If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 432

Wartburg, Eisenach, Germany, ca 1904

The postcard shared this week has an etching of Wartburg by Carl Jander, Berlin.  It is an undivided back card with a postmark of 2 12 04 or 2 December 1904.  Only the address of the recipient was allowed on the reverse and the message of “Merry Christmas, H.F. Sill Carioble” is found at the lower right corner on the picture side of the card. 

I was first attracted to the card because it was old, then when I picked it up I noticed that it had a texture and appeared to be an etching or engraving.  Etchings were reproduced but not mass-produced during this time period and earlier.  Etchings are made by burning designs or pictures on copper plates with acid.  The copper plates were then inked and pressed onto paper to produce copies.  Usually the artist signed etchings.  An engraver carves directly onto surfaces using tools not chemicals.  The only information I could find on Carl Jander is that he was a German etcher working in the early 1900s.

The subject of the card is Wartburg Castle located in Eisenach, Germany and built beginning in 1067.  Substantial renovations have been made, the most recent in the 19th and 20th centuries; therefore, while the castle still contains substantial structures from the 12th through the 15th centuries much of the interior dates to more recent times. 

Wartburg was the setting for a legendary Minstrels’ Contest in 1206/1207.  Richard Wagner later based his opera Tannhäuser on that event.  The castle was the home of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in the early 1200s.  It is also the place where Martin Luther stayed while translating the New Testament of the Bible from Greek into German.  The castle was the inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build his famous Neuschwanstein Castle. 

Today it is one of the most visited tourist sites in Thuringia and offers guided tours of the interior of the buildings.  There is a museum in the castle.  Donkey rides up the hill to the castle are available for children.  There is also a hotel next to the castle that was originally built during a 19th century reconstruction phase.  

Canceled stamp on the postcard

Stamp without cancellation marks

[internet image]

The stamp on the card was part of a new series issued at the beginning of 1900 that featured allegorical and patriotic subjects.  It has a picture of the German actress, Anna Führing (1866-1929) who posed as Germania in an 1891 photograph.  Her picture on the stamp eclipsed her acting career as she is remembered as the model for the Germania postage stamp rather than as a live theater actress or a silent screen star.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warburg
https://www.stamp-collecting-world.com/germanempire_germania00.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichspost