If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 701

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diénay (Côte-d’Or) – Château Veil-Picard, France, 1922

 

This is an unused Vintage postcard with a divided back, greenish color on reverse, printed or published by Breger Freres [Breger Brothers] of Paris, France.  Edit. Michel and the title Diénay (Côte-d’Or) – Château Veil-Picard is printed on the front lower margin.  The name of the printer/publisher is found to the bottom right of the center line on the reverse.  The card was another one found in a shoe-box jumble, but also seen on eBay with the date of 1922.   

 

 Breger Freres Logo

 

The company logo is an interesting and different design.  Most logos for postcards use initials, geometric shapes or objects. 

 

 

Diénay, is a community located in the Côte-d’Or region in Northeastern France.  Formed from the former province of Burgundy, Côte-d’Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution in 1790.  There are several other tourist attractions; however, the Château Veil-Picard is not listed among those named.  The picture on the card makes it look smaller than those that are listed.  Perhaps more like a villa or manor house than a château.  Since there are at least 100 châteaux or more in this area, it is possible that smaller ones do not get mentioned or often photographed.  This is a wine producing area where many of the châteaux have been converted into hotels or guest houses. 

 

Gallic Celts were the first recorded inhabitants of was became Burgundy.  They were incorporated into the roman Empire.  A Germanic people, called Burgundians, and who may have originated on the island of Bornholm, settled in the western Alps during the 4^th century.  The area changed hands a couple of times during conflicts between Germany and France.  The Abbey of Fontenay found in Burgundy, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has one of the best-preserved Cistercian abbeys in Burgundy.  Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Abbey of Vézelay is still a starting point for pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela. 

 

Côte-d’Or is a department in the region of Bourgogne, or Burgundy in English.  From the early 11^th to the late 15^th century Burgundy was the home of the Dukes of Burgundy.  The capital was Dijon, like the mustard.  It was wealthy, powerful, and center for art and science.  The Duchy of Burgundy is said to have been key in the transition from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe.  This area was one of the largest ducal territories.  The area changed hands at different times during conflicts between Germany and France.  The Abbey of Fontenay found in Burgundy, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has one of the best-preserved Cistercian abbeys in Burgundy.  Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Abbey of Vézelay is still a starting point for pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela. 

 

During the 100 Years’ War, King John II of France gave the duchy to his youngest son, Philip the Bold.  Later, King Louis XI of France took over the duchy itself.  The Low Countries, which had been part of Burgundy, passed to Duke Charles the Bold’s daughter, Mary, and her Habsburg descendants. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Di%C3%A9nay

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B4te-d%27Or

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 700

 

 

 

 

 

 Tours, France, ca 1914-1924

 

The perforation on the left side of the card indicates that this card was one in a booklet set.  It is an unused Vintage souvenir postcard.  Featured are four black & white photo views of the city of Tours with a young woman or girl wearing a traditional headdress in the center.  At the bottom margin on the front of the card is the number 48, the title Tours, and A.P.  The has card has a divided back with the typical greenish color that can be found on many European vintage cards.  A. Thiriat & Cie of Toulouse is identified as the printer or publisher on the reverse center line.  The card was found in a shoebox jumble and was purchased at a local antique mall. 

 

Thiriat & Company of Toulouse was known to issue cards with pictures of places, also military scenes, and people in uniform.  The pictures with people in uniform suggest they were from the World War I era, 1914-1918.  It is not known if Thiriat published or just printed the cards. 

 

The city of Tours is located in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France.  Situated between Orleans and the Atlantic coast it was originally founded and named Caesarodunum [“hill of Caesar”] in the 1^st century A.D. by the Roman Emperor Augustus.  During Gallic times it was an important point of crossing over the Loire River.  By the 4^th century A.D. the name was Turones, later Civitas Turonum, and finally Tours.  The Tours Amphitheatre, one of the largest Roman amphitheaters, can be found there.  Tours folk lore says that Turonus, the nephew of Brutus, died and is buried in Tours and the city was founded around his grave. 

 

Tours is famous for its bridges crossing the Loire.  There are two pictures of bridges on the card, one at the upper left and the other at the lower right corners.  The photos appear to be of the Wilson Bridge taken from opposite sides of the river.  This bridge is named afater the U.S. President, Woodrow Wilson.  Also pictured on the card, at the upper right is the Hôtel de Ville, and at the lower left, the Tours Cathedral, Saint Gatianus. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://rthcards.co.uk/pclogos/data/THIRIAT/THIRIAT_01.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel_de_Ville,_Tours

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_Wilson_(Tours)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tours

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 699

 

 

 

 

 

John P. Cable Mill, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee

 

Featured on this unused Carl W. M. Cline Co., Color-King Color Card, is a photograph of the John P. Cable Mill located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Townsend, Tennessee.  The card has the number 81280 at the bottom center line on the reverse.  There is a blurb at the top left corner on the back:  “John P. Cable Mill—Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Located in the Cades Cove section this is the only Grist Mill left in the park using an overshot wheel.” 

 

The building is described as being typical of what remote Appalachian farmsteads were like more thaan 100-150 years ago, thus providing us with a glimpse into history.  The Cable Mill, situated on its original site, is just one of several historic buildings in the park.  Other buildings were brought from elsewhere and reconstructed on various other sites on the park grounds.  For instance, the blacksmith shop built in the 1950s, is representative of what a blacksmith shop would have been like in the 1870s or thereabouts. 

 

There is a dam on Mill Creek from which the water is funneled down a wooden flume and onto the top of the mill wheel.  There are several different types of water wheels.  The one used on the Cable Mill is called an overshot.  The water running over the wheel activates the mechanism to grind the corn using a mill stone.  The same wheel also powered a heavy reciprocating blade to cut logs making it possible for the miller to be able operate both a grist mill to grind flour and a sawmill to cut logs with one water wheel.   

