DISNEY CHARACTERS

This very large postcard (17.7cm x 12.7cm) is a very early Disney television related design. In the centre is a black and white photograph of the main characters from the Walt Disney 'Davy Crockett' television series. The text on the reverse side is also interesting:-

Dear Friend:

Thank you for writing to

us. We sincerely appreciate

your interest.

It is a pleasure to send

you this new "Picture Gallery"

of some of our stars of motion

pictures and television.

We at the studio are all

very busy making new movies

and television shows for your

entertainment. We hope you

will enjoy them.

Good Luck and thanks.

Walt Disney.

The Magic Kingdom, Disneyland ...now open in Anaheim, California 

Very small text on the front in the bottom rigt corner reads "COPYRIGHT 1955 WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS". This year could be the release date of this postcard as the Magic Kingdom opened on 17th July 1955. In any case this is an early Disney postcard in respect of the theme park and the world of Disney television. The TV series 'Davy Crockett' commenced on 15th December 1954 and went into 1955 which again gives cause to believe that this postcard was released in 1955. I have only ever seen two copies of this postcard and the other copy sold for £20.

A really nice early postacrd and I suspect a card which would be eagerly snapped up by any Disney collector, postcard specialist or otherwise.    

"Cartolina"

by

GREGORIO PRADERIO

Believe it of not this is actually the front of the postcard and is actually a piece of art titled "Cartolina" (which I believe means 'Card') by the artist Gregorio Praderio. The Madonna stamp is a real American postage stamp, as is the Portugal knight stamp, but the other two are fake drawn stamp designs (but I think thats basically quite obvious from the drawings).

The card itself was published by 'ILLUSTRATORS POSTCARDS'.

As you can see this does have a normal postcard reverse

CRITERION - SOUTHEND ON SEA

(This has previously been posted)

This is another local postacrd which I wanted to check against the same area as it looks now. Jo and I went down to the seafront and tried for a awhile to find the location. We had a rough idea and knew we were in basically the same place but we needed help from the internet to actually pin down the Criterion itself.

Unlike the last postcard below of the the library, which had hardly changed, this time the area could hardly look more different. A fire went through the main central building depicted on the postcard (the one topped with the letters BREAKFAST and to the right of the Criterion) on the 9th September 1970 and the main building there was gutted. This is where the ELECTRIC AVENUE amusement arcade is now located here in this photograph.

The Criterion was also severly damaged by this same fire and the right hand side of the building was badly gutted. The white building with burgundy paintwork around the windows and across its front, to the left side of the ELECTRIC AVENUE arcade is the building that was the Criterion. This is now a public house called the Papillon. The front of the Criterion building pretty much had to be re-built. I was aged 7years at the time of this fire which is probably why I only remember this ever being called the Papillon.  

And here is a photograph of the front of the Papillon Pub - which was the Criterion at the time that the postcard was issued. I found this aspect of local history, the matching up of an old postacrd image against the same scene today to be quite interesting and I will definately look at doing this some more.

RAC TANK MUSEUM, BOVINGTON

BRITISH CHIEFTAIN TANK

Postcard depicting the Chieftain Tank at RAC Tank Museum, Bovington Camp, Dorset printed by JUDGES LIMITED, HASTINGS (one of our famous postcard publishers). Reference Number 'C 3942 X'

The Chieftain Tank is a main battle tank and has been around since 1966 and has been used by the British Army and a number of middle east countries like Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Oman (some interesting countries there and areas where a lot of trouble has arisen). Built by Leyland Motors the tank would weigh between 55 and 62 tons. It was also a long tank at 35 ft, 4 inches long. On a road it can reach 30 mph but off road it could still reach 19 mph. It was the UK's main battle tank between the 1960's and the 1980's and upon its arrival in 1966 it had the most powerful main gun and the most effective armour.       

One of the things I liked about this postcard (which was obtained at my stamp clubs auction last year - Lot 51) was the fact that this postcard has actually been posted from the camp and has received the 'BOVINGTON CAMP, WAREHAM, DORSET' single ring date stamp (on a 9p stamp - postage has really gone up since then) dated 21st June 1977. The card has also gone through a main sorting office and recieved a machine applied BOURNEMOUTH - POOLE C.2. Slogan cancel "REMEMBER TO USE THE POSTCODE". The card was posted to Hockley, which is just outside Southend-on-Sea (a bit more rural - I policed the area for a number of years from Rochford). This usage appealed to me.  

