VULLO

www.mateovullo.com

 

My in-laws live in France in the Charante Maritime region, just a 15 minute drive north of the town of Sainte. It is also only an hour away from the seafront town of La Rochelle and me and Jo have often visited here. A few years ago we were lucky enough to visit when the market was on. On a number of stalls there were artists selling prints and original artwork of theirs. On one of these was a man who had a range of postcards of what I believe were his artwork. Two of these caught my eye because they had a TV connection.

The one depicted here is titled “Chat …peau Melon & Bottes de Cuiz” and depicts two cats who reminded me of John Steed and Emma Peel from the TV series ‘The Avengers’. The cards are slightly larger than normal (close to A5) but I like different sizes. So this one had to make its way into my collection.

 

 

RATMAN

This one is clearly based on Batman and I have a specific Batman collection (Batman cards will appear here sooner rather than later). So here you have a couple

 

 

 

GALLANT RESCUE UNDER FIRE: THIS MAN SAVED TWENTY LIVES LIKE THIS

WORLD WAR 1

DAILY MAIL OFFICIAL WAR PICTURES

 

This image depicts a ‘PASSED BY CENSOR’ photograph of a first world war soldier apparently rescuing a comrade (although stated as a picture from the front many of these were actually staged photographs and taken at other locations). Also notice that the cards I posted previously were described as ‘Daily Mail BATTLE PICTURES’ whilst this one is described as a ‘Daily Mail WAR PICTURES’.

This photograph is referenced as:-

DAILY MAIL WAR PICTURES

SERIES 2 – No. 16

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

As can be seen this was posted but the cancellation is feint and I can-not tell what year it was posted. The text on the reverse side is again a piece of propaganda :-

“A gallant act of self-sacrifice is shown in the photograph, for the man who is carrying a wounded comrade on his back is actually under fire”

As previously stated above these photographs were not always genuine and I have my doubts that this one was taken at the front line trenches. The man does not look worried enough to me not to mention that he is way too high up above the level of the trench and as such he would have been under fire and probably from a sniper and would have been hit. This is a piece of official propaganda for the people left back at home.   

 

A BRITISH HEAVY GUN IN ACTION

WORLD WAR 1

DAILY MAIL BATTLE PICTURES

OFFICIAL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS

 

This image depicts a ‘PASSED BY CENSOR’ photograph of a first world war heavy gun. A large number of photographs were issued as postcards and it is not uncommon to find the same image produced in different formats.

This top image is a sepia-toned (brown) photograph and is referenced as :-

DAILY MAIL BATTLE PICTURES

SERIES 5 – No 36

This particular copy was posted in 1917.

 

 

A BRITISH HEAVY GUN IN ACTION

WORLD WAR 1

DAILY MAIL BATTLE PICTURES

OFFICIAL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS

 

As can clearly be seen this is the same photograph as used on the above depicted postcard although it has been colourised and fills out the entire front of the card unlike the above copy which has a white boarder. Although this is the same image and released as a Daily Mail Battle Picture it has a totally different reference number:-

DAILY MAIL BATTLE PICTURES

SERIES 1 – No. 4

 

It is probable that this one actually came out first, earlier in the war than the above card, despite this one looking as if it is better printed. In-fact it was again probably a case of war restrictions which meant that cards printed later in the war were of lesser quality due to cut backs. These colourised versions are a well collected series of cards and fortunately still quite reasonably priced (because so many were printed and distributed and kept).

 

 

This is the reverse side of the top card which was posted on 21st March 1917 from a place called ‘WEST WRATTING’ (a village 10 miles southeast of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire).

 

This is the reverse side of the colour version card. As you can see the basic layout is unchanged except for the series number and reference number. The text here reads:-

“This heavy gun on the British Western front, seen in action, is a unit in the tremendous siege which we are making ‘not on a place, but on the German Army’”

I like the distinction here, ‘NOT ON A PLACE’ as if only the Germans fired upon actual places, meaning I suspect cities or towns. A nice bit of propaganda there.   

