Lighthouse Postcards Home Page Home Page of my Lighthouse Postcards

Yes, I know, and you are perfectly right ... the picture below doesn't show a lighthouse. It is a watertower and it is there because it is the start of my postcard-collection.

I've started collecting postcards in 1987, more or less as a spin-off from the centennial of a local industrial monument, the watertower. In my hometown Deventer there are buildings that are much older and much more monumental, but that tower was kind of special. For many of years I cycled past it on my way to secondary school, which was near the park surrounding the watertower; the school's sporting grounds were even immediatly next to the tower. So when the waterworks were open to the public at the centennial, I gratefully grabbed this opportunity to visit that always so near, but yet unaccessable building. That's how I became interrested in industrial monuments in general, and watertowers in particular.
The centennial was commemorated by the issue of a serie of three stamps by the Dutch PTT. At that time I was an on-off stamps collector, and when a local stamp-dealer issued a maximum card I have bought a few. It was the start of my postcard-collection of watertowers.
I gradually included lighthouses into my collection. Dispite the contradictory naming (the dutch word for lighthouse is "vuurtoren", or literally "firetower") there is a lot in common. Both share the functional but also elegant design, both have a public utility function, both are marvels of technique. As a matter of fact the southern of the twin lighthouses on the Dutch isle Schiermonnikoog has served as a watertower for many of years, after it was discontinued as lighthouse.
Over the years the focus of my postcard-collection shifted to lighthouses, and though I won't deny the occasional watertower postcard, the emphasis of my collection is now almost fully on those magnificent sentinels on our coasts.

Remarkable though, one of my dearest postcards is not a lighthouse-postcard, nor does it show a watertower !

The Lighthouse Postcard Collection Pages

My collection of lighthouse postcards is still growing steadily (currently 2930), and I think it is great to share some of the fun it gives to me with other people.
But ... I will save the best for the end, as soon as the sections below are available, I will attend to this section.

The full list of my lighthouse postcard collection is now available on the web. Because the full detailed list is rather large to be viewed at once, I've split it up into a number of pages. If your browser supports XML, the index-list in XML format is the best start since it offers sorting. Otherwise use the HTML-version of the index-list which will direct you to a more detailed description.

The Lighthouse Postcard Exchange Pages

Just as my collection of lighthouse postcards is growing steadily, so does the stack of postcards for trade.
The Lighthouse Postcards For Trade pages are primarily available to everyone who agrees to some simple rules on trading postcards with a closed wallet, as promoted by the Carpe Post Cardum group. Usually this means a swap on a 1-4-1 (one-for-one) base, after the partners in the swap have agreed on the deal by email, but other arrangements can also be made.
For this reason I have appended an estimation of the postcard's value; not so much to sell the postcards as well to provide a tool to facilitate balancing the swap. That does not at all mean that every swap has to perfectly balanced, after all the main purpose of the swap is that both will get some welcome additions to their collection. On the other hand it's a game of give-and-take whereas a consistent unbalance over a longer period will not work that well.

Because the full detailed list is rather large to be viewed at once, I've split it up into a number of pages. The index-list merely contains an index which refers to one of the pages with a more detailed description. If your browser supports XML, the index-list in XML format is a good alternative since it offers sorting.

[ These pages are located on another provider, where the introduction-page holds a copy of the section below. ]

The Lighthouse Postcard Terminology Pages

When collecting or trading something such as lighthouse postcards, there is a need for an adequate and objective description. There are even standards for such a description and they are available on the world-wide-web. But beware ... and notice the use of the plural form of the word "standard" ... there is more than one initiative to define a standard.
( I've tried to adhere as much as possible to the original meaning of one of the older and well accepted standards, that of the Barr's Post Card News ).

I have to admit that this resulted in yet another compilation of knowledge available on and widely spread over the web. On the other hand all of the information is now concentrated and within a few clicks distance, and ... I do have added my two cents.
Such as a lot of postcard-scans, in my humble opinion a welcome addition, because just a few sites provide examples (amd mostly just a few).

And though the description as well as the examples are restricted to postcards of lighthouses, ninety percent of what is in these page is not just interesting for lighthouse-postcard collectors in particular, but also for postcard collectors in general.

There is one main page discussing the postcard-terminology, there are dedicated pages discussing the postcard-condition (under construction) and the length of shot. The text on these pages contains references to a considerable number of examples. A summary of all examples is given in a seperate index-page, from which they can be addressed also.

Email: Rudy.Muller@net.HCC.nl

last modified: 22-aug-2007

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