PUBLIC LIBRARY, SOUTHEND

(This has previously been posted)

Having posted this card before and mentioned that the building has not changed much I thought I would pay a visit and take a photograph and see exactly how much, or how little has changed.  

As you can see the building is pretty much as it was back then but the tree's out front have gone and as I mentioned last time the metal fencing outside has gone (I wonder if this was a victim of the hunt for metal for the war effort during the Second World War when many railings and metal fences were removed to make tanks etc - there is of cause a possibility that they came down earlier during WW1).

A slightly different view showing more of the front of the building.

DISNEY - FROZEN

ORIENTAL CITY PUBLISHING GROUP LIMITED

(Film Poster set)

16/01/2016

This envelope arrived this morning and it is a good example of a bonus I receive when I win eBay lots with people who live abroad. This bonus is the interesting stamps that are often used on the envelopes and packages. Since I first started collecting postcards as a child I have been fascinated by Tigers and it is yet another theme that I collect. Just look at the smashing Tiger stamp used on this envelope.The stamps are from China and as I have previously stated I have an interest in stamps because of their link with postcards so when interesting stamps are used on my mail it adds a nice side line interest for me.

On the 2nd January 2016 I won a bid on a set of 16 postcards depicting film posters for the Disney animated film 'Frozen'. This envelope contained this postcard set. This does at least confirm that the source of these postcards is within China. This may seem obvious when the publishers are called 'Oriental City Publishing Group Limited but don't be fooled as the use of a foreign language or name that incorporates a region or country does not mean that the cards originate from there. This is often a way of avoiding prosecution or being discovered for copyright infringement. Some of you may have cards in your collection which were published in the late 1990's by a company called 'Citreon Bleu' with french reverse text. Believe me when I say these were not printed in or produced in France. They were in fact printed and distributed out of London.     

So here are the sixteen FROZEN poster postcards - I have doubled them up here to avoid taking up even more space but as some of the posters are unusual, with some foreign additions, I wanted to display the entire set for you (and possibley any daughters, granddaughers out there who have been caught up in all the Frozen fandom out there)  

All of the 16 postcards have the same reverse layout - there are no titles or descriptive text on the reverse side beyond that of the name of the issueing company (printed in English which would seem to indicate exactly where the sales of these cards were expected to be aimed at). There are also no individual reference numbers or any set title etc.   

PACKAGE

This arrived in the post on 15/01/2016

I love it when an unusual, and large package arrives through the post, especially when it is clear that it is going to include postcards inside. This package was from a person I have corresponded with for many years. He raises money for the Sudan Church Appeal via the sales of postcards. Len often sends me a selection of postcards and this one was fun to go through.

LARGE SHAPED CHARACTER CARDS

These were all included in the package that arrived on 15/01/2016. First things first, these are cut away and shaped around the top, which means that the area that is white is not part of the card (its the white top of the scanner lid). So if you imagine that these white areas are not there you will have an idea of how the top of each card is cut away.

For some reason collectors seem to frown upon these, and other shaped postcards and despite their novelty they are not collected. Well, not collected by many other than myself! I have a theme which is called 'Novelty Postcards' and I place these unusual shaped postcards within here. It is strange though as these are popular with the general non-collecting public and lots are posted, although all the ones depicted here are unused. 

This 'Cider' one is published by 'COLOURMASTER INTERNATIONAL' and has the reference number NOV 8.     

A second large shaped postcard which this time depicts a Pirate. The top of his hat is the shaped top of this design. This one is again published by 'COLOURMASTER INTERNATIONAL' and has the reference number NOV 71.  

Either an Elf or a Pixie, I'm going with a Cornwall Pixie or Pisky as I think they are locally known because of the sea view and the Lobster basket and rather grey looking lobster.

Another COLOURMASTER INTERNATIONAL postcard, this time with the reference number NOV50 (with the previous two cards above there was a gap between the NOV and the number. This was not the case with this card where the first number immediately follows the V with no gap inbetween). This is another postcard with a shaped top.

