graeve

Otto Edler von Graeve (b. 1872), president of the International Divining Association. That's a divining rod he's holding, purportedly able to detect underground water, mines, oil, etc. de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Edler_von_Graeve

He came to the US in 1914

I started an English Wikipedia version of his entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Edler_von_Graeve

A familiar term for divining is "water witching." In theory, the loop (or the pointed end of a forked stick) dips down suddenly when water is detected below. Von Graeve is standing on a boat deck (U.S.S. George Washington), so his loop should be going crazy in a minute . . . .

Also known as water dowsing.

There was a dowsing-rod STAMP series?

The pictures are labeled in one language in script (Spanish?) and then another (German) in type. These don't appear to be postage stamps, and do appear to be thumbtacked to something. The pushpins can be seen in each corner. -- Seen on your photo stream. (?)

I'm guessing the script is French. Yeah, with no money denomination I didn't think they were postage stamps; they're just perforated like the lick-and-stick stamps my kids used to have, and look to have been torn from a bigger sheet. They're numbered, apparently in a series. People collect all sorts of things. Why not these? PS: Babelfish says the print on the bottom says "Handling of the divining rod from old times"

Otto Edler von Graeve (top line of writing on sticker) was a proponent of dowsing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Edler_von_Graeve