President William Howard Taft and VP James S. Sherman

The Nations Choice
For President
Hon. William Howard Taft
of Ohio

For Vice President
Hon. James S. Sherman
of New York

This is postmarked in 1908 with a one cent Franklin stamp.

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William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909-1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930). He is the only person to have served in both offices.

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James Schoolcraft Sherman (October 24, 1855 – October 30, 1912) was a United States Representative from New York and the 27th Vice President of the United States (1909–1912), under President William Howard Taft.
He was the first Vice President to fly in a plane (New York, 1911), and also the first to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game.

Here is one more postmarked in 1908 with pre-printed signatures  ...

Oak Bluffs Gingerbread House in Massachusetts

Gingerbread House

One of the Quaint Gingerbread Houses in the Camp Meeting Grounds at Oak Bluffs.

Photo by G. Frederick Stork in 1986

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Oak Bluffs is a town located on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It is one of the island's principal points of arrival for summer tourists, and is noted for its "gingerbread cottages" and other well-preserved late-nineteenth-century buildings.

One Direction, What Makes You Beautiful

One Direction
What Makes You Beautiful

Happy Summer Holidays Love..
Niall Horan
Birthday: 13th September
From Westmeathe, Ireland
Favourite Film: Taken
Popcorn; Salty or Sweet: Salty
Perfect First Date: Slurping spaghetti at an Italian restaurant

unused Boomerang postcard from 2011

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One Direction are an English-Irish pop boy band based in London, consisting of members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. They signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records after being formed and finishing third in the seventh series of British television singing competition The X Factor in 2010. The group subsequently signed in the United States with Columbia Records. Becoming a prominent figure in mainstream popular music and popular culture, their two albums Up All Night (2011) and Take Me Home (2012), broke several records, topped the charts of most major markets, and generated worldwide chart-topping singles, including "What Makes You Beautiful" and "Live While We're Young".

Zambia, Africa

Zambia

View from Nkamba Bay Lodge

Hippo on Lake Tanganyika

Beach Near Kasaba Bay Lodge

postmarked in 1978 with two Zambia stamps

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Zambia declared its independence on the day of the closing ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics, thereby becoming the first country ever to have entered an Olympic games as one country, and left it as another.

                                                  

Zambia stamp 1975

Giant Pangolin (Manis temmincki) 10 n

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Zambia stamp

Lady in National Dress (Dancer) 8 n

New York - 9-11-01, Never Forget (Twin Towers with the Statue of Liberty)

Never Forget
9-11-01

At the time of its completion, the 110-story towers of the Former World Trade Center were the tallest in the world with over 50,000 people working within its walls.  The September 2001 tragedy resulted in 2,752 deaths and only twenty survivors pulled from the collapse.

In an effort to memorialize and rebuild, construction of a new WTC began in 2006.  Upon its completion in 2013, the rebuilt WTC (informally known as "The Freedom Tower) will represent hope, change, and new beginnings.  Symbolic of the year of the US Declaration of Independence, One World Trade Center will stand at 1,776 Ft making it the tallest building in American and the Tallest All-Office Building in the world.

Photos by Stephanie Izzo

unused, from 2011

Exaggeration Postcard: Tomatoes from Hatch, New Mexico

 How we do things at Hatch, New Mexico

Exaggeration postcard with tomatoes larger that the wheelbarrow

postmarked in 1914 from Hatch with a 1 cent stamp

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Hatch is a village in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,648 at the 2010 census.

Map of the Turks and Caicos Islands

Map of the Turks & Caicos Islands

postmarked within the US in 2011 with a USA Liberty Bell stamp

the sender writes:
This is ALL of the Islands.  The Salvation Army is opening here this weekend (3/4-6/11)!
We're on Providenciales Island.

Rock Out with the Original Star Trek

Rock Out!

Shown are members of the original Star Trek television show:
McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Scotty (James Doohan), Chekov (Walter Koenig), Kirk (William Shatner), Sulu (George Takei) and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols)

unused, bought in 2012

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Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew.  It ran on NBC from September 8, 1966 to June 3, 1969.

The show is set in the Milky Way galaxy, roughly during the 2260s. The crew is headed by Captain James T. Kirk, first officer Spock, and chief medical officer Dr. Leonard McCoy.

