AUSTRIA 1909 ’BRIDGE GATE’ POSTCARD THORN TO ST. JOHNS NEWFOUNDLAND
1909 (Jul. 5), Picture Postcard from Thorn, West Prussia via Austria to St. Johns, Newfoundland. The multi-view topographical postcard depicts the historic Bridge Gate (Brückenthor mit altem Schloss) in Thorn, and is franked with an Austrian definitive combination including a 2h violet and a 5h green Emperor Franz Joseph I adhesive. The 5h is struck on the illustrated front face by a partial circular THORN / 5 / 7 / 09 dispatch postmark. The reverse address panel contains a purple double-oval regional sender cachet reading Paul Kopka / Kalkau / Kreis Neisse / Germany, alongside an administrative handwriting note John R. unportofrei. Addressed in purple ink to Herrn John A. Garland, 94 Barnes Road, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Nord Amerika. The card is in a sound and intact state of preservation with minor edge corner wear.
This picture postcard records a cross-border postal transmission routed from Prussia into Austria before crossing the Atlantic to Newfoundland. The sender, Paul Kopka, used a pre-printed German postcard depicting the medieval fortifications of Thorn (modern Toruń, Poland) but mailed the piece from Kalkau (Kałków), a border village located in the Prussian Province of Silesia adjacent to the Austrian crown land of Bohemia. By utilizing Austrian stamps on an imperial postcard to reach an address in St. Johns, the sender navigated regional cross-border tariffs. The destination of Newfoundland remains an uncommon destination for early 20th-century Central European mail, particularly via complex regional border paths.
Please examine lot scan carefully and please send any questions at least 48 hours before the auction closes. Please note that cover condition usually includes normal wear and tear to cover edges, opening tears and some creases and wrinkles. Only exceptional or extreme condition issues will be mentioned.
Legend:
PS - Postal Stationery
FL - Folded Letter
SFL - Stampless Folded Letter
RPO - Railway Post Office
CDS - Circular Date Stamp
DPO - Dead Post Office
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