Frankenstein is NOT the monster, despite popular belief! The character Victor Frankenstein has created The Monster, frankly speaking. Frank(enstein)ly speaking. Maximum card from USA, that I finalized by sending for a Hollywood postmark the "Made in China" postcard, already FRANKed with stamps, face and back, by my friend Teodor Ghiatza-Melnic, perhaps the greatest collector in the world of all things Dracula.

The Wolf Man stamp on the back shows a scared, rather than scary Wolf Man, in  my opinion. :)

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by Mary Shelley. 

Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1817. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France. 

It is common to refer to the monster itself as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the monster is identified via words such as "monster", "fiend", "wretch", "vile insect", "daemon", and "it"; Shelley herself called it "Adam".

Through research one can determine the many influences the author was under during the creation of the novel. She had traveled the region in which the story takes place, and the topics of galvanism and other similar occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions. 

The actual storyline took place from a dream. 

Mary Shelley was talking with her three other writers and they decided they would have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. 

After thinking for weeks about what her possible storyline could be Shelley dreamed about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he created. 

Then "Frankenstein" was written. Frankenstein is infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement and is also considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. 

It was also a warning against the expansion of modern man in the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. 

The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. 

The novel is also partially based on Giovanni Aldini's electrical experiments on dead and (sometimes) living animals."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankenstein%27s_monster_(Boris_Karloff).jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein

Please explore some of my blogposts about Dracula (Bram Stoker's Vampire), and the historical Vlad Dracula (Vlad The Impaler):

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search/label/Dracula

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2011/04/who-do-you-think-is-buried-here-evil-or.html

I had to scratch very carefully, with hard dishpad, the glossy real photo/postcard and

 the glossy/plastic-coated zazzle stamp.

That way, enough ink was absorbed.

Another thing that I did was to apply the canceller device gently, without rapid hitting as a postal worker does, then keep it reasonably-hard pressed on the card for about 2 seconds.

Then I pressed gently a paper napkin, to soak the excess ink.

Finally, I let the card dry up, without covering it, in the car on my way home, and at home.

The ink was still a little wet and smearable at home, so I let it dry fully. :)

This is the backside - it's always a good idea to have the postmark applied here, too, for better visibility.

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

How To Embed Practically Anything On Your Blog or Website - from mashable.com. Also, I show you one of my coolest virtual (not finalized yet) maxicards, with the 2006 Austrian stamp that has REAL METEORITE DUST EMBEDDED in it!!! Also, their official FDC with that stamp!

Please read and use the cool info: How To Embed Practically Anything On Your Blog or Website

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Now, look at the famous meteorite dust stamp from Austria Post, one of my most favorite postal administrations in terms of innovation and open-mindedness.
I only wish they would not force us to buy a minimum of 100 stamps, if we want to buy personalized stamps.
Too expensive! Learn from zazzle.com, etc., who asks only for 20 personalized stamps as a minimum!

"Post from Another World

The ground meteorite has been applied to the stamp by the Austrian State Printing Company using a method specially developed for this purpose. 

The meteorite was first examined by the Vienna Natural History Museum, an institution that has acquired an excellent international reputation through over 200 years of collecting and investigating meteorites, and identified as being H-chondrite (a stone meteorite, subgroup of “ordinary chondrite”). 

The Vienna Natural History Museum’s examination provides proof beyond doubt that an original meteorite has been used for the stamp. 

The meteorite most probably originated from the Asteroid Belt, an accumulation of hundreds of thousands of chunks of stone, ranging in size from gravel stones to mountains, that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter (at an orbital radius around three times the distance between the earth and the sun).

The chemical composition of the mineral olivine (stated as Fa18) is typical of this kind of meteorite, and can be verified by examining the meteorite dust on the stamp. 

The chemical and physical properties of the meteorite examined, like all other meteorites, are such that they constitute no risk to human health. 

The part of the roughly 19 kg meteorite that was not required for the production of the stamp has been deposited as a reference sample at the Vienna Natural History Museum, where it is on display."

http://www.post.at/eshop/philatelieshop/detail.php?prod=206040#

You can still buy the stamp or the cover, I guess!

Here's a cool protective jacket for that stamp.

Stamp in the jacket, then into a plastic sleeve.

The official FDC (First Day Cover).

My virtual maximum card, where I temporarily superimposed the stamp onto a composite, cosmos commercial postcard.

Postmark could be acquired in the future, but I'm in no hurry.

I like it as it is - a cosmic dorincard, with no nearby post office to give the postmark...:)

Or, I could electronically superimpose the image of the postmarked stamp from the FDC (see above).

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

Please visit:  http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

Can you decipher this 109-years old writing, in a mysterious (to me) language? Yiddish? "Carta postala" sent by [?] from Jassy [Iaşi], Romania on 14 Dec 1902, to "Louie Haimovici, Forsyth Street 143, New York, America", and arrived on 30 Dec 1902 in New York. Also, I show you MINE FLOWERS on Romanian stamps

Could this be in the Yiddish language?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ia%C8%99i

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City

Please help decipher the message, if you have the knowledge!