 

NATIONAL PORTRAIT MUSEUM

James Bond – Spectre

Portrait Black and White Photograph series

 

Yesterday (29/01/2016) I nearly missed these as they were not in the main three postcard stacks, they were off to one side in a box all of their own. It would have been a shame as these are superb and it is likely that few BOND collectors know that these exist. Each card has a single actor who portrayed a character in the latest James Bond film:-

 

Daniel Craig as James Bond

Le’a Seydoux as Madeleine Swann

 

 

NATIONAL PORTRAIT MUSEUM

James Bond – Spectre

Portrait Black and White Photograph series

 

Christoph Waltz as Oberhauser

Andrew Scott as Denbigh

 

These four postcards will have a short shelf life so try and get them as soon as you can as these should be popular.

I didn’t mention prices when I posted a load of images yesterday so I will do so now. The museums postcards are 70p each but they have an offer whereby if you buy 5 you can have a 6th card free (which means an average price of 58p a card when you have 6 – and to be fair getting 5 is no great difficulty as I am a regular visitor and I still bought 18)  

 

<< New text box >>

 

LITERARY POSTCARD MENTIONS

I love it when postcards get mentioned in books that I am reading even if it is just on the one page or used as a small, or large, important device within the story. I shall list here the ones I come across.

Number 2

FIELD GREY

By

Philip Kerr

Quercus hardback edition

 

This is a Bernie Gunther story and is one of a series involving Gunther who was a police detective in Germany before WWII and then the stories carry on from this period through to the 1950’s and involve Gunther’s war experience and problems when he is mistakenly wanted for war crime offences post WWII.

Page 43

Bernie has been arrested by the Americans and returned to Germany in 1954 and placed in a cell in Landsberg Prison:-

 

“I remembered once receiving a postcard of Hitler’s cell and I had the impression that my own was not dissimilar!

 

After Hitler came to power his cell here at Landsberg Prison, where he dictated ‘Mein Kampf’, became a tourist attraction and a large number of postcards were sold depicting photographs of Hitler in his cell.

 

Page 155

Bernie is in Berlin in 1940 and in a meeting with Reinhard Heydrich (this is one of instances in these novels where Bernie meets real people from this period). Heydrich is speaking to Bernie:-

 

Naturally the Gestapo was at the same time monitoring the Mielke family home; and soon after the murders of Anlauf and Lenck the family moved from the Stettiner Strasse apartment to an address in Grunthaler Strase where, in September 1936, Mielke’s younger sister Gertrud received a postcard from Madrid. This seemed to confirm what we already suspected, which was that Mielke had gone to Spain as a Chekist”

 

The person being talked about here is another real person called Erich Mielke (1907 – 2000) who became the notorious Minister of State Security of the German Democratic Republic from 1957 – 1989.

 

Page 173

Bernie is in Paris in 1940 after the Germans have successfully taken possession of France. Bernie is talking to another army officer:-

 

You’ll have to give me the address,’ I said. ‘So that I can send her a postcard from Paris‘”

 

What I liked about this reference was the normalcy of sending a postcard remained even in the time of war and is superbly portrayed in this simple conversation between two officers in a captured city.

 

I can thoroughly recommend the Bernie Gunther stories by Philip Kerr and I have so far read three others besides this one-

IF THE DEAD RISE NOT – Berlin 1933 - 1936 and Bernie is investigating a death and gets involved in the pre-building of the Olympic Stadium

THE ONE FROM THE OTHER – Munich 1949 and Bernie is caught up with the German underground order helping SS officers escape the country. Bernie needs to get out of Germany and so does Adolf Eichmann, will Bernie be leaving with him?  

A QUIET FLAME – Argentina 1950 and Bernie is helping the local security investigate a murder which has the same traits as one Bernie investigated in Berlin in 1932.                

