Today is Columbus Day.

It was interesting to see that in March of this year a court in Spain ruled no to an auction of a 1498 letter penned by Christopher Columbus to his son Diego; it was banned from leaving the country saying it is of “huge national importance”.  It was valued at an estimated $20 million dollars!     

For full details there is this article from March 11, 2015 in The Guardian: “Christopher Columbus letter must not leave Spain – court stymies Duke of Alba.”
It includes:

“The  foundation maintains that, as the letter wasn’t written from the Americas and is personal, it is the least significant of the 21 letters from Columbus in their collection and would have little effect on Spain’s cultural heritage if it were auctioned by British auction house Christie’s.“

Here’s to the letters we write and send being prized by our families and friends & viewed as priceless too!

Anchors Aweigh,  

Helen

Attribution & Thank you to the following who are referenced today —

Image upper left 1893 U.S. stamp of “2-cent Landing of Columbus” Landing Columbus Exposition, US Postal Museum @PostalMuseum.   It is also known as the Columbian Issue, and is one of sixteen in a series of stamps commemorating the 400th anniversary of the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas.

Article: “Christopher Columbus letter must not leave Spain – court stymies Duke of Alba” March 11, 2015 The Guardian by Ashifa Kassam @guardian