Thank you! :)

This might be a gem of a postal card, or it could be a not-so-rare type.

But it's already UNIQUE/UNIKAT/UNICATE because I don't think that the sender has sent any duplicate the same day! :)

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Now I show you some ROCKS that are not gemstones, but they are interesting nonetheless.

Stamp series from Romania, 1985.

FLORI DE MINA means MINE FLOWERS, as they are called in the mining industry.

From left to right, and from the upper row:

5 lei (denomination) - Tetrahedrite, from Cavnic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahedrite from Cavnic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavnic

In 1717, the Cavnic inhabitants defeated the invading Tatar Horde, and that was the last time when Tatars (not Tartars - a misnomer) invaded Romania.

3 L - Quartz, from Ocna de Fier.

"Quartz is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO₄ silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO₂."

Please explore this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz

"Along with Dognecea area, Ocna de Fier is among the few settlements in the world that supported almost continuous mining for some 4000 years.^[2]

Archaeological evidence shows that mining in the area dates back to the Bronze Age (1900 -1700 BC). The main ore exploited in those times was native copper from the oxidation zone of the deposit. Later on, iron ores brought about a gradual switch from copper to iron mining.

Mining was an activity of the Dacians, the ancient inhabitants of present day Romania. After the Roman conquest in 106, mining was expanded in the Roman province of Dacia. At Berzovis (present day Berzovia, ten kilometres northwest of Ocna de Fier) a Roman metallurgy school, Schola fabrorum, was established, showing the keen interest the Romans had in metal extraction. At Cracul cu Aur (= "Golden Hill" in Romanian), north of Ocna de Fier, old Roman gold mining galleries can still be seen. They look like the much better preserved ones at Rosia Montana ("Verespatak"), in the Apuseni Mountains.

The "Constantin Gruescu" Iron Aesthetic Mineralogy Museum is located in Ocna de Fier".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocna_de_fier

50 b [1 Leu = 100 bani] - Quartz and Calcite, from Herja.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcite

DID YOU KNOW that the biggest regional museum of Mineralogy in Europe is in Baia Mare, Romania?

"Muzeul de Mineralogie din Baia Mare este cel mai mare muzeu regional din Europa, multe dintre exponate fiind considerate unicate mondiale şi valori de patrimoniu."

http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzeul_de_Mineralogie_Baia_Mare

2 L - Gypsum, from Cavnic.

"Gypsum is a very soft mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO₄·2H₂O.^[3] It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale."

"Gypsum is used in a wide variety of applications:

• Gypsum Board^[15] primarily used as a finish for walls and ceilings; known in construction as drywall.
• Plaster ingredient.
• Fertilizer and soil conditioner. In the late 18th and early 19th century, Nova Scotia gypsum, often referred to as plaster, was a highly sought fertilizer for wheat fields in the United States. It is also used in ameliorating sodic soils.^[16]
• A binder in fast-dry tennis court clay.
• Plaster of Paris (surgical splints; casting moulds; modeling).
• A wood substitute in the ancient world; for example, when wood became scarce due to deforestation on Bronze Age Crete, gypsum was employed in building construction at locations where wood was previously used.^[17]
• A tofu (soy bean curd) coagulant, making it ultimately a major source of dietary calcium, especially in Asian cultures which traditionally use few dairy products.
• Adding hardness to water used for homebrewing.^[18]
• A component of Portland cement used to prevent flash setting of concrete.
• Soil/water potential monitoring (soil moisture tension).
• A common ingredient in making mead.
• In the medieval period it was mixed, by scribes and illuminators, with lead carbonate (powdered white lead) to make gesso which was applied to illuminated letters and gilded with gold in illuminated manuscripts.
• In foot creams, shampoos and many other hair products.
• A medicinal agent in traditional Chinese medicine called Shi Gao.
• A medicinal agent in Ayurveda medicine's Rasashastra branch (Indian alchemy) (ref. Rasamruta).^{[citation needed]}
• Impression plasters in dentistry"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsum

4 L - Stibine, from Băiuţ (Hungarian: Erzsébetbánya), a commune in Maramureş County, Romania.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stibine

In Romanian: http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C4%83iu%C8%9B,_Maramure%C8%99

1 L - Native Copper, from Altân Tepe.

"Copper, as native copper, is one of the few metallic elements to occur in uncombined form as a natural mineral, although most commonly occurs in oxidized states and mixed with other elements. Native copper was an important ore of copper in historic times and was used by pre-historic peoples".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_copper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt%C3%A2n_Tepe_mine

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Happy Sunday Stamps meme!

Please visit: http://viridianpostcard.blogspot.com/