 

ROYAL MAIL

PHQ/STAMP CARDS

SHACKLETON AND THE ENDURANCE EXPEDITION

Release date 7th January 2016

 

I have a vast collection of the Royal Mail’s PHQ stamp cards and it is complete all the way back to the very first cricket one in 1973. I have a standing order with a company who produce a set cancelled first day of issue on the front with each respective stamp used. Since starting this Blog (and through the thoughts over the last year towards building it and starting it) it was always my intention to show them here as I receive them. Because mine are hand stamped it takes a while for them to come back to the company and for them to send the set out to me so there will be a delay of between 3 and 6 weeks between their release date and me posting them here.

This is the first set for 2016 -PHQ card set 410.

 

This first photograph depicts the expedition entering the Antarctic ice – December 1914 (1st class value) the crew consisted of 28 men

 

Endurance frozen in pack ice – January 1915 (1st class value). The ship had to carve its way through 700 miles of ice. The ship got stuck in ice 80 miles from its intended destination.

 

Striving to free Endurance – February 1915 (£1.00 value) the men tried for two days to hand dig the ship out of the ice but the ship only shifted its position and again stuck fast.

 

 

Trapped in pressure crack – October 1915 (£1.00 value) The pressure of the ice slowly crushed the Endurance over the ten months it was stuck in the ice. The ship was abandoned on 27th October and sank the following month.

This is my favourite image from this set.

 

Patience Camp – December 1915 – April 1916 (£1.33 value) the camp was drifting on an ice flow and hopes were that it would flow towards solid land.

 

Safe arrival at Elephant Island – April 1916 (£1.33 value) the expedition crew finally sighted open water and using three of the lifeboats from the Endurance they sailed to Elephant Island. The boats were apparently knocked by killer whales on this journey.

 

Setting out for South Georgia – April 1916 (£1.52 value) Shackleton and five crew members set out in a lifeboat on an 800-mile journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia. The remaining men stayed on Elephant Island eating seals, penguins and limpets.

 

Rescue of Endurance crew – August 1916 (£1.52 value) Shackleton and his five men reached South Georgia and had to climb a 2,500ft mountain and had to march for 36hours to a whaling station to try and get a ship to return to Elephant Island. Shackleton made three failed attempts to reach Elephant Island which were all stopped by the ice. Finally, on his fourth attempt he reached the island, on 30 August 1916, and rescued every one of his men. All in all an historic set of incidents worthy of the issue of a commemorative stamp set           

 

 

 

TONY THE TIGER

Kellogg’s mascot for ‘Frosties’ (known as Frosted Flakes in the US)

 

This is a superb early American postcard depicting an earlier version of Tony, here going on camp. These ‘Camp’ cards were advertising cards but were designed to be used by children who would post these back to parents from any camp that they were on – thus you have the space to put the name of the camp on the front on the board. These are the kind of postcards which are really collectible and prices around £5 to £8 for these are now not uncommon)

 

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE CARD

 

This was an eBay buy and although I loved the front image it was also the extra design shown here on the reverse side which clinched it for me. I was a scout when I was young (I am an assistant Cub Scout Leader now, and have been for over twelve years I think. I was a scout Leader earlier on and was also a Venture Scout so scouting is in my blood – my daughter is a Beaver Leader, my wife Jo is an assistant Beaver Leader and my eldest son James is a Group Scout Leader and his wife a Scout Leader so it does run through the family) …anyway as a scout I would have liked the fact that this was a tick box message system…far less tedious than writing a letter!!!! Bet they were popular.

 

 

Again you can see here the bonus of receiving items from abroad, the stamps used to post out the card. This is the envelope the Tony the Tiger card came in. A nice selection of four USA stamps and although these are not worth anything much I love stamps and I think they are worth keeping. I especially liked the Cardinal bird on the end as I have seen these in Florida when I have been bird watching there.

 

MAYFAIR CARDS OF LONDON

FRENCH CONNECTION SERIES”

Far left – TOWER BRIDGE (FC 315/1)

Left – TOWER BRIDGE AT NIGHT (FC 313/1)

 

Both of these were acquired from the same shop as the HM Queen card immediately posted before. These were 50p each but these are very well produced and Mayfair Cards can be found all over London and they have produced over the years, they go back until at least he early 1990’s, some fantastic poster and photo designs. As I was in London (home base for the company in many respects) these two French posters depicting Tower Bridge seemed an appropriate buy. The light brown toned image on the poster far left is my favourite of the two and I thought it superb. It was this one I saw through the window on the spinner and once I had decided to buy this one the other one kind of had to come along for the ride.

