask about the card in a neutral way?
He probably does many cards at a time given how many he can send now & perhaps he just picked up a dud & didn’t realize it - it’s easy to miss things if you’re doing multiple cards at once.
I would just accept it and move on. After all, the message on the reverse side is what really matters more so than the front. The person took the time to send you a nice message…then it’s a win. Just how I how see it. I do not think anyone can send me a bad postcard.
I think it’s an interesting mystery! It might turn out to be a dud or something that fell apart in transit (like others have mentioned) but if I intrigues you, I say ask the sender! I think it’s neat there’s faded lettering on one side, especially if it’s backward. If it’s intentional, I’d love to hear the sender’s take/what inspired the card!
Wow, I didn’t expect this many responses, but thanks to everyone who offered their ideas! I’m not going to bother the sender with another message (I already mentioned it to him in the “Hurray” message) because I don’t think it’s worth fussing about to him, but I appreciate all of those who helped with their ideas! It was really interesting to receive this so I was just wondering if anyone who got a similar card might know something–but I guess this was a pretty uncommon occurrence!
Tbh it doesn’t really bother me since I get plenty of non-blank cards on a typical basis, and I love the written side of his postcard anyways! It’s good to know that it’s not a “Postcrossing thing” that I was unaware of! Again, thank you to those of you who tried helping me figure it out; I really appreciate it
Normally I would close this topic now, but I think we are all curious to see if the sender writes you an answer. He hasn’t been online yet today and I hope that he will clear up the mystery.
Maybe it got wet and another card got stuck to it, and the reverse writing you see, is from another card?
I have received a card with image side partly covered like that. I first thought the image was ruined, but it’s underneath there, under the part from another card. It very amazing how firmly stuck the eccess part is. I couldn’t remove it. I think I should wet it, but I like it that way too.
I think the image is of an unfinished painting by Franz Kline, only this time he was using pink paint instead of his usual black, and obviously there wasn’t quite as much pink paint in the tube as Mr. Kline originally thought. Hence, unfinished. Or maybe Mr. Kline purposely made it unfinished, and he thought, probably about fifty years ago: “This will really give those Postcrossers something to talk about.”
I don’t understand what you mean.
Neither the TO nor anyone else who has posted here has made any negative or unkind comments.
And I am certainly not the only one who is interested in what happened to this card. And maybe the sender knows the answer.
