Postcrossing Blog

Have a look at the following postcards from the sixties:

Notice something… unusual? In some postcards it is quite obvious, in others not so much… but the red car is always there!

Andreas Möller loves the Ford Taunus. Throughout the years, he has collected lots of memorabilia related to the car of his dreams, enough to fill a room with brochures, operating manuals and even postcards! One day, he noticed something strange… in many of the postcards he had, the car was the same, a red Ford Taunus 12m with Hamburg license plate HH-KX 942!

The more he looked, the more glaring it became… there it was, in front of the church in the Dutch town of Zutphen, or stopped at the French-Belgian border crossing in Menen as well as in several other towns of the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. Sometimes it was featured prominently, others it was discretely parked in the background… How was that possible?!

Mr. Möller doesn’t know for sure, but he speculates that the car most likely belongs to the photographer. In one of the postcards, the trunk of the car is slightly open – indicating that perhaps the just got his equipment out of it before taking the photo.

Contacted by Mr. Möller, Hamburg town hall revealed that unfortunately the records about this car had already been destroyed, so there might be no way to find out more about the mysterious fan of the Taunus … but what a great story it is!

You can see the rest of the postcards on this gallery on the Spiegel website, where the story was first published (in German). And a big thank-you to Mr. Möller, who let us borrow his card photos and tell his story. If you have any information that might help him solve this automobile mystery, leave a comment below! :)

Last weekend, we brought the Little Mail Carrier’s cousin along for a trip to Cologne, where the latest Postcrossing meetup took place. He was really excited about it – here is his account of the day! :)

Hi everyone! Last weekend, I travelled to Cologne (or Köln, as they say in German) to see the city and meet the local postcrossers… I didn’t know much about the city beforehand, so the first thing I noticed was their huge Gothic cathedral, right in front of the train station!

Whoa… look at that! It’s just… massive! Did you know it is a UNESCO World heritage site, and the most visited landmark in Germany? I couldn’t wait to get inside and have a closer look…

I could have spent hours there, just wandering around, admiring the stained glass windows, tiled floors and golden relics…

The Hohenzollern bridge that crosses the Rhine just in front of the cathedral was also quite impressive! All the fences were covered in love padlocks… how sweet!

But enough of culture and sightseeing – it was time for shopping! We hopped on Isagv's backpack and off we went!

Our first stop was at the Maus shop! You might have seen this orange mouse on German postcards before… he’s really famous around here! Maus stars in a beloved children’s cartoon called Die Sendung mit der Maus (The program with the mouse) which first aired in Germany in 1971. We hanged out for a bit, and I tried to get him to share the secret of his success, but he didn’t talk much…

After that, it was time for proper postcard shopping! Cologne has a neat postcard shop, the Walther Königs Postkartenladen. Inside, thousands of postcards awaited the eager hands of the many postcrossers…

When all our bags were filled with postcards and our bellies started to rumble, we headed down to the riverside for mealtime. The food was nice, but everyone was more interested in the postcards! As soon as the plates were cleared, we all started to write, sign and stamp the many many postcards…

… which were then sent on their way around the world, to the mailboxes of other eager postcrossers and friends!

When it was finally time to say good-bye and head off home, my cheeks were hurting from so much smiling and smiling! A big thank you to everyone who attended for this lovely experience – it was great to meet you all!

Group photo by Isagv on Flickr, where you can see more photos from this meetup.

Would you like to meet other postcrossers too? Check the forum for future meetups in your area – or if there are none, just start one!

Meet dotdotPC (aka Liisa) from Helsinki, Finland. She loves reading, gardening… and studying new subjects!
Here is her Spotlight interview:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I’m a Bookcrosser and I found links to Postcrossing site from fellow Bookcrossers’ profiles. Once I followed the link and here I am. I’ve always liked postcards, sending them and just handling them. I work at an archive. In last ten years my job description has changed and administration and digital archives take more and more of my time. I don’t get in touch with paper as much as I used to. I think handling paper in form of pretty postcards comforts me. It reminds me of my childhood and of the years of my early career when my duties were less complicated and I could focus on old paper documents and history.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

I already mentioned Bookcrossing. Earlier I was very active participating and organizing local meetings and events but other things take more of my time these days. I’m still quite active, but only via the Internet. My profile is here.