 

www.mayfaircards.co.uk

 

HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II

Published by – FISA

Photograph by Paul Ratcliffe

 

On my way through London yesterday (29/01/2016) I picked up this lovely little postcard for just 12p. Who says collecting costs money? (Well, actually Jo, my wife does, all the time…. hopefully she will read this entry!!!!). Sometimes collectors forget to look in the most basic of shops – this was from one of those garish bright colourful tourist shops just off of Trafalgar Square.  

 

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

29th January 2016

 

The shop at the National Portrait Gallery has been issuing superb postcards for many years with constant updates and changes to the variety available. I have quite a collection of these but I tend to mainly stick to television and film personalities but I have also picked up royalty, writers, inventors and music stars. They also do a nice range of historically relevant people. The images are a mixture of paintings, drawings and for many recent people, photographs.

Here are the cards I acquired today many of which were new to me.

 

JOHN HURT

NPG 6541

Of interest to me after his appearance as the War Doctor in the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special but I liked his work for much longer. This is a smashing painting by Stuart Pearson.

 

SIMON WESTON

NPG 6984

A victim of the Falklands War he has gone on to raise money for charity and to do much other good work besides. I rarely get to add new postcards to my Falklands War collection so this was a nice find. Painted by Nicola Jane Philipps in 2013.

 

TONY BLAIR

NPG 6974

The politician and Labour Prime Minister painted here by Alastair Adams in 2013

 

STEPHEN FRY

NPG 34602

I admit that I have no real idea why Stephen is here depicted holding an upside down stuffed cat! But then this photograph was taken by Steve Speller in 1988 and I suspect the world was a little bit crazier back then

 

CATHERINE, DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE

NPG 6956

A nice painting of the Duchess by Paul Emsley painted in 2012. These are the type of royalty postcards which are worth getting as they are more unusual than those which are sold from numerous other more general locations

 

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

NPG 134408

Sherlock himself in a very moody pose from 2010 on a photograph by Spencer Murphy. Another image that fits nicely into my television collection

 

 

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

NPG P1296

My childhood hero and favourite television personality ever since I first saw the series ‘Life on Earth’ (I had the book and everything). Wildlife programmes are made all the better by either his appearance or by his narration. He deserves to be included in those celebrated by images at the National Portrait Gallery

 

SHAMI CHAKRABARTI

NPG 6923

At first this may appear to be an unusual addition to my collection but I have attended two conferences where she has given presentations and although I may not always agree with everything she says I can see that she is passionate, intelligent and serious about her beliefs and I have nothing but respect for that. As of 2003 she became the director of ‘Liberty’ the British civil liberties advocacy and in 2014 became Chancellor of the University of Essex.  

 

KATE BUSH

NPG 125369

The Queen of British music in my opinion, and if for no other reason she deserves a place in my collection for the song ‘The Man with the Child in His Eyes’

 

ADAM ANT

(Stuart Leslie Goddard)

NPG 199195

The 1980’s, especially the first few years were my music years and I was a party DJ (in the old days of singles, LP’s and double deck players). Ant Music was up there with the best and Adam and the Ants produced some cracking records early on (it all went a bit downhill after ‘Prince Charming’ though, in my opinion)

 

 

 

DAVID BOWIE

Black and white – NPG P1855 – taken by Lord Snowdon in 1978

Colour – NPG P755 – Photograph by Mick Rock – taken in 1973

 

Two rather poignant images after his sad death earlier this month and it was nice to find them front and centre in the rack.

