Just before Christmas I was in London and found myself (again!!) in the London Transport Museum shop where this free postcard was in a stack by the tills. It advertises 'upper deck' which is apparently London's stylish new venue for informal dining and cocktails. The four photographs show sections of some of the vehicles on display in the museum. A nice free advertising postcard and one which would appeal to Transport collectors.   

This lovely postcard has been around for a few years now and is just a must have item for someone like me who collects TV related cards. This is published by 'Robert Opie' who you may not have heard of but I assure you that if you have ever visited a museum, historic house, tourist information, city centre or other landmark with a gift shop you will DEFINATELY have seen any number of his issued postcards. Robert was a collector of historic packageing for all household items including food wrappers, cartons, drink cartons, advert posters, promotional flyers and adverts and just about anything which came packaged or which advertised such an item. He has probably the best and most extensive collection in the world and there is even a museum set up by Robert called 'Museum of Brands' (www.museumofbrands.com) which is really worth a visit. Robert also helps with period films and TV shows where items are needed which are contemporary to when either the film or programme is set. From his collection prints can be taken of required items (maybe a 1960's packet of Kellogg's Cornflakes or something) and this is then turned into a prop. 

I often joke that Robert is after total world postcard domination because his postcards are sold just about everywhere through out the UK and as a result I see them absolutely everywhere. Next time you see an advert poster related postcard in a shop turn it over and theres a high probabiity that Robert Opie issued it. But this is by no means a complaint as all good wishes to him and long may he continue if cards such as this are the result.

For a TV collector this cards has items related to:-

Charlie's Angels, The Six Million Dollar Man, Starsky & Hutch, Pink Panther, The Osmonds (pop group - Jimmy Osmond) Kojak, The Saint, Emu, Chips (the American Police motorcycle unit show), Dad's Army, Paddington Bear, Dr Who (K9 Robot dog - and this is my first mention of my all time favourite TV programme - expect more Dr Who in the furture), Playschool (Humpty), The Wombles, The Muppets, Superman and On the Buses (the robots form the TV adverts for the potato stuff called Smash also make an appearance).

None of these are listed on the card as it is simple titled as "A colletion of toys sold in the 1970's"      

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  • Arlene (Tuesday, June 21 16 10:26 pm BST)

    Brings back lots of memories?. Interesting to hear about Robert Opie.

  • Mark (Wednesday, January 13 16 09:51 pm GMT)

    Hello Jasmine
    I am pleased you like this postcard. I too used to have some of these toys when I was younger.

  • jasmine (Wednesday, January 13 16 06:07 pm GMT)

    awesome postcard ,i can see how things have changed over the years these are what my mum used to play with when she was my age

08/01/2016

A friend at work has just returned from a holiday in Cologne, Germany and very kindly bought back two postcards for me (many thanks 'Mo'). These depict the city of Cologne (Koln) as it appeared in 1945 towards the end of the Second World War. Here on this vertical card you can clearly see the devastation wrought by alied bombing. Cologne Cathedral can still be seen standing despite receiving fourteen hits by alied bombs during the war. The twin spires of the Cathedral were said to be used as a readily recognisable landmark by alied aircraft who were raiding further into the country towards the end of the war.

Repairs to the building were not completed until 1956. In the northwest tower's base there was an emergancy repair, from 1944, which had used bad-quality bricks which had been taken from a ruin left after bombing. This bad quality brick repair could still be seen up to 2005 when it was deemed that the tower should be repaired to its original appearence.

Card Ref K 289

Published by 'CitysightsGmbH'

Photo - Rheinisches Bildarchiv          

On this second card you can see American soldiers and a tank working their way through a street in Cologne. The extent of the damge the war had brought to the city can again be clearly seen. They are making their way towards the Cathedral which can just be seen in the distance.

Card Ref K 203 (same publisher as the above card).

 

These postcards showing war damage are not uncommon in Germany and I have some depicting Berlin after the war which are similar to these ones shown here. But Germany was far from alone in recieving bomb damage and war destruction as cards of this same format have been sold in Warsaw, Poland as well. And lets not forget Coventry (but thats another story for a future blog)    

DOLLYWOOD

700 Dollywood Lane, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee 37863.

A postcard from 1988 featuring the country & western singer Dolly Parton (I watched her Glastonbury set on TV in 2014 and can she wow a crowd with the best of them).