Shatner's voice-over introduction during each episode's opening credits stated the starship's purpose:

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.

Lucy the Elephant in New Jersey

Lucy the Elephant
"Lucy" is a National Historic Landmark.  She was built in 1881 by James Lafferty.  Lucy stands six stories tall and weights 90 tons.  Lucy was used as a function building.  Now visitors can tour inside for a small fee.

This unused postcard is from 2013.

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Lucy the Elephant is a six-story elephant-shaped example of novelty architecture, constructed of wood and tin sheeting in 1881 by James V. Lafferty in Atlantic County, New Jersey in an effort to sell real estate and attract tourism.

Today, this is a tourist attraction. Guided tours take visitors into the building through the spiral staircase in the left rear leg up into the interior, then up again into the howdah to see views of Margate, the Atlantic City skyline, and the Atlantic Ocean.

Presidents McKinley and His Wife Ida at the Temple of Music in Buffalo New York

Temple of Music, Buffalo, N.Y. Where Pres. McKinley was Shot
David Ellis, Publisher, Buffalo, N.Y. Printed in Germany

This unused postcard features a picture of Mr. and Mrs. William McKinley and a metal buffalo.

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The Temple of Music was a concert hall and auditorium built for the Pan-American Exposition which was held in Buffalo, New York, in 1901. U.S. President William McKinley was assassinated inside the building on September 6, 1901. The structure, like most of the other buildings at the exposition, was demolished when the fair ended.

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William McKinley (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) was the 25th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897, until his assassination in 1901, six months into his second term. Though his administration was cut short with his assassination, his presidency marked the beginning of a period of dominance by the Republican Party that lasted for more than a third of a century.

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Ida was born in Canton, Ohio, the elder daughter of James Saxton, prominent Canton banker, and Katherine DeWalt. Her grandfather, John Saxton, in 1815 founded The Repository, the city's first and now its only newspaper. A graduate of Brook Hall Seminary, a finishing school in Media, Pennsylvania, Ida was refined, charming, and strikingly attractive when she met William "Bill" McKinley at a picnic in 1867. They did not begin courting until after she returned from a Grand Tour of Europe in 1869. While single, she worked for a time as a cashier in her father's bank, a position then usually reserved for men.

Jesse James, America's Most Wanted

Jesse James
America's Most Wanted
Circa 1882

Jesse James, (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882), train robber, bank robber, stagecoach robber, gunslinger, was shot dead by one of his own gang, Bob Ford, who couldn't resist the $10,000 reward money, dead or alive.  Jesse took off his guns in his home in St. Joseph, MO to straighten a picture on the wall, Bob Ford picked up one of Jesse's pistols, shot him in the back and ended the life of one of Missouri's most famous citizens.

Photo courtesy of Jesse James Farm & Museum, Kearny, Missouri

This unused postcard is from 2013.

Steve Irwin with a Crocodile at the Australia Zoo

Australia Zoo
Sunshine coast Australia.

The back has Crocs Rule! with Steve and Terri Irwin's pre-printed autographs.

This was postmarked in 2000 with Australia 'Big Greasy Butterfly' stamp for $1.

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Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006), nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian wildlife expert, television personality, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted with his wife Terri. Together, the couple also owned and operated Australia Zoo, founded by Irwin's parents in Beerwah, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of the Queensland state capital city of Brisbane.
Irwin died on 4 September 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film titled Ocean's Deadliest.

The Taj Mahal in India - Real Photo Postcard (and more...)

real photo postcard of the Taj Mahal

the back reads the words 'post card' in seven languages at the center of the top

unused

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The Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal who died in 1631 during the birth of their 14th child, Gauhara Begum. Construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632. The principal mausoleum was completed in 1648 and the surrounding buildings and garden were finished five years later. 

In 1983, the Taj Mahal became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

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here are a few more postcards ....

Tajmahal. Agra (Taj Mahal)

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Taj Mahal
This is a postcard from a collection of matchbox covers.  The box reads...

"Every minute, day and night, in a thousand places, East, West, North, South, at the lightning of a million cigarettes, oil lamps and gas stoves, the subliminal glimpse of a matchbox label accompanies the elemental thrill of making fire!"