A postcard unearthed during a house clearance in Donegal has sparked a mystery going back more than 40 years.
The Christmas-themed card was discovered by David Faughnan, proprietor of Letterkenny’s Universal Books store, during what was supposed to be a routine day’s work. But to his shock David found himself at the heart of a story which began in Dublin in 1977.
Universal Books on Church Lane is renowned for its unusual collection of oddities and historical gems. In its 24 years in business it has also built up a reputation for carrying out house clearances – taking away goods when someone is decluttering or when someone has died.
Over the Christmas period David was invited to the west Donegal home of a gentleman who had passed away.
“A friend of mine asked me to help him clear this man’s house,” said the store owner.
“This gentleman had a lot of stuff, I mean a lot. He had a vast collection of stamps, notes, vintage cards, that sort of thing. So we took it all away and I put some of it my shop. Some of the stamps were first day issues, really beautiful stamps and one day this young lad came in and bought the collection of postcards the stamps were on. But he came back to me and said he couldn’t frame them because they had people’s private addresses on them. I grabbed one out of the pile and asked him ‘well what about this one’. When I took a closer look at it I suddenly realised it was addressed to my brother.”
A close up of the well-travelled piece of mail.
The blank and unsigned card was addressed to Stephen Faughnan of Sunday’s Well, Castle Knock, Dublin, the Faughnan family’s former address. The three attached stamps are clearly marked November 3, 1977.
The Faughnan family is at a loss as to the origins of the card but believe that it may have been sent to Stephen by someone who knew he was an avid philatelist and who wanted to gift him the stamps rather than the Christmas card. How it ended up in a house in west Donegal remains a complete mystery however.
David added, “My granddad Thomas Faughnan was postmaster here in Letterkenny for many years and dad made us collect stamps when we were younger. But how did someone in west Donegal, someone I can’t ask any more because they have sadly passed on, end up with a letter that was sent to our home in Dublin in 1977? It is the most random thing and none of us have any idea.”
As for the mystery card, it has been returned to its rightful owner, Stephen Faughnan, 43 years after it began its remarkable journey.
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