Thursday, August 18, 2011

Cottbus, Germany

This card is a bit of a mystery. Walter Kahl sent this from Cottbus to Francis H. Sweet, Company E 15th Infantry in the Philippines in 1913. Cottbus is a city in northern Germany, located about 78 miles southeast of Berlin. The card has the stamp on the front, which was fairly typical in France, but unusual in Germany.


The message itself is also unusual.  Well, actually there isn't a message, just a name and address and "Hedwig" below that. Hedwig is a female name in German. So, whether it's a code name of some kind or another way of relaying a message, I can't say for sure. In any case, the card has many date stamps, starting with the cancellation date on October 3rd, 1913 and ending with a received stamp of November 14th, 1913. There are several other handwritten notations on the card.  It's all very mysterious.



10 comments:

  1. Intriguing...great piece for your tramway collection! :)

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  2. Love the tram. And I wonder about those date stamps?

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  3. It looks as though the card may have been following him around and was stamped each time. I wonder what the "page 5" meant too. There seems to be a line drawn between Hedwig and page 5.

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  4. Great post! Nothing like an old post card for bringing mystery into our lives.
    Thanks for the Follow!
    ;)
    rose

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  5. it is intriguing...very mysterious. As Sheila said,it could have "followed"..but,it still seems odd!!

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  6. I am so sorry! What a gaffer on my part!
    Guess my mind just got turned around on all the to-doings here lately. It really has been a really trying time of it.
    But no excuses--I should have paid better mind to what you were doing, and not sound like I'm trying to leverage anyone into a Follow.
    Please forgive my glaring error.
    My apologies
    Rose

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  7. I wonder why "Hedwig" is in quotes.

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  8. Interesting and great image. The bicycler is interesting.

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