This particular card came from a rather unusual source as it appeared as Lot 4 in my local Stamp Club members auction last year (2015). I could'nt resist it.  

 

STAMP & COIN MART

FEBRUARY 2016 (£3.99)

The latest issue of this magazine for stamp and coin collectors comes with free Royal Mail Star Wars PHQ Stamp Cards. These are the cards which depict the spaceships and the AT-AT Walker from the Royal Mail's Star Wars miniature stamp sheet.

The previous two issues (Dec 2015 and Jan 2016) came with six each of the character PHQ Stamp Cards thus making this final selection the last part of a complete set.

Many collectors are unaware that the PHQ Stamp Cards which are attached to these issues are different to those on general sale from Royal Mail. The general sale cards all have a bar code on the reverse side because they are sold and would need to be scanned. Because the cards on these magazines are free they do not require a bar code and that has been omitted from the printing. These also have added text promoting Royal Mail sales on the reverse side. Specialist collectors will want to add these different versions to their collections. They may also wish to know that this magazine has previously given away PHQ Stamp Cards for the Dr Who stamp issue from 2013 and the Alice in Wonderland set in 2015. Both of these sets also had the bar code removed and had added promotional text added on the reverse side. A set of these Dr Who PHQ Stamp Cards (without the bar code) is easily worth £20 now     

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  • John Butler (Friday, January 15 16 03:12 pm GMT)

    This is a good observation and important for PHQ collectors who do not buy Stamp and Coin Mart.

  • Mark (Wednesday, January 13 16 07:42 pm GMT)

    Reply - Hello Paul. It might be worth contacting the magazine company and seeing if they do back issues, which I am sure they do. If you have an issue obtaining them I have spare copies of the two
    previous magazines with the cards attached which I put by to sell. If you want to speak to me about these then use the contact button and we can discuss this over emails.
    Hope you get a positive result through the company but if not I am sure we can come to some arrangement.
    Mark

  • Paul Taylor (Wednesday, January 13 16 05:12 pm GMT)

    Seeing this article made me want to buy the magazine, but what I want to know is do you know how I can get hold of the January and December issues for the other sheets?

SOME 'FOOTBALL' RELATED POSTCARDS

(Especially for my colleague Matt - who I work with and has no interest in postcards but loves sport.....especially football)

 

This old official Wembley postcard has been in my collection for many, many years and was published by 'Wembley Stadium Limited' (copyright 1981). The interest here was the two signatures on the front which are not printed but are actual autographs.

1) SIR TOM FINNEY CBE

Born 5 April 1922 - Played for Preston North End from 1946 to 1960 staying loyal to this one team. In fact he was famous for this one team loyalty (an unusual event for such a long period). He was also an England player between 1946 and 1958. Finney also served during the Second World War fighting with Montgomery's Eighth Army in Africa and later in Italy (my own Grandfather was in the same campaigns). Finney sadly died on 14th February 2014.

2) SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS CBE

Born 1st February 1915 - Played for Stoke City between 1932 and 1947 and again between 1961 and 1965. Between 1947 and 1961 played for Blackpool. He also played for England between 1934 and 1957 (which included playing for the England War Team between 1939 and 1946). Matthews has been described as one of the greatest players of the English gams. He was the only player to be knighted whilst still playing. He was an inaugural inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

 

These autographs probably make this quite a valuable postcard, especially to a football or sport themed collector but I like the view of the twin towers which were the original entrance but which took a backwards step after the massive refurb to the stadium between 2005 and 2006.

The card is titled "The crowd gathers on Cup Final day at Wembley Stadium"       

 

 

Another official Wembley Stadium card by the same publisher as above and also copyrighted to 1981. This one has also been autographed on the front:-

1) SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS CBE - see entry on above postcard

2) SIR ALF RAMSEY

Born 22nd January 1920 in Dagenham, Essex. Played for Southampton between 1943 and 1949 then Tottenham Hotspur between 1949 and 1955. He also played for the England team between 1948 and 1953. But perhaps his crowning achievement was whilst manager of the England team between 1963 and 1974 when he managed them on to their World Cup final win in 1966. Sir Alf died on 28th April 1999.

