The Strangest and Most Unusual Postcards from Around the World
Does a postcard have to be rectangular? Not necessarily! Imagine opening your mailbox and seeing a bill, an advertising leaflet, an envelope and suddenly…a wooden piece of something or a card that shows two different pictures when you move it.
If you thought the world of postcards ended with the classic 10 × 15 cm rectangle, then today we have a little surprise for you.
Postcrossers send each other postcards made of wood, 3D cards, puzzles, postcards in unusual shapes, panoramic giants and many other oddities.
On the Postcrossing forum, there are entire threads dedicated to shaped cards, unusual materials, lenticular cards or 3D postcards, and some users even put such cards on their wishlists.
That is why today House of Postcards is taking you to the slightly crazier side of the postcard world.
Warning! After reading this post, an ordinary rectangular postcard may suddenly seem suspiciously… ordinary.
Gotochi
If you have been into Postcrossing for a while, you have probably seen this phrase on more than one profile:
"Gotochi welcome!"
These Japanese postcards definitely do not look like ordinary cards. Gotochi feature characteristic symbols of specific places in Japan – local foods, traditional clothing, landmarks, landscapes or other regional curiosities. The word gotochi itself refers to something local, but the best part is their shape.
They are not rectangular, the card takes the shape of the object shown on it.
Well-known designs have included geishas from Kyoto or melons from Ibaraki Prefecture. Each prefecture has had many different designs, so collecting a larger set quickly turns into a serious challenge.
And here comes an interesting detail, the unusual shape comes at a price.
The official Postcrossing blog points out that Gotochi cards are more expensive to send than ordinary postcards. So if a Japanese Postcrosser sends you one, it is worth remembering that it is neither the most obvious nor the cheapest choice.
Shaped postcards
Gotochi are not the only cards that decided to rebel against the rectangle. There is an entire world of shaped postcards, meaning postcards cut into unusual shapes.
And this is where the fun begins.
You can find postcards shaped like:
🐱 animals,
🚂 trains,
✈️ airplanes,
🏯 buildings,
🍜 food,
🚗 cars,
🌸 flowers,
🗿 monuments,
and even everyday objects. The official Postcrossing blog has described cut-out postcards featuring, among other things, means of transport, food, sculptures, animals, toys, flags and famous landmarks from around the world. There is even a separate thread on the forum where Postcrossers show the shaped cards they have received and sent.
Wooden postcard
This is one of those things that is hard to believe until you actually see one yourself. Wooden postcards, meaning postcards made from thin pieces of wood, really do travel around the world and we are not talking about graphics that imitate wood. We mean real wood.
On the Postcrossing forum, users show such items received through official Postcrossing. One Postcrosser even described a wooden card as the first unusual material they had ever received, and it was this very card that sparked their interest in postcards made from materials other than paper.
Some are printed, others are engraved, and still others use the natural texture of the material as part of the design.
Are they convenient to store? - Not necessarily.
Do they look amazing in a collection? - Definitely.
3D and lenticular postcards
Do you remember pictures that suddenly changed when you tilted them? That is exactly the effect used in lenticular postcards. You move the card and the image changes.
A character may move, a view changes from day to night. One picture turns into another, or a 3D depth effect appears.
These cards are not a new invention. Postcrossers’ memories show that for some people, three-dimensional postcards were actually the beginning of their fascination with the entire hobby.
Puzzle postcard
This is not a modern idea at all. The official Postcrossing blog describes puzzle postcards that were already known at the beginning of the 20th century. In some designs, the puzzle pieces could be separated along perforated lines, and sets were even used during social “puzzle parties”, where people timed how long it took to complete them. Today, you can still find postcards that are also puzzles, and some reveal an additional message once assembled.
A postcard you have to... destroy to find out what it is about
An even more difficult case - cutout postcards. At first glance, they look like ordinary postcards, but they contain elements designed to be cut out or pushed out. Once assembled, they can turn into a car, a building, an animal, an airplane, a monument, or even a small three-dimensional construction.
“Find me” postcards
There are also cards that, instead of lying peacefully in an album...make us use our brains. On a very detailed illustration, you have to find a specific character or object. The idea is similar to the popular Where's Wally?/Where's Waldo? books.
The postcard stops being just a picture, it becomes a little game.
Postcards with moving elements
Since we have already made the postcard move...let’s go one step further.
There are cards with rotating wheels, sliding parts and elements that change the appearance of the illustration - spin-the-wheel cards. You rotate an element and the text or part of the illustration changes. It is an analogue app, not a postcard. Only without updates and without a charger.
Panoramic postcards
Panoramic postcards can be much longer than classic cards. They have one huge advantage, they allow you to show a view that simply would not fit into a standard format, for example a mountain panorama, a city skyline or a coastline.For landscape photography, this format can be fantastic.
Unusual formats sometimes require separate boxes or changes to the way a collection is stored, but what wouldn’t we do for beautiful postcards?
Maximum Card
A Maximum Card is not unusual because of its material or shape. Its uniqueness comes from something completely different.On the picture side, there is a stamp related to the subject shown on the postcard, and to complete the effect, there is also a suitably matching postmark. So the postcard shows a specific subject, the stamp refers to it, and the postmark should also be connected to it.
This triple correspondence is the essence of a true maximum card. Interestingly, Postcrossing mentions a story regarded as the beginning of this format. In 1893, a tourist in Egypt is said to have sent a card depicting a pyramid and the Sphinx, placing a matching stamp on the picture side. Over time, maximaphily developed into a separate field of collecting, officially recognised by the International Federation of Philately in 1978.
A postcard that gets a second life
In the world of postcards, there have also been projects containing seeds. So theoretically, you can receive a postcard, and a few months later have flowers.
But remember that the best postcard is not the most expensive or the strangest one, it is the one that brings joy to the person on the other side.
And actually… when does a postcard stop being a postcard? Perhaps that is the most interesting question of all.
Is a thin piece of wood or a puzzle card still a postcard? A piece of cardboard that turns into a model when assembled?
Postcrossers have been discussing these boundaries for years, and perhaps there is no need to define them at all. Because it is precisely this diversity that means that even after receiving hundreds or even thousands of cards, you can still open your mailbox and say: “Oh wow. I don’t have one like this yet!”
After all of this, however, we have to stand up for our classic postcard. Because it does not need moving elements, sometimes the most exceptional card is completely ordinary, just a few sentences written especially for us. They can be absolutely crazy or completely simple – and every single one of them can tell a story.
And now check your collection, what is the STRANGEST postcard you have ever received?
We have a feeling that after reading your answers, we will have to prepare:
“The Strangest Postcards in the World – Part 2”. 😂