Chalet Motels

Postcard US-3429629 to Michigan was a vintage card that advertised Chalet Motels for being "Luxury and Economy Across the Nation." It boasted amenities such as air refrigeration, television, kitchens available, heated pool, and room phones

Recommended by AAA, it offered free reservation service to all other Charlet Motels. Major credit cards accepted.

The credit line stated "Litho by bob Plunkett, R. S. Los Angeles 6."

Stereoscope : Ascending and Descending

I received a stereoscope card NL-2125293 from the Netherlands today. It shows Ascending and Descending, a lithograph print by the Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher that was first printed in March 1960.

Originally measured 14" × 11¼”, the lithograph illustrates a large building with a never-ending staircase on the top. While most two-dimensional artists use relative proportions to create an illusion of depth, Escher uses conflicting proportions to create a visual paradox, showing one line of people ascending while the other descending all one the same staircase.

In addition to the print in front of the card, the card has a pair of stereoscopic lenses that, when unfolded, allows parallel-viewing two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer; these two-dimensional images are then combined in the viewer's brain to form the perception of 3D depth of the building.