This London Horse Guard shaped postcard was published by 'FISA - G.B. - London' and has the reference 'G-1 NOVELTY'. With the addition of the union jack shield bottom left with the shiny gold boarder I would place this card from the 1970's period (although I suspect copies were on sale for a long time and available into the 1980's and possibly even into the 1990's ).

BOER WAR PROPAGANDA POSTCARD DISPLAY

On Thursday night (14/01/2016) I attended a meeting of the 'Essex Police Military History Club' where my friend John Cowlin gave a display of his superb collection of Boer War propaganda postcards. John and I have been members of the same Philatelic Society for over 25 years and as I am on the comittee for the Essex Police Military History Club I thought this display would be something different for club members. This photograph shows John putting up his mounted sheets.  I have seen this display before and the quality of the cards contained in it is amazing. I had a good night.

ZORRO

NOVELTY FELT APPLIED POSTCARDS

WALT DISNEY

Unfortunately these do not scan well and you are missing the bright orange of Zorro's cape and his name across the bottom which are actually quite bright and stand out well in reality. With the scanner the colour gets lost in the depths that are over-shadowed by the the felt layer which makes up nearly all of the blackness within the design. Postcards with felt images are not uncommon but I have rarely seen cards with so much felt applied as in the case with this card and the one depicted below.

This card is an official Walt Disney production issued by 'E. S. Paris' and is copyrighted to 1965. Walt Disney produced two seasons of the black and white television series 'Zorro' starring Guy Williams as the pivotal character. There were 78 episodes made (and four specials) with the original release being from 10th October 1957 to 2nd July 1959. The series is described as an 'American action-adventure western drama' and it was very popular with children which unfortunately lead to the problem of 'Z' graffiti on school desks and walls all over America.   

Postcard issued by the same company as above, and in the same format. Again the colours appear mutted here but trust me that the underside of the cloak and the ZORRO across the bottom are bright orange. I acquired both of these through eBay from a French seller and they are a delightful addition to my television collection (although I admit an unusual pair of TV cards).

Zorro is spanish for 'Fox' and the character is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a fictional character created by a New York based writer called Johnston McCulley in 1919. Through reading up on the character I was surprised to find that the story is set in Los Angeles during the Mexican rule between 1821 and 1846 (although some movie adaptations of the story set it in the earlier Spanish rule period). Having watched it as a child and noted the Mexican connection I had assumed it was set in Mexico or around the boarder - I have learned a new historical fact through my research into the character after obtaining these cards.     

ROYAL MAIL SUBSCRIBERS PRINT

2014

I have previously displayed the Star Wars Darth Maul card print which I received in December 2015 as a gift from the Royal Mail for being a subscriber to one of their products. I mentioned that I had received a print before and that this had depicted the World War 1 'Poppy' stamp design. I said that I would look for this and try and dig it out for you. Here it is, and like the stamp itself it is an extremely attractive and poignant design. 

LEATHER POSTCARD

eBay arrival 16/01/2016

Leather postcards are not unusual as quite a few were produced, although I find that most of them seem to originate from America. This example is from Seattle and depicts an American police officer (a theme of mine due to my direct connection with this occupation - I have been a police officer in Essex for 28 years now). The design is simple, these leather card designs often were. The design is burnt into the leather rectangle and then sometimes, as with this design, areas are dyed with a paint, here you have the blue of the officer's uniform.

This copy is unused but I have others in my collection which were posted and have stamps and cancellations upon them. Most often with these simple leather cards the producer (I would'nt use the word 'printer' as that would not be appropriate in regards as to how these are made) is unknown as the deatils are omitted (saved time with the burning process I expect). .     

It is possible that a single metal formatted wire layout was heated and then applied to the reverse side making the POST CARD outline in one press of the hot plate.

BRIAN BEDFORD ..... RIP

16th February 1935 - 13th January 2016

Postcard depicting scene from the Disney film 'Robin Hood' in which the main Robin Hood character was voiced by Brian Bedford.

Postcard issued by 'Grafiche Biondetti' who were/are based in Verona, Italy. Card No 121. They produced a wide range of postcards depicting Disney scenes and characters.   

