Workers at a bpost sorting office in Liège discovered a postcard stamped in 1936.
“The card ended up in the sorting bins of Liege's Rive Gauche office, where sorting is still done by hand,” Laura Cerrada Crespo, bpost's spokesperson, explained to RTL.
“It did not come from us,” the spokesperson said. “It wasn't lost in the bpost meanderings. It must have been put in a box by someone who found it during a move or a garage sale.”
The postmark indicates that the card was sent to Liège from Florenville 85 years ago. Florenville is a Walloon municipality located in the province of Luxembourg.
Photo from bpost
The front of the postcard depicts one of the oldest tourist attractions in the province of Luxembourg - boating on the river. It reads: En barquette de Chiny à Lacuisine.
The hard-to-identify sender thanks a “Madame Clerdentmouton,” resident of Liège, for sending newspapers which “gives him great pleasure.”
Bpost is trying to find out who the addressee is and whether she is still alive, and has handed the case over to the city.
“We tried to find the woman in the national register, but it doesn't go back very far,” said Elisabeth Fraipont, city councillor of the civil registry in Liège.
The register only dates back to 1968.
“We will therefore have to turn to the city's archives and go and search to try and find the beginnings of a lead,” Fraipont said.
Note: the address on the postcard has been censored to protect the privacy of those who reside there now.