 

DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE

NPG 126501

One of our most famous writers of thrillers and deaths. She was of course the creator of Miss Marple and Poirot, both of which characters have had long running and extremely popular television series’ (so this card can again fit nicely into my television collection)

 

THE FOUR KINGS OF HORROR

SIR Christopher Lee – 1922 - 2015

Vincent Price – 1911 - 1993

Peter Cushing – 1913 - 1994

John Carradine – 1908 - 1988

The inclusion of 2015 as the year Christopher Lee died shows how up to date this particular postcard is but I would like to know if it was available prior to this and without the addition of 2015. The four stars appeared together in the 1983 film ‘House of the Long Shadows’ which is the source of this particular photograph (although these details are not given on the postcard itself)  

 

PAPERCHASE Shop

Victoria Railway Station, London

29th January 2016

 

I have been on a course in Leatherhead all week and made my way home via train with my first section of rail travel being between Leatherhead and Victoria. As I was lugging my case through Victoria Station I saw a Paperchase shop. In the main entrance was a spinner of postcards. Here are the ones I could not resist.

 

UNTITLED

Published by ’Paperchase’

 

I have previously mentioned my love of Tiger related postcards and this design showing tiger images in a jumble of triangles caught my eye and had to be included. I think it was my favourite of the selection I am going to show here

 

‘You’re Roarsome!’

Published by ’Paperchase’

 

Another Tiger postcard but this time a drawn version of a Tigers face. The letters across the bottom and the glasses around the tiger’s eyes are printed in silver glitter ink and they sparkle as they catch the light (you could perhaps even say they have a touch of novelty). I quite liked the fact that the tiger’s face also appears at the bottom on the reverse side but without the glasses.  

 

UNTITLED

Published by ’Paperchase’

 

A lovely art card showing various birds including a Toucan, Scarlet Macaw, Cockatoo (with my bird-waters head on I can tell you that it is a ‘Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo’), there is another cockatoo bottom right (possibly a Black Palm Cockatoo) and a Budgerigar bottom left (my father bred budgerigars and had an aviary at the bottom of our garden so I know these birds well). I openly admit that I do not know what the blue coloured bird is. Does anyone know? The Budgerigar appears again, in full this time and centre bottom on the reverse side.

 

‘je t’aime’

Published by ’Paperchase’

 

A Valentine’s Day based design (check the ‘14 FEB’ and LOVE’ in the black strips at the top and bottom). But for me it is another Eiffel Tower postcard for my TV collection.

 

 

I [Heart] LONDON No.1

Published by BRAIN-BOX-CANDY

(The only non Paperchase postcard I bought)

 

What could be more London than the Red Bus? In this design the bus seems to be being driven by a monkey, and he seems to be transporting a number of animal friends (perhaps a day trip from London Zoo? Or even an escape!!). And there’s another cockatoo up there on top at the back and a rather well suited up tiger sitting downstairs at the rear. An amusing postcard (and one for animal collectors and Transport collectors)   

 

 

‘SCOTS BEAR GUARD’

By

CHRIS WHARTON

Published by

PAPER PLANES

Reference

PAP033

 

I recently acquired this art postcard from a branch of PAPERCHASE in London for 60p. It fits into my Military theme but then I also like funny postcards and this also fits into that category.

 

BRITISH BEER MAT COLLECTORS SOCIETY

 

This is a novelty postcard (with full postcard reverse) as it is a true Beer Mat and was to be used as such. Beer Mat postcards were not uncommon and I have a number in my collection but they obviously need to be grabbed before they have been used as intended and some wet glass has been plonked on top of them. Mostly they are advertising items for a brewery but this one is different as it was produced by the 'British Beer Mat Collector's Society' (there is a collector out there for every item conceivable). As such there are more copies of this particular Beer Mat postcard around than those issued by an actaul brewery. The Beer Mat front depicted here was the image used on the 'BEER MAT OF THE YEAR 1990' (which nicely dates the card as it was issued probably late in that year or in 1991)   

 

FOTOFOLIO

‘AIR ATTACK OVER LAKHIMPUR. 1941’

PHOTOGRAPH BY LEJAREN A. HILLER

Reference Z136

 

Lejaren A. Hiller was an accomplished American illustrator and photographer. Born on 3rd July 1880 and died in 1969 in New York City. He studied painting and illustration and moved to Paris and worked in studios there. In the early 1900’s he turned to photography and became widely regarded as the creator of American ‘photographic Illustration’. He was known for the ‘dramatic staged tableaux’ style of image, much like the one depicted here. Hiller also created a series of photographic posters for the US Armed Forces during World War II.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

??????????