ALAN RICKMAN ...... RIP

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman

21st February 1946 - 14th January 2016

3D Image Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince postcard by unknown publisher

POSTCARD CORRESPONDENCE TO A

MASTER W. W. REED

FROM FRANCE 1901 - 1907

I was fortunate to buy these five postcards at the same time from a box of odd postcards being sold by a dealer at a local fair in Southend. The postcards are all addressed to a Master W.W. REED with four of the postcards being addressed to him at Albert Cottage in Mountnessing in Essex.

EXPOSITION DE 1900 - LA SEINE AU PORT DES INVALIDES

This postcard depicts the port area on the Seine and is a postcard for the 1900 Exposition Universelle which was held in Paris between 15th April 1900 to 12th November 1900. This world fair was a major showcase for new inventions and was where talking films and escalators were first publicised. Campbell's Soup was awarded a gold medal at the fair and if you look at a can today they still have an image of this gold medal on the label (it is amazing what you can find out when you look into the history around postcards in your collection).

My interest in this card was the early depiction of the Eiffel Tower which had opened on 31st March 1989. The sender has marked out the Tower with a little cross (The Eiffel Tower is of interest to me because it was the first structure from which television was transmitted from in France - see, my TV collection again). The use of red ink also makes the overall look of this card interesting.

This postcard was posted from Brest on 19th December 1901 and there are two strikes of the double ring BREST date cancel.    

Shown here is the reverse side of the above card. Again red ink has been used to write the name and address to whom the postcard was posted - Master W. W. Reed.

A little Postcard history for those who are unaware of early posting requirements. As you can see from this postcard here this reverse side only has the name and address written upon it. Originally it was against the rules to write anything other than the name and address on this side of the postcard. This was also the side where the stamp was applied. In the UK and many countries around the world it was only on this side that a stamp could be placed (this was the case in France as well but here they allowed for the stamp to be placed on the front of the card if the sender wanted to do so and cards from France and French colonies can be found with stamps on the front as a result).

As only the address and name could be placed on the reverse side postcard designers would leave space on the front (picture side) to write a message. As a result you find postcards prior to 1902 with images using only a portion of the image side allowing for a substantial message - see front of this card depicted above and thise below to see examples of this.

I say prior to 1902 because this was the year that in England the divided back was invented. This is the postcard format we now know so well where the reverse side is cut in two by a line leaving the area to the right for the name and address of recipient and the area on the left for the senders message. It was not long after 1902 that most of the rest of the world took up this format. 

EXPOSITION DE 1900 - LA PORTE MONUMENTALE

Another Exposition postcard depicting the 'Porte Monumental, Paris: The Triumphal Gateway of the Place de la Concord. This gateway was created by architect Rene Binet as a whimsical piece of art and as the location where you could buy tickets. The dome and three arches housed fifty six ticket offices. Unfortunately it was considered to be 'lacking in taste' and many exhibition visitors said it was the ugliest of all the exhibits. But here on this postcard it looks like an amazing creation all these years further on.

This postcard was again addressed to Master W. W. Reed and was sent by the same sender as the card above.   

Reverse side of the above postcard with the stamp cancelled with a double ring BREST cancellation dated 14th December 1901.

PORT MILITAIRE DE BREST - CROISEUR CUIRASSSE DE 1RE CLASSE

I just love the photograph used on this postcard. Just look at those ships, they just look so different from the battleships we all now know so well. The image alone made this a must buy for me evan if it had not formed part of the correspondence to Master W. W. Reed (which it does).

Brest is located in the Brittany area of France and is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon. The Naval Academy (Academie de Marine) was founded in Brest in 1752 and even to this day, every four years, Brest hosts the International festival of the sea, boats and sailors.   

Reverse side of the above postcard - again posted from BREST, this time in October 1901.

PORT MILITAIRE DE BREST - LE PONT TOURNANT

This swing styled bridge is 104m long and was constructed between 1856 and 1861 and was designed by the architects Nicholas Cadiat (who died in 1856) and Alphonse Oudry. Again this is a lovely photograph and it is placed onto the postcard leaving nearly half of the front for the sender to write a message (which is what has happened here on this example).  

Again posted from Brest by the same sender as the three above postcards. Here the BREST cancellation is dated 29th March 1902. I particularly like the flourishes on the W W REED written here. The writer had a real way of making these letters elaborate and flowery. This was when writing was still a skill and was done with style. The address here is still the same. 