 

Two spectacular autographs to have on just the one postcard and again a situation which leads this item to have some value. But it is again an item that has been in my collection for many years and one I think I would not want to part with.

 

The postcard is titled "Match photographer's eye view of the Wembley pitch"    

And lastly yet another official Wembley stadium postcard (same company as above and again copyrighted to 1981) this time showing an aerial view of the old stadium. This one is titled "An aerial view of Wembley Stadium which was built in 1923, has a capacity for 100,000 and is now a listed building" (which did not change the refurb happening in 2005). Again this one bears an autograph:-

JACKIE MILBURN

Born 11th May 1924. Played for Newcastle United between 1943 and 1957 then Linfield between 1957 and 1960 before his last two years which were at Yiewsley between 1960 and 1962 where he was a player manager. Milburn also played for England between 1948 and 1955 during which he made 13 appearences.

One of his famous achievements was to score the two goals which won the 1951 FA Cup Final and his opening goal of the 1955 FA Cup Final which was scored after just 45 seconds making it the fastest Wembley FA cup final goal of the time (and remaind so until this record as amazingly beaten in 1997).

MILBURN died on 9th October 1988 (aged 64)

 

There you have three older modern sport related postcards which are actually quite simple postcards which have a much higher interest due to the signatures that have been applied to them.

Superb, even if a tadge large, plain backed promotional card for the ATV television series William Tell (also known as 'The Adventures of William Tell'). The series starred Conrad Phillips and Jennifer Jayne. There was just the one series which ran to 39 episodes running at 25mins each. This was an early series which had its first episode shown on 15th September 1958 and its last (on the original run) on 15th June 1959. These early TV cards (which are eagerly collected regardless of being plain backed as many of these were right up to quite recently) can be quite hard to source and collectors rarely see more than the odd early card. This one delighted me as it was an interesting image from a series I have never seen and knew little about before buying this card. A smashing new card for my TV related collection (which is still my favourite theme).   

This was a free advert postcard I found in a special little single carboard display rack on the counter at my local Odeon Cinema last year around the time that the Disney * Pixar 'Inside Out' animated film was released. This advertises a new bubble-shooter game based on the film and each card gives a special code which could be used to redeem and unlock 1 free gem pack (as someone who is not a computer games person this all meant nothing to me - but I still loved the postcard image

THE WEST PIER

BRIGHTON

The West Pier Trust is the charity which owns Brighton's beloved West Pier. As text states on the reverse side of this postcard the trust was on course to restore the Pier when it was destroyed in two arson attacks in 2003. This resuted in the loss of their Lottery award and with that any prospect of restoration. This postcard has since been released to promote the fact that the Trust is landlord of the Brighton i360, a piece of world class architecture and a brilliant new attraction for Brighton (or at least new at the time of the release of this card). The Trust hopes (or hoped) that the sucess of 1360 would generate interest in building a new West Pier. The card asks that you please support the Trust by becoming a member by visiting www.westpier.co.uk . I am up for supporting any good cause that keeps our heritage going and anyone who produces such a lovely free postcard. I think this is a cracking image and as I live in a town which has the worlds longest pleasure pier, which has itself suffered several tragic fires, I wish the Trust well.  

Two sheets of two postcards which I obtained via eBay. Each of the four postcards shows a scene from the Minions movie (2015). As you have probably worked out by now I like the Minions and have some postcards, although I have not found as many as I would have expected considering their popularity (which currently is MASSIVE!!).

Anyway these four cards all have the McDonalds Happy Meal logo on the reverse side and I assume this is the original source of these cards. What I would like to know is what country(s) did these appear in? And did they actually come in or with a Happy Meal (I wonder about this because the cards are not folded over between the two designs attached as each sheet so they would seem to be too big for a Happy Meals box - were they given out seperately?) The reverse sides also have little images where the stamp box appears on the reverse side (I have depicted the reverse side of just one of the sheets below). There is a perforated edge between each of the two cards on each sheet for easy seperation and I expect some will have been seperated and will come as seperate cards. When these arrived they turned out to have been sent from latvia - which only confuses matters as the text on the reverse side (the copyright details etc) is all in english although the address given is in Germany!

