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Postcard El Caracol Observatory Chichen Itza Yucatan Mexico Chrome 1950s
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Chrome · 1958

Postcard El Caracol Observatory Chichen Itza Yucatan Mexico Chrome 1950s

Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico1958ChromeExcellent

Rising from the jungle plateau of the Yucatán like a stone telescope aimed at eternity, El Caracol — the Maya astronomical observatory at Chichén Itzá — commands this vivid mid-century chrome card with the quiet authority of a civilization that tracked Venus to within a few minutes of arc. The Dimacolor photograph captures the structure's remarkable cylindrical tower atop its broad two-tiered platform bathed in saturated tropical light, the surrounding grass still lush and untamed, the sky a dramatic cobalt punctuated by cumulus — the kind of sky the ancient Maya priests read each dawn. El Caracol (Spanish for "snail," named for its interior spiral staircase) was built approximately 900–1200 CE and oriented so its windows align with Venus risings and the spring equinox sunset, a feat of naked-eye precision that still astonishes modern astronomers. This unused card was published by Dimacolor out of Mérida and bears a pre-cancelled 80-centavo Mexican airmail stamp — a fine collectible pairing of ancient science and mid-century philatelic color.

$10.95
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PC-00194 · Dimacolor / Diaz Massa, Mérida, Yucatán
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