121 PARIS - LA CHAMBRE DES DEPUTES

As mentioned above by 1902 the divided back had come into exsistence. This card here is a divided back but the habit of writing on the front was clearly still with this sender (the same person who sent the all the cards above). I like photographs that show the old horse drawn carriages and one can be seen here.

I unfortunately can not read French so can not read the message so I am unaware of just what the relevance is of the little hand drawn map that has been drawn in the bottom right front corner (although I fully admit this little map was what drew my interest to this card initially). So if anyone out there can tell me what all this means I would be most grateful. It is clearly a little map but why draw it?

This is a card that has much interest.  

This card was posted out on 18th July 1907 by which time it appears Mr W.W. Reed had either moved to Bangor in North Wales or perhaps was on holiday here (I suspect he had moved, perhaps in retirement or for a change of scenery as Wales is some distance from my home county of Essex).

So here you have five postcards all sent to the same man. I think they have interest through the images depicted on them and the history behind the depicted scenes and possibly through the messages (perhaps one day with help I will get these translated). A nice selection of cards which only cost me a few pounds. I hope you like them.  

MICKEY MOUSE

DISNEY MOVEE CAVALCADE

3-D POSTCARDS

This is a 3D postcard where Mickey Mouse stands out in the image and where the tree stands out even more. These 3D cards were very popular in the 1970's and this one here is an advert backed version where details are given of the thirty different Disney 3D postcards that were available in the set. Mickey Mouse is of course the most popular of the Disney characters and probably appears on more postcards than any of the other characters.

Here you have the reverse side of the Mickey Mouse card (which is not a true postcard as this has text all across the reverse side - but then this is an advert version which promoted the full set). There is some unusual spelling of the word movie and movies within the text. Along the top you have:-

DISNEY MOVEE CAVALCADE

And then across the middle there are two lines which again has an unusual spelling:-

Remember - there are 30 Disney Movees in the set, have

you collected them all yet?

I would very much like to find one of the Robin Hood cards from this set as this is my favourite Disney animated movie and I have found that there are not too many postcards related to this film.

ROYAL WEDDING KEEPSAKE KIT

CANADA POST

ROYAL WEDDING 2011

This delightful pack (Kit) was placed on sale by Canada Post (Postes Canada) to celebrate the royal wedding between Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011. Depicted here is the front of the fold out package. 

This is the folded package opened out to reveal the contents within. This included two large postcards and a special stamp sheet. These three items can be seen here held in by the folds along the bottom.

This is the information sheet which also came inside the package (it was concealed behind the postcard on the left side in the image above showing the contents of the package). This sheet also gave details of other stamp related items connected to the royal wedding which were also sold by Canada Post, including stamp booklets and first day cover. 

The other side of this sheet has the same images and details only in french 

This is the first of the two enclosed large postcards. The image depicts an outline of Canada with some of the countries iconic Maple leafs and an Elk and a Polar Bear. The words 'Best Wishes! Felicitations!' appear across the top left corner. This card was spercifically designed for the buyer to write a message on to the royal couple and then post it to them. The postcard is pre-addressed to the couple C/O CANADA POST - 290411 WEDDING WISHES WAY - RR1 - WESTMINSTER ABBEY ON LOV 4K8. Canada Post ensured that these would reach the couple. It would be interesting to know if anyone did actually use any of these postcards in the way they were designed to be used. Were any of these actually posted to the royal couple? I suspect most, if not all, collectors kept their copies to have a complete package.

Here is the reverse side of the above postcard showing the pre-address details 

This is the stamp sheet which was contained within the package. This would have been of interest to stamp collectors although this was available seperately to the package (unlike the above postcard which was only available through buying this package).  

This is the second large postcard which came in the package (Kit). This shows a delightful photograph of the royal couple (which I think was one of the official royal engagement photographs). Text along the bottom reads:-

'Royal Wedding 2011 Mariage royal'

There is one little twist in the tale of this postcard which was not made readily available to collectors at the time unless you read the promotional releases about  the items being sold. This depicted postcard, or at least the copies within the package (kit) were printed with a simple postcard reverse side with no printed stamp. These plain postcard reverse versions where only available in the package.    