Any help with information around these cards would be appreciated.  

JUBILEE DEBT CAMPAIGN POSTCARD

This card is a pre-addressed campaign card addressed to:-

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPEMENT

C/O JUBILEE DEBT CAMPAIGN

THE GRAYSTONE CENTRE

28 CHARLES SQUARE

LONDON

N1 6HT

 

The descriptive text (aimed at the Secretary of State) initially reads:-

I am very concerned by the boom in lending to improvished countries, which has doubled since the financial crisis.

Global campaigning against the injustice of developing country debt has led to £130 billion of debt being cancelled. Millions more people now have healthcare and education as a result. But many countries, from Jamaica to the Philippines, had their unjust debts ignored, and now debt levels in countries where debts were cancelled are rising once again. We did not work so hard for debt cancellation to see new irresponsible lending repeat the mistakes of the past.

I am concerned that a significant portion of the lending boom is coming from the UK via the World Bank, which counts as 'aid', and that you are considering a return to direct UK loans, which would also count as aid.   

 

These type of campaign cards have been around for many years now and they can form quite an interesting collection. Cards are nearly always pre-addressed and over the years various campaigns have asked people to send these cards to many politicians and members of parliament. Those addressed to the Prime Minister are worth seeking out and I have a couple actually addressed to Margaret Thatcher when she was PM.  

My special thanks to one of my fellow collectors who sends me little bundles of postcards he finds in his local area. For many years now Patrick Swadling has helped me with postcard sendings and this is another card from such a bundle. This postcard advertised a shopping event which was held on 22nd November 2014 (apparently a regular event as this promotes PART THREE) at the Silk Mill: Merchants Barton, Saxonvale, Frome, Somerset (www.thefleacircus.weebly.com). It was the unusual poster design which attracted me and I suspect not too many made their way into collections.      

A postcard issued for the excellent Essex Air Ambulance service. This was given out free at an event I attended last summer. It is pre-addressed to the service under a freepost address. The idea is that you completed a details box on the message side on the reverse side and then they could make contact with you re helping the service. A very good cause and a wonderful postcard for any helicopter collector.

In my line of work I have occassionally had to assist the air ambulance and once had to stand in a very small side street and watch as the pilot brought the helicopter down within the centre of the road. Fantastic flying and a life saving moment. Long may they continue.

www.essexairambulance.uk.com      

A lovely large postcard released last year to celebrate the birth of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge on 2nd May. This particular card was published by 'JUDGE SAMPSON LIMITED' and text on the reverse side states that this is a 'First Edition Postcard' (although I am not sure what this actually means. Is it that this is the first printing of this card? Or is it some sort of issueing company name?). I bought this copy in the Cambridge Gift Shop, Tourist Information Centre, Peas Hill, Cambridge.

Royalty cards have always been collected with perhaps the surge of interest after the 1981 Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana (after whom Princess Charlotte is also named) being the height of their collectibility. Even so new cards are still being released, especially for new events, the odd anniversary and weddings and births (like this one). I do have a royalty collection but my main interest is the postcards related to Pricess Diana.   

Package which contains six Minion postcards which are designed to be coloured in (the pack also contains four colour felt tip pens which I removed from the package to allow scanning). The pack also contains a sticker sheet. All this for just £1.99 (plus postage of £1.48 if you can not find this in a shop - I could not find it locally so ordered it off of the AMAZON web site).

The black and white drawings depicted on the postcards are all from the Minions movie which came out in 2015 (i received the movie on DVD as a Christmas present).

The postcards are all printed and issued by a company called PYRAMID

 

This arrived in the post today.

 

 

eBay ARRIVALS FOR TODAY

04th January 2016

Three Disney postcards advertising membership of the Walt Disney Collectors Society. This first one depicts the Donald Duck and his nephews sculpture which was free to those who paid their 2008 membership to the society. These sculpture advert postcards are very popular and make a nice alternative addition to a ‘Disney’ collection.  