During almost all of my Postcrossing years, I’ve been studying after hours. Years after getting my last diploma, I realized that I know nothing of pedagogy and applied for a year’s course at the University. Now I’m studying after hours again. I have also realized that studying is one of my hobbies. I used to be active in some associations earlier, but I don’t have time for them anymore. Last summer I took a course in genealogy. It’s very interesting, but I have time only to assist my sister in her research.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

For years I used the Helsinki General Post Office. Architecturally, it represents functionalism of 1930s, my favorite style. Unfortunately it’s not open to public anymore, but you can see a photo of it by Joonas Antikainen here.

Now I use another post office, that represents functionalism, only four years younger and not so grand as the old General Post office. Postoffice 00510 Helsinki is close to both my home and my office, so it’s very practical.

I live in the fourth floor of a small block of flats, with no elevator. So far our mailmen and mailwomen have always been very friendly, whenever they have rang our doorbell for oversized letters (usually Bookcrossing books).

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

I don’t feel good about choosing favorites, as I’ve received so many fantastic and lovely postcards. I decided to show a great card about 1920s Roly Polys. I like the picture, it’s a museum postcard and it’s the very first card to arrive in our new (that is present) home in 2008. It made a new flat to feel more like a home, even if we hadn’t even moved in when it arrived.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I like whole process. Sending and receiving postcards gives me similar joy now as they did when I started this hobby and I received less cards per week. Many postcrossers send really great cards and write kind and interesting messages.

Receiving postcards is lovely, but yet my favourite part of the process is getting new addresses and choosing cards for others. I’d like to send an individual card to every person, but it’s getting more and more difficult. So many people wish for city views and landscapes, that I must send similar cards to different postcrossers. I also like making my own collage postcards for those who wish for handmade cards.

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

I’m passionate about my work. As a former public servant I’m passionate about the principle of publicity in administration. I like to encourage and advise people to use their right to get information about public affairs. There are other things, too, more connected to my spare time. Gardens are one. I’m not a skilled gardener, but I’m very eager to learn, I usually assist my sister in my mom’s lovely garden. Graveyards are another. Where ever we travel, my husband and I try to visit local graveyard, especialy in our own country.

Ever since souvenir picture postcards made their USA debut at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, postcards touting images of cities began sprouting up everywhere. Although several firms manufactured the popular big letter “Greetings from…” USA postcards, one company in particular really made the process their own – Teich Company (pronounced “Tike”).

Based in Chicago, America’s number one printing town, this family of printers created thousands of charming designs showcasing tourist attractions all over America, but hit the jackpot when they invented the processes to create the unique look their big letter designs are known for. Easily identified by their bold colors and bigger-than-life images, Teich’s patented methods of fabrication were so exact and involved (and kept secret by founder Curt Teich), it is almost impossible to perfectly recreate these sought-after collectors items, even with present-day technology.

No town was too small or obscure for Teich to manifest in postcard form; in 1933, Teich began producing their line of “Greetings from…” designs and by 1956 they made around 1,000 individual designs, paying homage to American cities in all 50 states (and to the states themselves).

After the company closed in 1978, their archives were donated to the Lake County Discovery Museum, in Illinois, which now runs a museum with them. The Curt Teich Postcard Archives contains over 350,000 postcards, and the collection is considered the biggest public postcard collection in the world.

BONUS: For all the photoshoppers out there, here are step-by-step instructions for making your very own big letter souvenir postcard! Enjoy!

Over the years, we’ve sometimes felt the need for a set of guidelines that clearly explained what Postcrossing is about. Something that would help set up the expectations for the new members of the project, as well as define some basic ground rules: a sort of dos and don’ts of Postcrossing.

So a few months ago we’ve sharpened our pencils and started collecting all of Postcrossing’s guiding principles in one place, carefully discussing each item. We’ve asked for input from some longtime members of the community and incorporated their feedback. And today, we’re happy to publish them. You can read them on the new Postcrossing Community Guidelines page.

Postcrossing’s guidelines are not new, and include basic things like “Always send a postcard to the addresses you request” or “Register postcards on arrival”. Most of them were implicit and already written on different pages of the website… but because they were spread out, it was hard for members to find them and be aware of them.

We believe that these guidelines will help bring the community closer together, and make the Postcrossing experience a more enjoyable one.

Have fun and happy Postcrossing!