Belarus WWF Stamps

 

This postcard shows four series of four World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stamps from Belarus:

• 1995  Beavers
• 2000  European Lynx
• 2005 Black Storks
• 2010 Dragonflies 

The stork stamps in the lower right corner are an interesting se-tenant pair. The top stamp in the pair shows the adult stork's body, while the bottom stamp shows the adult stork's legs and the nestlings.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Man-Bird & His Bride Going to "Feather Their Nest"

 

Hartman Furniture & Carpet Co. used the slogan "Let Hartman Feather Your Nest" in their advertising. They had a large mail order catalog and also had stores in many cities. There is a copy of a 1916 Hartman catalog online here. Another post with a Hartman advertising postcard featuring bride and groom birds is here.

This postcard was mailed from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Lidgerwood, North Dakota. The year in the postmark is unclear, but it looks most like 1910 or 1916. The message:

Dear Folks

I thought I wrote last so was waiting for a card from you. Ida was here from Hankinson last week she only stayed one day will write more next time.  by by . . .

Thanksgiving Symbols

This Thanksgiving postcard design includes a little bit of everything. There are the common Thanksgiving symbols of turkeys and plentiful fruit. There are the patriotic symbols of flags and the American Eagle. There are chrysanthemums for Fall and forget-me-nots for remembrance and good luck.

I especially like that baby turkeys (known as poults) are included with Mom and Pop turkey.

Rivals - Eagle vs. Turkey

The American Bald Eagle was chosen to be part of the United States national seal in 1782. Not all were in agreement with this choice. Ben Franklin believed that the turkey would have made a better national symbol. According to Franklin, the eagle is a bird of  bad moral character. He felt that the turkey is a more respectable and courageous bird and would have been a more appropriate symbol.

King Turkey Day - Worthington, Minnesota

The following description is from the back of this postcard:

KING TURKEY DAY: Worthington's annual late summer festival. Started in the late 1930s, featuring a large parade lead by a flock of turkeys and many other attractions including the Great Gobbler Gallop, a turkey race between Worthington and Cuero Texas to determine the Turkey Capital of the World.

In the “Great Gobbler Gallop” the turkeys race through the streets of each town. Worthington’s turkey racer is named Paycheck, and the Texas bird is named Ruby Begonia. The turkey is chased by a human racing team that tries to steer their turkey toward the finish line by using noisy paddles. They are not allowed to actually touch the turkey. The King Turkey Day Grand Parade, a one-half hour extravaganza, takes place after the race with bands, floats, politicians, beauty queens, clowns, etc.

The 2012 dates for King Turkey Day festival are September 14 and 15.

Easter Greetings from the Chickies

Chicky brings my Easter Greetings.
We eggs-pect you'll have a Happy Easter.

These two Easter postcards were made by Whitney. The back of the first card has a greeting to Marjorie from Aunt Olga: "Wishing you a Happy Easter and hope you will get plenty of eggs."

Easter Greetings & Advertising

These chicks bring you Easter Greetings and an ad from Universal Tailoring Co. reminding you that Easter is a traditional time for new spring clothes.

Fair Easter hints of many things
As lovely as the rose—
Kind thoughts and gifts and lilies white
And folks in brand new clothes.

A Merry Xmas Dec. 25th

This is another postcard from 1911. I am posting it on December 25 because Dec 25th is part of the design. On the back, the sender (Mrs. Aberg or Alberg) is wishing Mrs. Sterling a happy Christmas, but she isn't very happy herself. This is what she wrote:

Dec 20, 1911
Wish you a happy happy Christmas & Bright New Year. For my Part I don't see much to be happy for the way we have it and I will write you later and you will see. Well I received your card some time ago. But had no time to answer. hope you can forgive. You asked me what baby's name was. We call her Leona Victoria.

I wonder why she didn't see much to be happy for.

Christmas Greetings from Shakespeare

These two postcards are from Gottschalk, Dreyfuss & Davis series 2231. The common elements on the cards are open books, birds, holly, and Shakespeare quotes. The first postcard has the quote "I'll note you in my book of memory" from King Henry VI. The second postcard has the quote "I wish you all the joy that you can wish" from Merchant of Venice.

Canadian & Swedish Bird Stamps - Capex '78

This postcard was issued in 1978 by the Swedish Postal Service to promote the CAPEX '78 International Stamp Exhibition in Canada. CAPEX stands for CAnadian Philatelic EXhibition. CAPEX '78 commemorated the centennial of Canada's entry into the Universal Postal Union.

At first, I thought that the Canadian and Swedish stamps pictured on this postcard looked like a joint issue showing the same bird. However, not only the birds, but also the issue dates, are different. The Canadian stamp shows Canadian Geese, while the Swedish stamp shows swans.

The back of this postcard gives the issue date for the Canadian stamp as 30 October 1963 and the issue date for the Swedish stamp as 5 September 1968. Although there is not a complete catalog of Swedish stamps online, the information I found does not support that issue date for the Swedish stamp. On a listing of Swedish bird stamps, this swan design was issued in 1942 and 1953. The 1953 issue is a booklet pair with one unperforated side like the picture on the postcard. Also a listing of 1968 Swedish stamps does not show this swan stamp.

For an illustrated listing of bird stamps by country, see the Birds of the World on Postage Stamps website.