 

 

Delightful Dopey was the 2009 Membership gift sculpture.  

This Goofy card is a little different as it has a plain back (so is technically not a postcard – but personally I still think it is worth collecting and keeping, and I suspect non-postcard Disney collectors would hardly care or even notice the plain back).

This ‘card’ advertises the ‘Summer Premiere Event’ which was held between June 20 – 22, 2008. I suspect this Goofy statue was a special item for this event.

 

 

This card is a new one for my TV collection. It depicts the Russian Ostankino TV Tower in Moscow. This famous landmark appears on numerous Russian postage stamps and a large number of postcards. This particular card is quite a modern release as it carries a faded (greyed out) image on the reverse side which is a modern trend which makes these cards more interesting.  

 

 

Depicted here is the reverse side of the above Ostankino TV Tower card - you can see the greyed out image

This quite old book (published 1959) was probably my most unusual find at yesterdays Antique Fair. This soft cover, 34 page book was one of the first introductions for many early post war postcard collectors and was released when postcards were only just coming back into interest, although it would still be a number of years before the craze for collecting these again really picked up. I was aware of this publication but had never seen a copy so was pleased to come across one in such an unusual location (a fair in my home town!). Written by A.J. BUTLAND and E.A. WESTWOOD this little gem has become collectible in its own right. A.J.BUTLAND is known as a pioneer of early collecting and was an important name to early collectors.    

ANTIQUE FAIR VISIT - 03/01/2016

CHASE SPORTS CENTRE, PRITTLEWELL CHASE, SOUTHEND

 

 

Having only found out about this local fair yesterday I decided to pay a visit with my wife Jo and see what postcards might be available. As it happened there were quite a few.

This delightful 'Happy New Year' card is from France and was posted in January 1917. I liked the moon with it's smiling face and although this does not fit directly into any of my main themes I had to buy it anyway and at 50p it was,I considered, a bargain.

This deckle edged multi-view postcard depicts images of Canvey Island. I worked on Canvey between 1988 and 1995 and as a result have collected postcards which show the Island and its history. This cards shows:-

TOP LEFT - Promenade and Cafe - The cafe is still here and is called LABWORTH CAFE now and I have eaten there.

TOP RIGHT - Dutch Cottage (A.D. 1621) - There are in fact two Dutch Cottages on Canvey (and another one in Rayleigh). One of these is the Dutch Cottage Museum whilst the other is a private residence. I think this one shown is the private residence one.

BOTTOM LEFT - The Church, Long Road - Very little has changed here and the church can see be seen on the main road.

BOTTOM RIGHT - The Casino Entrance - Sadly this has since been demolished - I believe it came down in 1993

This copy was posted from Canvey in July 1960. 

This card, again a multi-view postcard but this time with five images, was published by the well known postcard company 'Valentines'. This copy is mint, unposted. In the centre you again have the Promenade with the cafe building as mentioned above. The other images are:-

TOP LEFT - The Beach

TOP RIGHT - The Creek

BOTTOM LEFT - Thorney Bay Camp - This campsite is still here but is largely a residential caravan park now

BOTTOM RIGHT - Thorney Bay Bathing Pool - A swimming pool located in the above campsite

This was a nice addition to my collection for £1.50

This card is titled 'THE CASINO AND PLAYGROUND, CANVEY ISLAND' and has the reference number PT8327. The train was gone by the time I started working on Canvey and there was an amusement arcade building put up nearby to where this ride was placed. The dealer I bought this card from told me that he remembered his brother taking him on this ride. This is a good example of where a postcard crosses over into local history and shows how these postcards can be both interesting and important.

This one was £1.50

This is the seaside amusement park located in my home town of Southend-on-Sea. At the time this photograph was taken this was still called 'Peter Pan's Playground' and the text on the reverse side reads "SKY LAB, PANORAMIC BIG WHEEL, GO KARTS, Peter Pans Playground, Southend-on-Sea". If you visit now this area is called 'Adventure Island' and has been for many years (although older people like me still often call it Peter Pan's). My eldest son actually worked here for awhile so there is even a family connection to the place. Despite living in Southend and collecting view postcards I had not seen this card before. The copy here was posted in 1994 but I suspect was around for awhile before this year. The Go-Karts and the big wheel in the centre are still in the park (I admit to being not sure about the Skylab but then it has been many many years since I rode any of the rides here, but we have walked through the park several times recently). This park is worth a visit and is very popular with huge attendances through out the summer.   