This is the reverse side of the above postcard where this was contained within the package. This plain postcard reverse version was only found in the package (kit)

A second version of the postcard, identical in design on the front as the photograph postcard depicted above, was sold seperately by Canada Post. This second version had a Postage Paid stamp pre-print on the reverse side beside a large beige coloured rectangular box with maple leaf design. The pre-printed stamp (which makes this postcard a 'Postal Stationary Card') depicts the same image as used on the front of the postcard.

This is one of the scenarios where the stamp collector clashes with the postcard collector as this package (kit) was designed to appeal to both. I was very pleased to obtain both the package (kit) and the single postal stationary card, especially as I bought them direct from Canada Post so only paid the basic price with just a little postage and packing. I have never seen any of these on dealer stalls and suspect the only copies in the UK came from collectors who bought them direct like me.    

PLANET OF THE APES

BOOMERANG NL (NETHERLANDS)

CARD P20-07

Free Boomerang published rack card. Text on reverse side reads "Boomerang supports thinking about your loved ones". I think the 4th Oct 2015 was 'Loving one another' day, or something along that line.    

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

In late September 2015 I was on holiday in Florida when I had cause to pop into a very large Walmart store where we pick up sweets and other items when we are in Orlando. The last few times I have visited here I have checked the 'Greetings Card' display area (several aisles!!) and have found packs which I call 'Party Packs'. These contain 8 folded greetings styled party invite cards and 8 'Thank You' postcards (often with envelopes for the invite cards). These packs have been issued for many cartoon, TV and film related characters and it was no surprise to find a Star Wars themed package on this visit. These appear to mostly be published and issued by a company caled 'DesignWare' and they are quite a reasonable price.

What was special about this Star Wars pack was that the invite card and the 'Thank You' postcard both featured characters that appear for the first time in the new Star Wars fiml, which was still three months away from being released at the time.

Pictured here is the THANK YOU postcard and as you can see it features Rey, Finn and the robot BB8 from 'The Force Awakens' along with Chewbacca from the original series, although he too appears in the new film.

So this was the very first postcard I saw related to the new film.   

I returned to to the UK on the 16th October 2015 and the new Royal Mail 'Star Wars' stamps were issued on the 20th October. I immediately thought that these THANK YOU postcards would make an interesting item to have some of these stamps applied to and cancelled first day of issue with some special first day of issue hand stamps.

I also noticed that the painted portrait image of the character Rey on the stamp was the same as the photograph of Rey that appears on this postcard. It was a natural for the Rey stamp to be used here.

The stamp has been cancelled with a HOTHFIELD, ASHFORD cancel which depicts an AT-AT vehicle (this is very clever because the AT-AT vehicles made their first appearance in the film 'The Empire Strikes Back' and were seen moving across the snow covered surface of the planet Hoth - see what they did there? Hothfield...HOTHfield...very clever) 

On this card I have used the Finn character stamp. The character also appears on the postcard but this time the image is different. Here the stamp has been cancelled with the blue coloured Elstree, Borehamwood first day of issue cancellation featuring the Alliance starbird or Phoenix insignia.

Another copy also used with the Finn character stamp this time cancelled with the LONDON W2 first day of issue special hand stamp which has stars as its design

I had decided to place the X-Wing spacecraft 1st class stamp from the miniature stamp sheet on this particular card. When I had finished a range of other cards which I wanted to have special hand stamps applied to and had used up what I thought was all of the stamps in the two sets I had bought I discvered that I had this spare Boba-Fett stamp. So I stuck it on this card along with the X-Wing stamp (it helped that the combination of the two stamps almost covers the THANK YOU text on the card). These stamps were cancelled with a LEICESTER special first day of issue hand stamp which resembles the view out the front of a space craft travelling at speed (the Millennium Falcoln does something very similar to this in the films and this may be where the idea for this cancels design came from).  

This is the outside of the fully opened foldedable 'JOIN US! party invite card. Eight of these were included in the pack along with eight of the postcards.  

As the front of this greetings styled JOIN US! invite card features the new STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS character Kylo Ren it seemed logical that the Royal Mail stamp that also features this character would look nice on the front (although technically it should not have been cancelled as it breaches the normal rules for handstamping because it is a folded card without an address area).

Here the stamp has been cancelled with the red ink TALLENTS HOUSE cancel which uses the design of the sockets on the death star (in the original film R2-D2 connects to the main computer by plugging into such a socket). Unfortunately due to the red and black colours used on the design this hand stamp is not too clear but this does not distract from the nice set up here.   

