I am “migrating” this Topic from the Legacy Forum because I originated it and hope that it will be of interest here in the New Forum, too. Included are two of my Posts within the original Topic. Perhaps others who posted in the original thread will do so here.
The Oldest Postcard Ever Sent and Received in Postcrossing?
Thursday, June 25, 2020 - 22:25 (UTC -5)
Greetings, All:
Does anyone know anything about the oldest physical postcard ever sent and received in Postcrossing?
By this I mean a postcard not previously used, that is, previously unsent without any canceled stamps on it, and sent as a postcard through the regular mail, not sent inside an envelope or any other protective covering, e.g., a package, and sent in the normal process of Postcrossing (request address, prepare and mail the card, the card is received and registered).
Last year was, by general agreement, the 150th Anniversary of the Postcard. Postcrossing has been in existence for ten percent of that time.
Of the over 57 million postcards sent during the past 15 years of Postcrossing, which one, successfully sent and received and on someone’s Wall, can be dated reliably to be the oldest of them all?
Since the 15th Anniversary of Postcrossing is upon us, I am wondering about this. Please share about these ancient visitors from postal deep time.
On June 17, 2020, I mailed Postcard US-6769003 to Member hepman, who received it and registered it on June 25, 2020. US-6769003 is on our respective Walls, uploaded by me just before sending. I selected this card for hepman because he is one of what I call the “Postcrossing Titans”, those who have sent at least 10,000 cards. Whenever I draw one of the Titans, I make an extra-special effort to find something that they absolutely do not have so far. US-6769003 qualifies for this and then some because it is certainly among the oldest cards ever sent in Postcrossing.
On the occasion of the Fifteenth Anniversary of Postcrossing, I offer the following “human interest story” about US-6769003 for the enjoyment of the general Postcrossing Community.
Several years ago, long before I found Postcrossing.com, I bought this pair of postcards in an antiques store here in the Delaware Valley. They were offered as a set from a local estate sale.
One was “sent” (with a canceled stamp and mailing address) and one was unsent. They were two instances of the Postcard A11703 published by The American News Company of New York in 1907.
You may download a small folder of images (PDF and JPEG) of these postcards from DropBox at the following link. The password is US6769003.
The folder contains the front and back of the “sent” card, the front and back of the companion unsent/blank card (which became US-6769003), and the back of US-6769003 itself (with privacy redactions) as received by hepman.
I noticed these cards because I know the physical place shown in their photos. It’s a view from the Riverton-Belvidere Bridge.
This place (Belvidere, New Jersey) still exists. It is a little town on the Delaware River.
Belvidere, NJ is about 13.5 miles (24 km) from Easton, PA.
The “sent” card shows an origination postmark from Belvidere on (Friday) July 12, 1907, at 5:30 PM (17:30). The destination postmark in Easton is the same day at 7:30 PM (19:30). That is amazingly short turn-around time. The card was very likely delivered the next day.
My wife and I drove over the Riverton-Belvidere Bridge and saw the view shown on the photo of the cards earlier this month. Also, the house mentioned as the street address in the city of Easton, Pennsylvania, still exists (832 Northampton Street) and we drove by that place several weeks ago, too. (Time to sing the classic Disney song, “Small World”!)
Here’s more on The American News Company. At this link, find “American News Co” and scroll down until you see the “Litho-Chrome” logo. Here’s where you’ll see more detail about the A-Series postcards, of which US-6769003 is one.
Notice the third card, “Along the Delaware River, Belvidere, NJ”. This is also an American News Company card in the A-Series, Number A11700. Click on it to see front and back.
This link, to our Smithsonian Institution, locates US-6769003 in time as just before the “Divided Back Period”. See earlier post in this thread from Member Bowyum.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this telling of the journey of US-6769003 as it has finally (113 years later!) fulfilled its destiny of being sent successfully, in friendship, somewhere out into the world (back to its country of origin, no less!).
I have a handful of unsent postcards from around the turn of the last century that I also bought in antique stores. I cannot send them without an envelope, because they are too small to mail, according to USPS parameters. This one in particular cracks me up, because of the over-the-top sexism:
I haven’t such antique postcards, but this year I received two pretty old cards and I liked them very much. One from USA (about 1977 - 1979) and another from Russia (1984).
They both older then me
During Christmastime 2019, I received these colorful little postcards as a gift from a friend with whom I worked as a volunteer at a local food bank. The cards were in mint condition, as though from a time capsule. I did some research and found the company that produced them was from the Boston, Massachusetts area and was famous for them because of their (the postcards’) great colors.
We can’t see it now, but where I placed the current stamps to send these cards was printed the instruction to affix 1¢ (USD) postage for domestic (US) destinations. That rate was in effect from July 1, 1898, to Jan. 1, 1952, so our little cards are at least 68 years old! I am happy that they have fulfilled their destinies by traveling in friendship across the world.
For your consideration, this is Page 17 of the Bucks County Herald’s July 9, 2020, edition. (Be patient. The page takes a little bit of time to load because it’s far away (the U.K.) and graphics-intensive.)
The page is “live”, that is, you can mouse all over it and scroll through the postcards.
Of specific interest on this web page is “Doylestown Train Station, back” found in Row 3, Column 2. Note the “Litho-Chrome” logo and the letters “A”, “N”, “C” in the leaves of the three-part shamrocks and the “N” and “Y” to either side of the shamrocks’ stems. “ANCNY” stands for “American News Company of New York”.
Where have we seen this before? Above in this Topic!
The “Doylestown Train Station” postcard (“Order No. 11740” shown under the “Litho-Chrome” logo) is a “first cousin” of Postcard US-6769003 (ANCNY ID# A-11703).
Check out the card in the article entitled “Delaware Bridge, Frenchtown, N.J.”. The view is from New Jersey over to Pennsylvania across the Delaware River. The whole bridge is now metal without any of the wooden covering shown in the postcard’s photo. See here =>
I didn’t plan it this way, but as I recently crossed the 500 Cards Sent milestone here in Postcrossing (On Reaching 500 Sent Today), I see that about twenty per cent of my Sent cards are of people and places in and around Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Hunterdon County, New Jersey (where I live), and their immediately adjacent counties. The Delaware Valley is just lovely, dotted with historic and picturesque river towns, parks, and nature preserves. I’ve enjoyed being in and around all the places shown in this Bucks County Herald article and my own Sent cards for over forty years. It’s great to be able to share where you’re at through Postcrossing.
Do you happen to know the name of the Boston company that printed them? There’s a Leap Year Publishing in Andover, Mass., but that Leap Year was founded in 1997.
I wonder if they’re still in business. If they are, I hope they’ve, um, updated their messaging a bit. (Boy, were they obsessed with predatory bachelorettes.)
Here is the oldest card I received so far. It’s 43 years old (at least, that what’s the sender has written) and I’m impressed about the bright beautiful colours.