Now compare this photograph with the one above. This is the same area although this time photographed from the seafront side (in the image above you can see the sea in the background). Quite clearly this is a much older photograph although sadly this is an unposted card so dating this picture comes down to local knowlege rather than any date supplied by the card itself. When this picture was taken this area was more simply called 'The Children's Playground'. The area to the right where all the trees are located within a fenced area is prety much where the Go-Kart ride area is now located and can be seen in the above postcard image. This postcard was published by the famous publishing house 'Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd' (Based in London this company produced many thousands of the early British postcards but their archives were bombed during the Second World War and all their records were destroyed leaving collectors with no official listings or details of just exactly what was produced - many collectors have since produced specialist thematic lists for some of their output). 

 

When I first saw the front of this postcard I immediately wondered if it was from 1909. The top picture is labelled as 'H.M.S. Warrior' and behind this another warship can be seen. From my collecting I am aware that the Naval Fleet visited and moored off the seafront at Southend in 1909. I have a card showing a local tram dressed up as a battleship for this visit and another showing the warships lit up at night. So the mention and showing of H.M.S. Warrior seemed to lead to this card being connected with this visit. The card itself, published by 'Shamrock & Co Photographic Printers & Publishers, London E.C., makes no mention of the actual event itself which was held between 17th July and 24th July 1909. Although Southend is the prominent place of interest to me there was in fact over 150 ships involved in this pageant and it stretched for over 50miles down the thames. I was delighted to find, when I turned the card over, that it was posted from Southend in 1909.     

This is titled "EXPERIENCING SPECTACULAR LASER BATTLE IN BATTLE OF GALACTICA EFFECT". Postcard fro Universal City Caifornia. Here you can see the Cylons from the TV series Battlestar Galactica (so another TV related postcard for my collection). This postcard seems to have originated from a postcard book as the left side has a perforated edge where it was attached. This card is copyrighted to 1980 but is unused. 

Promotional postcard of the original cast of the British TV series 'SHAMELESS' (a Company Pictures production for Channel 4). These official publicity/promotional postcards can be hard to source so this was reasonably priced at £2.25.

Big Ears from the Noddy stories. This particular card is from a series of cards which were individually placed in 'Lucky Bags' (Mr Lucky Bags Ltd). Basically you bought a sealed foil (so you could not see what was contained inside) bag containing various goodies and some sweets. Amongst the goodies was an exclusive postcard. Trying to build up a set of these was very difficult. I know as I bought three bags myself when these came out (many years ago) and all three postcards were the same - Gobbo the Goblin. So finding this one on a stall was a bonus as now I have two different.......I assume there was/is a Noddy one but I have never seen it.  

This postcard shows a painting by Michael Odell and it was issued to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Sudbury Philatelic Society. The painting is titled 'The Mill Hotel from the Water Meadows'. See below for second card (and further down for reverse side details)

A second postcard showing a painting by Michael Odell - titled "Ballingdon Bridge". Anothr postcard issued to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Sudbury Philatelic Society

Both of the above postcards have been used with a special 'Sudbury 40 Years' Smilers stamp and label cancelled with a Sudbury, Suffolk cancellation dated 28 May 2005. Both cards have also been signed by the artist - Michael Odell. These cards are nice but would in a mint condition have only a localised interest. It is the use of the Smilers stamp & label that makes these very collectible and sought after by stamp collectors. The additional autograph also adds interest but a stamp collector would pay several pounds each for an example of this Smiler stamp. To me today these were a real bargain at just 50p each.