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Garden Signs

These two vintage postcards both have pictures of garden signs in Florida with the same quotation by Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858-1932), an English poet and hymn writer. The first sign was at Busch Gardens, Tampa. The second sign was at Sarasota Jungle Gardens.

The quotation is from a longer poem:

THE Lord God planted a garden
In the first white days of the world,
And He set there an angel warden
In a garment of light enfurled.

So near to the peace of Heaven,
That the hawk might nest with the wren,
For there in the cool of the even
God walked with the first of men.

And I dream that these garden closes
With their shade and their sun-flecked sod
And their lilies and bowers of roses,
Were laid by the hand of God.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth, –
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

I'm participating in Signs, Signs

PFF - Christmas & New Years Postcards

This postcard is part of the New Year Bird Series. According to the ad on the back of the card, it is a sample of the Christmas and New Years Post Cards given for subscribing to Up-to-Date Farming about a hundred years ago. What an offer! For 25 cents you could get a one year subscription and 15 postcards! For 50 cents you could get a two year subscription and 50 postcards! I would have subscribed just to get the postcards.

PFF - Hartman Furniture and Carpet Company

Hartman Furniture and Carpet Co. was a Chicago company in business during the early 1900's. They used the bride and groom and bird theme and the "feather the nest" slogan on some other advertising postcards also. Even the back of the postcard has bird nest imagery.

The back also has something I didn't notice until I scanned it. Look closely at that heavy blue line under the Post Card heading. The blue line hides the words "NOTHING BUT ADDRESS ON THIS SIDE." That would have been true before messages were allowed on the back and the back was divided into spaces for the address and a message. Divided backs were first allowed on March 1, 1907.

Hartman had a large catalog as well as a number of stores. According to this ad from a 1913 Popular Mechanics magazine, they were the "Largest, oldest and best known home furnishing concern in the world." They were established in 1855 and had 22 stores in 1913.

SS - Chicken in the Rough

The "Chicken in the Rough" concept is said to have originated in 1936 when a bump in the road upset a box lunch of fried chicken as Beverly and Rubye Osborne were driving west from Oklahoma to California. When Rubye picked it up from the road, she commented "This is really eating chicken in the rough." Returning home, they started a restaurant serving fried chicken "in the rough," eaten with the fingers as no silverware was supplied. The name "Chicken in the Rough"and the design showing a rooster standing in a clump of grass with a broken golf club were trademarked. As business grew, a special grill to efficiently cook large quantities of chicken was developed. Osborne built several restaurants in Oklahoma City and began licensing other restaurants to use his concept. By 1950 there were 250 Chicken in the Rough franchises.

The contest mentioned on the back of the Chicken in the Rough postcard sounds like a great marketing idea and seems to have gone on for a number of years. There are some variations of both the front design and the wording on the back of Chicken in the Rough postcards. I wonder whether anyone ever won the prize and whether any of the postcards mailed to the office still exist.

At the present time, the Chicken in the Rough concept seems to be barely alive, but looking for new outlets.

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

VTT - Thanksgiving Gobblers and Shakers

I don't know whether turkeys were ever found in the city of New York, but picturing them with the Statue of Liberty makes for an interesting and unusual Thanksgiving postcard. This scene is actually less fanciful than most scenes of turkeys found on Thanksgiving postcards.

This week I am showing part of my collection of vintage turkey salt and pepper shakers. When I decided to collect turkey shakers (about 15 years ago), I didn't realize how easy it would be to find them. I think I ended up with seven sets within a short time, and I haven't added any since then.

These are the ones I have been leaving on a display year round. Maybe I'll get the others out next year. All of my sets include both a male and female turkey, which I think are more interesting than a pair of identical toms. As you can see, there is quite a variety in the way the turkeys are colored. All of the ones shown here are made in Japan.

Vintage Thingies Thursdays

PFF - Strongbow Turkey Farm and Inn

This postcard of the Strongbow Turkey Farm and Inn was sent in 1958. The Strongbow Turkey Farm and Inn was on Highway 30, at Valparaiso, Indiana. According to the information on the back of the card, all turkeys served were from their own flock. They also shipped gift turkeys anywhere in the U.S.

The restaurant is still in business and has a website: Strongbow Inn. In the 1980s, federal regulations forced the closing of most private slaughtering and processing plants, and the farm was sold to Wal-Mart for a shopping center.

PFF - South Dakota Pheasant Hunting

This postcard was mailed from Canistota, S.D. with a 2¢ Jefferson stamp. The postmark doesn't have a year date, but the postcard can be dated between 1954 (when the stamp was issued) and 1958 (when postcard postage increased to 3¢). The message mentions being in Canistota for treatment at the Ortman Clinic, a somewhat famous and unique chiropractic clinic that is still in business. A sentence added by the writer along the top edge of the back says "I chased this hen to S.D."

The description on the back of the card is as follows:

A HAPPY COMBINATION. South Dakotans are happy that their state is known as "The Pheasant Capital of the World." Good hunting abounds in many parts of the countryside. This comely young woman is shown holding a live pheasant.

The "Greetings from South Dakota" postcard also has pheasant hunting as a theme. It is an example of a name band postcard, a type that was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was published by Curteich in 1960.

Patriotic Thanksgiving Greetings

Flags and patriotic images aren't seen on today's Thanksgiving cards, but they were frequently used on early Thanksgiving postcards.