Mysterious Postcard From Otoman Empire To Austria (1901)

Postmarks says that it was sent from Wien (Austria) to Wien (?), although Postcard itself is Turkish... issued by French office in Constantinopole(?)

Or it is sent from Otoman Empire, and it was cancelled after it has arrived in Austria... I am not sure what "bestellt" exactly means in the Austrian postal vocabulary.

I don't know anything... it is very damaged, but it really looks great... and only initials of the receiver (with the Poste Restante) makes it even more mysterious.

Bestellt means delivered. This card was sent "Poste Restante"; it was to be picked up at the post office.

Peter

Porzellangasse is a street in Vienna so that is also part of the address. You'll have to check the rates, but I think this postcard was mailed within the city - not from the Ottoman empire. It's pretty common to find postcards from one country that are mailed in another. I see early foreign postcards mailed within the U.S. all the time.

It appears to be a love letter (postcard)...early in the relationship as he doesn't use du.
Message reads...
Bitte mir zu sagen wann wir uns sehen konnten am liebsten an einem Vormittag. (Please let me know when we can meet/see each other. I prefer in the morning)
Handkuss (I kiss your hand)
Alfred Lichtensteiner

xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx (cannot read that bit) eine gute idee.
Wie freue ich mich mit Ihnen zusammen zu kommen.
Bin wahrhaftig glueklich. (xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx is a good idea. How I look forward to see you. I'm truly happy)

It has probably been a secret love, because he used only initials of the E.F., and Poste Restante has been (and still) is unusual method for the personal usage of the receiving mail...

It looks like the stamp has been replaced. The original stamp, Austrian Post Offices in Turkey has been removed and an ordinary Austrian stamp has been added,

Pagoda

As Battlestamps mentioned, it is probably all done locally and never left Vienna. The message is dated the 26th.
I missed one part of the message... it says "Adresse Universität"

Finally decyphered the whole message.

The handwritten part after "Salut de Constantinople" is actually Austrian dialect and reads "Endlich a moal eine gute Idee".. meaning "finally a good idea".


There's never an Austrian around when you need one

Its beautiful.

I especially like the weathered, rugged nature contrasted with the romantic illicit nature of the message.

what year is it? 1901 or 1911?

Imagine that someone has carried or stored this around for sentimental reasons for a long long time--when all logic one would look at it and throw it away years ago as a beat up old, worthless piece of paper.

thanks for sharing--I'd put in in plastic and file it away

I agree with Scotzm. This is an Austrian domestic card. If the postcard was sent from Turkey to Austria and, then, the Turkish stamp removed, there should be some remains of a Turkish postmark, which I fail to see.
Perhaps, if it's a secret/forbidden love affair using a foreign card might be a way no to give clues to strangers.

The photo is of a procession of the imperial guard in front YILDIZ PALACE in Besiktas Istanbul. It could be a Friday prayer ceremony for the Sultan Abdulhamit II. Most of the images of the "Postcartoglob" cards are from 1870 to 1890s.

Vienna, 1901 or 1911, a rendezvous between lovers, poste restante ... why aren't we thinking 'spies!'?

1911 can be ruled out as the postcard is dated after Alfred's signature. It reads 26/11/0?. The postmark on the stamp is poor and no clear date is there. The Delivered postmark says 26th November but no year. From the style of writing I would guess 1909.


I agree about SPIES... but this is clearly industrial espionage with the E.F. who is the object of Alfred's attentions finally meeting him only to steal his plans for patenting the world's first NON-DIP headlamps.