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPH

(image taken from www.photosbrightonandhove.org.uk)

(www.queensparkbooks.org.uk)

This is an amazing black and white photograph of some sort of announcement or mini parade or more likely some sort of promotion. The problem here is that other than the two web-site addresses above there is no other text on the reverse side of this card. So? What is happening here? I have no real idea and no easy way to find out………. Do you know?

(The joy of postcard collecting is not always knowing the answer…)

 

NATIONAL POSTAL MUSEUM, LONDON

Card Reference SS/28 11/84

 

This card is issued to commemorate the Exhibition of Postal Orders at the National Postal Museum – 6 November 1984 to 28 December 1984. The card depicts a design for a Post Office Note of c. 1974, the proposed forerunner of the Postal Orders issued in 1881 : they were printed by Bradbury Wiklinson. This card will also be in the Midlands and North East Postal Regions”

 

The above is the text from the reverse side of this postcard. The NPM (National Postal Museum) issued a wide range of postcards throughout the 1980’s and there are many dedicated collectors of these cards.

 

PAVILION GARDENS, BATH

COLOURMASTER INTERNATIONAL

Reference Number PLX6184

BTH 429

 

At first this looks to be a very simple local view postcard which would be of little interest to anyone outside of a Bath area collector. But there is a little addition in the photograph which made it an essential buy for me for my television collection. At the time this photograph was taken there was a garden flower display which had a flower covered bear in it. The flower letters around the circular base of the display give the game away as the read as “PADDINGTON BEAR’S IN BATH”.

I have been a huge Paddington Bear fan since I started reading the books as a child and loved them. I can remember searching the shelfs in my local W. H. Smith bookshop for the next release and I read them all. I was too old when the TV series was made and shown but the release of a television series allowed me to add Paddington Bear related postcards into my favourite theme. I suspect I am not alone in collecting Paddington but I wonder how many others have found this little gem?   

 

ROYAL MAIL PHQ STAMP CARDS

STAR WARS

DARTH VADER

The Differences between the Royal Mail standard issue Star Wars Royal Mail PHQ Stamp Cards and those given away free over three months with the Dec 2015, Jan 2016 and Feb 2016 issues of ‘Stamp & Coin Mart’.

I mentioned before in a previous post that there was a reverse layout difference between the two sources of these cards. So to help out visually I depict here both versions of the Darth Vader PHQ Card.

 

 

This is the standard Royal Mail PHQ Stamp Card as sold via the Philatelic Bureau and other Royal Mail outlets. Note the Bar Code located centre bottom right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the version given away free with the Stamp & Coin Mart magazine. Note immediately the lack of a Bar Code. Also of major interest to collectors is the addition of text on the left side which reads:-

 

For the full range of Star Wars gifts and collectibles

visit www. royalmail.com/SCM  or call 03457 641641

 

The best stamps in the Galaxy  

 

Now you know what to look out for and will be armed with the information required to tell these two versions apart.  

 

THE SAINT & BONANZA

(Television Programmes)

 

At the time of typing this I am also watching ‘Live & Let Die’ on DVD which was Roger Moore’s first James Bond appearance. In-fact the now famous speedboat chase is on. Live & Let Die was the very first James Bond film I ever saw and my late auntie took me (she was a big Roger Moore fan). So it seemed appropriate that this postcard was awaiting an appearance on the blog.

The card depicts artwork by ‘Barraguer’ which shows a teenager watching a television set. On the screen is an image from the American TV western series called ‘Bonanza’. On her wall she has a poster which depicts Roger Moore from I believe his earlier appearances as The Saint from the TV series.

The card is numbered ‘313 – B’ and was printed in Spain. This example in my collection was posted from Belgium but the date on the cancellation is feint and I can-not quite make out the year.