On this copy the Kylo Ren stamp has been cancelled with a much clearer BRISTOL 'GOOD VS EVIL' first day of issue cancellation. Another nice item results.

I hope that these items (probably unique) show what can be done with just a little advance planning and access to the hand stamping information and knowledge of the system of arranging special first day of issue hand stamps on your own submitted items (its finicky but not too difficult - it can't be as I manage it). I love doing this and have, over a number of years now, produced a wide range of hand stamped items for my own collection. I hope you like these.

(I will be adding images of some more hand stamped Star Wars postcards in a future blog - keep an eye out for it) 

PECS  TV-kilato, presszo, HUNGARIA

Postcard of a TV tower located in the Hungarian city of Pecs. Artwork design of the tower overlaid on a map of the city. This has a perforated edge across the top which indicates either an attachement there or that this came from a postcard book (I suspect the former). The tower itself measures 176metres tall and has an observation deck which the public can gain access to (at 75 metres up) and a restaurant (at 72 metres up). I was amazed to find that there is (or was) a dinosaur exhibition at the restaurant level with two lifesize dinosaur mock-ups depicting the Komlosaurus which was once native to the area.

The tower itself was built between 1968 and 1973.   

This is the reverse side of the above postcard depicting the message (which appears to be initially about the TV Tower) and the applied postage stamp. The stamp is of interest to me because it is the high value 2fo value TV Broadcast Coach design from the 1963 Hungarian  'Transport and Communications' stamp series (Ref SG 1912 - for those who know about Stanley Gibbons stamp numbers). The television connection on the stamp was already known to me because I have unmounted copies of the stamp, both perforated and imperf, in my television stamp collection. The use of the stamp here on a postcard already with a TV theme makes this a nice item for my collection. The card was posted to France in 1974 (July 18th).  

DAVID BOWIE .... RIP

David Robert Jones

8th January 1947 - 10th January 2016

A postcard published by the company 'UNDERGROUND'.

Reference Number U525 - BOWIE - ZIGGY 

eBay Arrivals for Today - 12/01/2016

SOUTHEND PIER DAMAGE 1907

On the 14th December 1907 the Pier was hit by the Hay Barge "Robert" which damaged sixty foot of decking and dislodged twelve piles. This photographic postcard depictes the Hey Barge wedged in under the pier. Almost certainly this is a locally produced postcard which would have been on sale in the town probably within 24 hours of the incident and would have been sold to those sightseers who turned up to see the damage caused.

Although this copy is a bit 'knocked around' on the corners I feel I should point out it is 108 years old and it is the first copy of this card that I have seen.    

Reverse side of the above postcard. This was posted out on the 2nd Juy 1908 from Southend -on -Sea so I assume copies were still on sale then. It seems to have done a bit of a journey as it was originally posted to Ontario, Canada (address in pencil) which has been crossed out and written over in black ink with another address which for the life of me I struggled to fully make out (I wonder if it ever made it to the recipient?). The first bit does appear to be 'No 9 Tenth St' (Street) but the next bit I am not sure about, could it be 'Brandon, Man' (which could be 'Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. I wonder if the person had moved to there? According to the internet there is a Tenth Street in Brandon). This is an interesting journey whereby this card went out to Canada in 1908 and by 2016 has returned not only to the UK but to a postcard collector who lives in the very town that it was posted out of all those years ago.    

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA - GLUE POT SOCIETY OUTING 1905

This is a cracking local interest postcard. This is the Glue Pot Society outing which took place on 8th September 1905. Just look at those massive horse drawn carriages and the number of people on them. They are pictured outside the Criterion Public House which was definately still here in 1970 when it was damaged by a major fire which destroyed buildings around it. The pub is no longer here now under this name. At the weekend I am going to take the postcard down to the seafront, where the image was taken and try and place what is there now. I will report back on that.

The postcard was issued locally and printed by 'Hitchens Printer, Southend' - this copy is unused.

I have been unable to so far find out what the Glue Pot Society was (the obvious answer appears in the societies name, and it could well be connected with the glue industry but I would like to confirm exactly who they were)   

Reverse side of the above postcard - the printer details are immediately under POST CARD across the top