Today in Postal History

This picture post card was franked with a 4c. carmine Kaiser Yacht Hohenzollern of the 1905 series (Scott 25).
It received a single CDS from Tsingtau (now Qingdao), famous for its beer.
The destination was Vienna, Austria, where it was readdressed as the recipient had moved.
There are no receiving markings.

Kiautschou was a 200 square mile district in China on the Yellow Sea on the south side of the Shantung Peninsula.
It was seized by Germany in 1897 and was subsequently leased to Germany by China.
It was just one of the imperialist actions taken by European states at that time in China.

It was shortly thereafter that the Boxer Rebellion occurred.

The Germans built a rather European-looking city there as indicated by the postcard illustration.
I suspect that Irenestrasse shown was the showpiece boulevard in Tsingtau.
Irenestrasse was named for Kaiser Wilhelm II's sister-in-law,
Princess Irene of Hesse and the Rhine, married to Prince Heinrich of Prussia.

Today in Postal History
January February March April May June
July August September October November December

Pastnotes Index - The First 300 and the Next 208
provides more tidbits about stamps and collectors.

Comments? Send me an e-mail
Please include a reference to this item.