DISNEY BABIES from the animated TV series (television again - but also of course a Disney thematic). Published by 'Luna Bay Productions, Long Beach, California" (card reference number HSC-600)

I have previously mentioned that I have visited Walt Disney World in Florida but I have also had many an enjoyable visit to Disneyland Paris. Because of Disney's policy of constantly changing, yearly with many, their postcards a collector like myself will still be able to find older postcards unknown to them despite many visits to the parks. This was such a card. Here you have animated images of Donald Duck and Goofy placed into a photograph showing the Big Thunder Montain ride. This copy is unused so I do not know what year(s) it was on sale.  

I have twice stayed at the Sequoia Lodge in the Disneyland Paris Hotels area but I did not come across this postcard on either visit. Having stayed here I had to buy this postcard when I saw it today, and there is the added bonus that it includes one of my favourite Disney cartoon characters from possibly my favourite Disney film - 'Robin Hood'. 

 

 

These SKY TV advert postcards were issued in a series and despite being free and issued by Boomerang (the well known free rack card publisher), so readily available, none of these came my way from their original source. This left me hunting these down through dealers. This one depicting Tom Hanks in 'Saving Private Ryan' was a nice addition for today.

Other cards in the series show Kylie Minogue, Leonardo DiCaprio (in Blood Diamond), Nicolas Cage (in World Trade Center), Winston Churchill, Football, cricket, the TV series LOST and others. 

 

 

Another card from this SKY TV advert series - Steve McQueen

And lastly a Superman postcard (another theme of mine) - This is an Andy Warhol picture titled Myths:Superman, 1981. One from a portfolio of ten unique screenprints printed on Lenox Museum Board. 

 

All in all I had a good time at the Antiques Fair and added some nice cards to a number of my themed collections and acquired some others just because I liked them.

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  • Paul Taylor (Sunday, January 03 16 07:09 pm GMT)

    A very interesting article to read. It's amazing what you can find in places!

I love Disney postcards and was collecting them long before my first visit to Walt Disney World in Florida in 1993. I have been back a half dozen times since with my last visit being in October 2015. Prior to my last visit I had seen on eBay some very highly priced postcards which it was stated were from something called the 'WONDERGROUND GALLERY'. These were all priced between £6 and £19 each (with Star Wars examples seemingly to be the higher end priced items). All the cards depicted artwork in a wide range of styles and by a number of different artists. The cards were often subtitled as 'The Art of Disney Theme Parks' (which I now know appears on the reverse side of the cards with a castle logo with Mickey Mouse ears and face as circles within the logo). I was determined to try and source some of these on my trip.

When I finally got to Florida I ended up finding the WONDERGROUND GALLERY shop in Disney Springs (the old Downtown Disney for those who have been before - it changed its name I think only last year). I then realised partially why the cards are so expensive on eBay and this is because they are quite expensive at source, being $4.99 each. But having said this the designs are fantastic with some being really exceptional. On one visit I spent $200 on a range of the postcards. They also seem to have a policy of new issues being released with older cards being discontinued quite quickly. But are they worth the price? Well, from my point of view, knowing that Disney postcards are normally higher end cost any (but to be fair with the applied quality that the cost often reflects) .....I'm going to say yes, when sourced direct.

There is one other bonus of these cards which may be available if you visit here, and which is worth checking out if you are in the area, and that is the option of the artist doing a signing session in the store. This happened whilst I was visiting (and more about this in a future Blog) and as a result artist signed copies of these postcards appear on eBay as well. Sometimes again the prices asked reflect the collectiblity of these (I have seen some Star Wars one priced at $50+ each). But some can be found much cheaper as in this depicted Dumbo design titled 'Dumbo the Great' by Kristin Tercek. The signature in silver ink which you can see in the bottom right orner is a genuine autograph of the artist. I think this is a little gem and I was happy to pay the £10 (which included the postage from America) for this addition to my collection.      

In my first blog I displayed a Millennium Falcon Star Wars postcard where the spaceship was coming from a TV set. I mentioned that there was a sort of companion card for James Bond so I dug arund and found it and depict it here. As you can see the car is coming out facing the other way but they make a nice pairing, especially for anyone who does collect film related cards. Again this is a sky STORE promotional card which promotes the Pre-Order facility for the James Bond film 'Spectre'. This and the three companion cards that were circulated at the same time (see below) were all in my local Odeon Cinema whilst the film was on.

