eBay Tuesday: "Greetings From New London!"

Search for any city or town on eBay, and most of them are likely to return a wide range of postcards as the main match. They're cheap, easily producible products that let you tell family and friends a little bit about where you've been. And there's not a lot of space for writing, so you have to make sure you get your message out quickly.

It's easy enough to find New London postcards even now, and on eBay they're all over the place. We already did one profile on . This week, we're going with a more general postcard: the standard "Greetings from New London!" offered by user mikeleach in Georgia. His eBay store is World Wide Postcards, and he offers about 62,500 of them.

"New London, Conn. celebrated its 300th birthday in 1946, but is still young in ideas," the blurb on the back of the postcard reads. "An excellent harbor provides facilities for commerce and recreation. New London's offers the safest bathing on the Atlantic coast. Colonial relics and modern naval facilities are additional features of interest to visitors. Welcome to New London!"

I have to admit I'm not sure what appears in some of these letters. Clearly that's Ocean Beach in the E and the second N, plus the in the first N, the in the W, Ledge Light in the first O, and a submarine on the Thames River in the last N. The L looks like it may be the Harbor Light, and the scenes in the adjoining "DO" seem like they're the same waterfront property but I can't quite recognize it.

Of course, part of that may be due to the fact that we're over 50 years removed from these particular landscapes. This particular item is postmarked August of 1959, and was sent from Lottie Clark to friends in Toledo, Ohio. "This has been a wonderful trip. Realy [sic] enjoying seeing things, all his well," was her succinct message.

The listing says there is some aging and wear and tear, but that it is otherwise in good condition and will be shipped in a plastic sleeve. The starting bid is $4.75, and you have plenty of time to put one in. The auction doesn't end until about 3 p.m. on Feb. 8