For a TV theme collector like myself this is a cracking card.     

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This has a nice slogan cancellation which depicts a ‘Penny Farthing’ cycle so this side would be of interest to a philatelic collector who had ‘Bicycles’ as their theme.

 

 

BELLE ISLE PLEASURE BOAT

DETROIT, MICHIGAN

 

Colourised photograph

Posted in 1908  

 

BELLE ISLE PLEASURE BOAT

A postcard of the Belle Isle Pleasure Boat. Text on the reverse side reads:-

A favorite method of access to Belle Isle, Detroit’s principle pleasure ground is by steamer, and boats leave regularly from convenient wharves, for the big pier at ‘The Island’. The scene shows one of the large steamers of the Detroit, Belle Isle and Windsor Ferry Co., leaving the foot of Woodward Avenue for Belle Isle, band playing and picknickers thronging the decks’   

A nice early postcard with a smashing photograph which has been colourised.

The postcard was posted out of Detroit in 1908 with a numbered (2) wavy line cancellation  

 

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE

SEALED PACK OF ADVERTISING POSTCARDS

(Photograph)

 

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE

WOODEN RAILWAY

 

The above photograph depicts a full sealed package of these Thomas the Tank Engine postcards advertising the wooden railways. The package appeared on eBay and despite having collected Thomas postcards for over 25 years now I had never seen this particular card (although the card is only from 2004). My oldest son had a wooden railway, but Thomas wooden trains were not then produced (a shame as he would have loved one). But then years later he had a son, my first grandson, and we bought him a wooden Thomas to play with on his father’s older wooden track.

With this family background I really had to have this card but could I buy the entire sealed package just to obtain a single copy for my collection? Clearly I could.

The card is quite large (just short of A5) but is a lovely item and has stated before one I had not previously seen or been aware of.      

 

HEAVY GUN UNDER CAMOUFLAGE

WORLD WAR I

WAR BOND CAMPAIGN POST CARD

 

A first world war postcard issued by the War Bond Campaign in connection with the National War Savings Committee’s Campaigns. The front depicts a painting of a heavy gun in action. Text down the far left side on the reverse side reads:-

From material supplied by the Ministry of Information – Design No. 5 Passed by Censor. Printed in England.

A fairly simple but nice WW1 postcard and one which would only be worth a couple of pounds if it were not for something that has been applied to the reverse side (see below image)

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

With applied

“FEED THE GUNS CAMPAIGN”

Black Cachet

 

The ‘FEED THE GUNS’ campaign was set up to raise money for the war effort. Postcards were sold and you could have a cachet applied at fund raising events (There was a major campaign run in Trafalgar Square in 1918). The cachet is not that common and adds value to the postcard. I have previously mentioned my interest in cachets and marks applied to mail and this is another good example.

 

LONDON STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

MUSEUM OF LONDON

 

Another ‘Boomerang’ postcard this time advertising an exhibition of photographs taken on the streets of London which opened at the Museum of London on 18th February 2011. The exhibition showcased photographs from 1860 to the then present day. I am going to suggest that the image chosen for this card was from the later end of this timescale. It certainly is a rather amusing photograph.

 

SCORPIA RISING

By

ANTHONY HOROWITZ

An Alex Rider story

 

This advertising postcard is a free rack card postcard published by the company BOOMERANG and was one I found in the rack located at my local Odeon cinema. According to the release date printed on the reverse side – 31.03.11 – I assume I picked it up in 2011.

Anthony Horowitz is a well-known author who has written books using the characters Sherlock Holmes and James Bond and wrote the Alex Rider novels of which Scorpia Rising is one.  

Book advert postcards are one form of postcard publishing which has grown rather than declined due to the recession and a large number have been published by Boomerang and are/were thus free to collectors at the time (although from dealers subsequently expect to pay 50p - £1 - on eBay often more

 

THE SAINT CLUB

Postcard series featuring book covers

“Le Saint contre Teal”

1941

 

The saint of course is a character well known to many from the various television programmes produced, with perhaps the Roger Moore series being the best known. But the character originated in books written by Leslie Charteris. Here you have three postcards that I obtained through eBay last year and which depict book covers. The cover artwork of each uses the famous stick man with a halo motif which has continued on through the TV programmes. When I saw these I knew that I had to have them as the images are fantastic and these fitted so well into my television collection because of the obvious connection.