A promotional poster for the film 'Spectre' using the main two characters (as played by Daniel Craig and Lea Seydoux).

Film poster with just James Bond (Daniel Craig) shown, wearing a white dinner jacket 

Another nice combination poster with the sky STORE logo on the front.

I have seen sets of these cards on eBay selling for around £2 (plus what ever postage is asked) and I am aware that there are  number of James Bond collectors many of whoms interest stretches much further than just postcards of course.

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  • Paul Taylor (Saturday, January 02 16 02:29 pm GMT)

    Lovely cards.

Yesterday I illustrated a postcard depicting the Millennium Falcon coming out of a TV set. This was to promote the Pre-Order facility for the Star Wars:The Force Awakens film with sky STORE. As there were three other postcards in this series I thought I would also show these here. This one depicts Finn with a lightsaber. A copy of this image, although many times larger, hung from the balcony area of my local Odeon cinema when I went to see the film on Christmas Eve. This free postcards (and its companions) was not available then. This seem to have appeared between the Christmas and New Year period.   

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This one depicts Rey with the lightsaber which I believe beonged to a famous Jedi Warrior (I shall keep spoilers to a minimum if I can). A giant version of this image also hung in my local Odeon Cinema.

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  • Mark (Saturday, January 16 16 10:00 pm GMT)

    Hello Jasmine
    I do have a postcard or two of the new robot - BB8 - I will put one on at some point.
    I know whose lightsabre it is too but probably best we keep it a secret....some people might not have seen it yet (but not many I think)

  • jasmine (Thursday, January 14 16 08:01 pm GMT)

    hi,mark brilliant film she is my favourite character but also like the little robot in the new film, have u got any of the robot
    I to know who the lightsaber belongs to but i'll keep quiet about it

Although different in front image this last card is a companion card to the above two. This one depicts the films poster. I liked the fact that this had an almost nostalgic look and it sits very nicely next to the posters that were used for the prequels. The other three cards will be popular with collectors but I think this is the stand out card from he set.

All three here, and the Millennium Falcon card, have the same reverse side layout and were distributed at the same time and, as mentioned with the Millennium Falcon card, free. Although not all Odeon Vinemas have these free postcard racks here are a number around the country and they are always worth checking.   

Welcome to my new Blog page and my first entry. My plans are to picture postcards from my collection and to give some updates re issues and information about where these are available (if still on sale or obtainable at source). My personal collection is very eclectic so the range of cards that will be displayed should be spread across the many themes that interest me and across the entire period of postcard production (which commenced in 1869 with Postal Stationary non-pictorial postcards). Despite this eclectic approach to collecting I do have some favourite themes which wil become apparent as more entries appear but which will include Television, Film, Disney, Local History (for the area I live in which is Southend-on-Sea, Essex in the UK), Scouting, Transport, advertising, novelty, Political and Green related issues, and special events (Royal Wedding 1981, Poll Tax issues, Falklands War, Picture Postcard Centenary, 1980's Miners Strike and similar campaigns) and disasters (both natural - earthquakes, volcanos, tidal waves and extreme weather conditions - and man made like building fires, transport crashes and terrorisim like the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Towers).

I will also add the postcards I pick up in my travels and hopefully give you some interesting stories about why they were issued and how I have come across them. So I hope you will return to check out this page many more times.

The two depicted postcards show how mixed the world of postcards is. The first is a black and white photograph of a tram along The Boulevard in Thorpe Bay which is part of the Borough of Southend (on maps this is an area to the east of central Southend on Sea). This has now of course long gone making this an image of interest to local historians.

The second postcard is bang up to date and was picked up this very morning from a rack of cards located in my local Odeon Cinema. The image depicts the Millennium Falcon space craft from the world of Star Wars erupting from a television screen (so this nicely fits into my favourite theme of Television whilst also fitting a Films themed collection and the smaller more defined 'Star Wars' collection. Text on the reverse side advertises that 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' can be Pre-Ordered from the 'sky STORE' (another TV link). The advantage of this postcard is that it was free. If you like this one you may like to know that there is a James Bond card in the same style depicting his Austin Martin coming out of a similar TV screen (this one was also free).

Happy New Year

Mark   

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