 

 Some families had “tub” mills that could grind small amounts of grain; however, mills like the Cable mill were larger and stronger.  The miller would barter or charge a fee to grind the meal or saw logs.  A typical house in this area was a log cabin.  The sawmill could saw logs and save many back-breaking steps if the settler could provide the logs, trade or pay for cutting the lumber.   

 

Adjacent to the mill is the Gregg-Cable house, believed to have been constructed from some of the earliest timber cut on the Cable Mill.  It was built in 1879.  It is the first and only remaining all-frame house in Cades Cove. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Gristmill

https://www.nps.gov/places/cable-mill-historic-area.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_wheel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smoky_Mountains_National_Park

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 698

  

 

 

 

Vintage Valentine card, ca World War I era

 

This used postcard was sent to Miss Eunice McCoy of Duck, Wisconsin from her friend, Elaine.  The stamp is partly torn off and unfortunately it had part of the cancellation mark on it, making it difficult to place the year.  However, from the uniforms and the shoes the girl is wearing it appears to have been printed around the time of World War I, 1914-1918.  The card has a divided back, the number 501 and a trade mark at the upper left corner on the reverse.

 

 

Trade Mark logo 

The card came to me inside a handmade, collage valentine by my granddaughter, M a couple of years ago.  She found the postcard, knew I collect them and kindly sent it.  I am sharing her card too, since I like it very much and it is quite lovely as well.  Thanks M for both cards.

 

 

 

M's homemade collage Valentine

 Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 697

 

 

 

 

 

Florida Sea Biscuit

 

This Murphy Bros., Press, Inc. postcard has a photograph and printed information about the Florida Sea Biscuit.  The card has a note at the lower left on the reverse:  “Story of The Sea Biscuit in Florida.”  The code numbers:  76-34 appear just below the note.  

 

This card caught my eye since the name was different, but the picture looked like the Sand Dollars we find here on the Pacific Northwest coast beaches.  It turns out that the Florida Sea Biscuits are rounded, or puffed up, and not as flat as the ones we find here.  There are many names and varieties of these round burrowing sea urchins that belong to the order Clypeasteroida.  They can be found in New Zealand, Brazil, South Africa, and other places around the globe. 

 

When the creature is alive it is covered with velvet-like spines.  The white skeletons that can be found on the beaches have been bleached by the sun and were thought to resemble a very large silver coin.  Other names include things like, sea cookies, snapper biscuits, pansy shells, and sand cakes.  Folklore from Georgia (U.S.A.) says the sand dollars were believed to represent coins lost by mermaids. 

 

 

 

Pacific Coast Sand Dollar, 2023

 

 

This Pacific Coast Sand Dollar is still alive and was found at low tide at Pacific Beach in Washington State.  The flower like design that is very visible on the bleached skeletons can only be faintly seen on the living urchin.  Amazingly early versions of these creatures have been around since the Jurassic period.  When I was a girl there were thousands of sand dollar skeletons on the ocean beaches, now they are not as common.  When Bob and I were hiking on Camano Island this fall it was heartening to find quite a few sand dollars on the beach there. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/Sand_dollar

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 696

 

 

 

 

Luzern [Lucerne], Bahnhof, ca early 1900s

 

This is an unused, divided back, postcard from the early 1900s.  Pictured is the Lucerne, Switzerland, railway station.  The number 1533 and Kunstverlag E. Goetz, Luzern is found on the bottom left margin on the reverse.  Aside from the title of “Luzern Bahnhof” there are no other identification marks or credits provided. 

 

This rail station is located in the Lucerne city center and is a major hub for the rail network in Switzerland.  The first station, built of wood in 1856, was on the edge of Lake Lucerne. The station pictured on the card is the “new” or rebuilt station that was designed by Hans Wilhelm Auer, and opened in 1896.  The larger new building was not just an addition to the older structure but an entirely new one with a distinctive cupola and turned 90 degrees toward the north and the bridge leading to central Lucerne.  The tracks were electrified in 1922.  World War I interrupted additional expansion plans and that work was not carried out. 

 

A fire in 1971 that destroyed the entire building with the exception of the front entrance gate meant the station had to continue operations with temporary buildings.  It wasn’t until 1991 that a new station, designed by Ammann and Baumann together with Santiago Calatrava, was built to replace the one shown on the card.  Today there is an underground shopping arcade and longer platforms, also there is a “generous public space that links various city center functions with the railway.”

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucerne_railway_station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Auer

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammann_und_Baumann

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Calatrava

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 695

 

 

 

 

 

Lombadas Mineral Water Building, St. Miguel, Azores, ca early 1900s

 

This is an unused Vintage postcard with a divided back dating from the early 1900s.  The number 7 appears at the lower left on the reverse.  Along the left border, also on the back side of the card, is:  Café Tavares, Largo  Conselheiro João Franco.  No photographer is identified.  The place shown on the card is the mineral water building in St. Miguel (Michael), Azores.  I found the card in a shoebox jumble at the local antique mall.  

 

Although it is no longer being used, mineral water was bottled here.  Because the soil is volcanic and heavily enriched with carbon dioxide, the spring produces a natural sparkling water.  The water is also rich in minerals, especially iron.  Red iron residue can be found in the nearby stream beds.  The buildings in the photograph have been abandoned and are now covered in moss and other vegetation due to the warm humid climate.

 

São Miguel Island (Saint Michael) is called the Green Island.  It is the largest and most populous island in the Azores.  The island has six volcanic zones.  Most of the people live along the coasts due to volcanic cones and craters in the interior. 

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Miguel_Island

https://www.discover-azores.com/en/lost-places-nature-always-wins/