This first card appears to be the very first card issued in this series (It may even be the first card published by the club). It has no reference number on the reverse side (see below cards, which do). This card illustrates the book titled “LE SAINT CONTRE TEAL” published by ‘Librairie Artheme Fayard’.    

 

THE SAINT CLUB

Postcard series featuring book covers

“Le Saint a’ New York”

1939

 

This card is shown as ‘Number 2 in a series of postcards from The Saint Club’. This card illustrates the book titled “LE SAINT A’ NEW-YORK” published by ‘Librairie Arthe’me Fayard’.    

 

THE SAINT CLUB

Postcard series featuring book covers

“Ici le Saint!”

1940

 

This card is shown as ‘Number 3 in a series of postcards from The Saint Club’. This card illustrates the book titled “ICI LE SAINT!” published by ‘Librairie Arthe’me Fayard’.

 

This is my favourite of the three book covers and thus my favourite postcard.    

 

JEUX OLYMPIQUES

D’HIVER

GRENOBLE 1968

 

Two French maxi-cards (a maxi-card’ is a postcard where a stamp has been applied to the front and the stamp either features the same image or a related image to that upon the postcard. The stamp then also needs to be cancelled with a similar related cancel).

The card on the far left depicts ‘Madame Denise Devouassoud’ who was the 1967 French champion. I do like the way that her stance is the same as that drawn on the stamps artwork. The other card depicts an Ice Hockey player (not identified). Again the photograph is the same pose as used on the stamps artwork. On both cards the stamps have been cancelled with a circular ‘Xes JEUX OLYMPIQUES D’HIVER 38. GRENOBLE – “6 FEV 68”’ HAND STAMP.

The Ice Skater card is Number 628, the Ice Hockey one is No. 626. Both are published by ‘G. Parison et B. Regnier (Paris)’. They are described as ‘Carte Philatelique’ (Philatelic postcard)

 

LONDON FIRE BRIGADE

TURNTABLE LADDER

(published by J. Arthur Dixon)

 

“LONDON FIRE BRIGADE Turntable ladder – an all steel, self -supporting, hydraulically operated ladder extending to 100ft, which can be used for rescues from high buildings or as a water tower”

This is the text that appears on the reverse side of this postcard (black printing – unusual because this company usually print the reverse in blue). A nice fairly early modern postcard.

 

‘Annie’

(Published by)

ARGUS COMMUNICATIONS

 

This is a selection of postcards from the 1982 American musical film version adaptation from the Broadway musical of the same name – ‘Annie’.

Aileen Quinn played Annie in her film debut alongside Albert Finney who plays billionaire Oliver Warbucks who takes little orphan Annie in.

The film was released on June 18th 1982 but despite mixed reviews it has remained popular and was nominated for Best Production Design and Best Song Score and its Adaptation at the 55th Academy Awards. Quinn went on to win a Best Young Actress Award at the ‘Young Artist Awards’.

As a result of the films general popularity (I think it is the songs that people remember best) ARGUS COMMUNICATIONS released a series of postcards. Here is a very small selection of these postcards. All are individually numbered (ignore the number 30 in the right corner on the reverse side as this appear on all the cards – it is the P number on the left side which is the individual reference number)

 

P2600

(title)

 

 

 

 

P2570

"I'd have written sooner, but I had a few problems

 

 

 

 

 

P2560

"I miss you"

 

This image features Albert Finney as billionaire Oliver Warbucks

 

 

 

 

 

P2530

"I smile when I think of you"

 

 

 

 

 

P2510

"I don't believe in miracles. I depend on them"

 

 

 

 

 

P2550

"We belong together"

 

This was the image used on the film poster for the film

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© Mark Routh