Horologium

Postcard HK-398848 from Hong Kong features Horologium, a faint constellation in the southern sky with only one star, Alpha Horologii, an orange giant, brighter than apparent magnitude 4. The constellation was first described by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1752 as l'Horloge à pendule & à secondes (clock with pendulum and seconds hand.) It is one of the 88 modern constellations.

The card came with one of the Year of the Monkey stamps issued by Hong Kong Post.

New Moon Stamp by USPS is Out

Postcard UA-1386362 from Ukraine shows a full moon over the horizon. Today, USPS put out the new Moon Global Forever international rate stamp today. It continues to be a round stamp as other Global Forever stamps, featuring a detailed surface photograph of the moon. It sells for USD 1.20, which is good for mailing a 1-ounce letter or postcard to any country where the First-Class Mail International service is available.

Update: As of April 10, 2016, the new Global Forever international rate is decreased to USD 1.15.

Dragon Dance

Postcard US-3372308 to Finland shows a Kung Fu team performing the dragon dance at Chinatown Plaza in Las Vegas on February 22, 2015. Dancers manipulate the poles positioned at regular intervals along the length of the flexible dragon body, mimicking the supposed movements of this mystic creature in a sinuous, undulating manner.

Similar to the lion dance and often performing together, the dragon dance can usually be seen during the Chinese New Year celebrations.  It was a highlight during the Year of the Monkey Spring Festival at Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road earlier today.

Dragon dance at Chinatown Plaza in Las Vegas on February 21, 2016

13th Annual Montana Pro Rodeo

The 13th annual Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame Scholarship Fundraiser, Banquet and Gathering will be held today on January 30, 2016 at the Holiday Inn Grand in Billings, MT. It is the largest state high school rodeo scholarship program in America.

Holiday Inn Grand, one of the largest hotels in Billings, was recently sold for 7.85 million dollars at an auction and is in the process of conversion to Radisson.

I picked up this event card at the 2015 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

Update: the card was later sent as US-3934044 to California.

Cobb Hall at the University of Chicago

On January 23, 1992, USPS issued a stamped postal card with a 19-cent pre-printed stamp to commemorate the Centennial of the University of Chicago. The card features the first building completed on campus in 1892 - Cobb Hall, named after benefactor Silas Cobb. Designed by Henry Ives Cobb (not related to Silas Cobb), the building was modeled after the Gothic style featured prominently on the Oxford University campus in England. It currently hosts the humanities and social sciences, as well as the Center for the Study of Languages, and the Renaissance Society Contemporary Art Museum.

The first-day-of-issue postmark, cancelled from the city of Chicago, IL, also features an outline of Cobb Hall.

Update: the card was later sent to Belarus as US-3841631.

America the Beautiful -- Sonora Desert

The second postal card in the America the Beautiful series was issued January 13, 1989 in Tucson, Arizona. The design features an eagle soaring over the Sonora Desert in the golden glow of sunset. The 15-cent stamped card was the first philatelic item of 1989 by USPS.

Buffaloes, Custer State Park, Black Hills, South Dakota

Postcard US-3761486 to Germany is a vintage card showing Custer State Park, a state park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota. On the back of the card, it reads: "Custer State Park is one of the largest State Parks in the U.S.A. It contains 128,000 acres of wonderful scenery, consisting of mountains, picturesque gorges, beautiful lakes and streams. 90,000 acres are under fence, and roaming unmolested within this enclosure are Buffalo, Elk, Deer, Big Horn Sheep, Rocky Mt. Goats and Antelope."

Wikipedia lists the park area as 71,000 acres. Founded in 1912 and named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, the park has an annual buffalo roundup and auction in September, where buffaloes are rounded up, with surplus sold at auction so that the remaining number of animals can be sustained by the rangeland forage. However, those "buffaloes" are actually American Bison as shown on the card.