This attractive, reddish, 20-Para Ottoman Empire postal stationery card(w/ some stains on either side, and minor creases here and there) was sent on April 16, 1900, from the Ottoman Post Office in Uskub(present-day Skopje, Macedonia; light/faded, bilingual CDS), Ottoman Empire, to a Hermann Apolant(likely Jewish!), Deputy Sergeant of the Reserve, Berlin(a pretty fine, receiving CDS: 4/14), Germany! The sender was a person by the name of Salih Bey. He appears to have been fluent in written German! That fact, and taking into account the addressee's position in the Imperial German Army, would lead one to think that the sender had some kind of military or political connection! While I cannot read most of the message written in antiquated German, the word, "photograph," is written twice. Noted imperfections aside, this postal stationery card remains a nifty piece of postal history connected to the Ottoman Empire and German Empire, and the growing military connections between those two empires at that time!
P.S. According to the U.S. government's Harmonized Tariff Schedule:
https://hts.usitc.gov/reststop/file?release=currentRelease&filename=Chapter%2097
the Trump administration's removal of the "de minimis" exemption(from 08/29/2025) for certain imports from Japan does NOT apply to buyers of philatelic or postal history items, nor collectible post cards. SHOULD American-based buyers be mistakenly asked to pay duties on purchases, they are welcome to send their purchase(s) back for a full refund. As always, thank you for your interest in my store! If you have purchased from me in the past, once again, thank you for your business!
Sincerely,
Rich