28/06/2016

ICELAND

Congratulations to the Iceland Football team on beating the England team last night in the Euro 2016 match

ICELAND STAMP CARD

Depicting the 1988 issued 30k value ‘Long Tailed Duck’ stamp

 

The Long Tailed Duck does not breed in the UK but is a winter passage migrant which can be occasionally found in the UK along the coast, from Scotland down to Northumberland. In Essex, where I live it is a rare bird. A couple of years ago one turned up in Shoebury, a female, and I was lucky enough to be there to see it – a rare sighting.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

I picked up my copy of this postcard at a stamp exhibition called ‘STAMP ‘96’, held in London. The Iceland Philatelic post had a stand there and I bought this postcard and had their special ‘STAMP ‘96’ show cachet applied (almost perfectly struck on the left side – it looks almost printed but, it’s not). These ‘cachet’ applied items are interesting but most are kept as souvenirs by those who attend the events and they only really turn up when people’s collections get sold on – I have been to a number of stamp exhibitions and I always look out for special cachets, stamps and other items which I can have applied to postcards.     

 

27/06/2016

THE FUNNY SIDE OF LIFE

Distributed by

J. SALMON LTD

Ref: Good Sports 8–10–05-02

 

Posted in Celebration of

England -V- Australia Test Series

England 3-0 series win

 

Ok, I did the current football Euro 2016 (England are playing against Iceland as I speak), and the Wimbledon Tennis tournament (which commenced today), so to avoid being yelled at by the rugby fans I here commemorate England’s series win in Australia over the weekend. So here I have picked a rugby based cartoon card from the same series as the football and tennis cards already posted. Well done England.

 

27/06/2016

 

POSTING MY VIEWS OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT

REAL PHOTO POCTCARD

By

Nigh’s OF VENTNOR, I.W.

 

This classic multi-view postcard depicts images of Ventnor (top left – home of the publisher of this card), Blackgang Chine (centre left), Alum Bay and the Needles (bottom left), The Old Village, Shanklin (top right), Ryde (centre right) and Sandown Bay (bottom right). In the centre there is a smashing photograph of a young girl posting a letter (or maybe a postcard) in a letterbox. A nicely designed postcard which was popular as I have seen quite a few of these.

This particular copy was posted in 1959 and has a SHANKLIN – ISLE OF WIGHT wavy line machine cancel dated 18th August (posted with a 2 ½ d red Wilding Queen Elizabeth definitive stamp)

 

 

27/06/2016

 

TRI – CIRCLE – D RANCH

WALT DISNEY WORLD

Ref: 0111-0074

Booklet Postcard with perforated edge down right side edge

“Located within Fort Wilderness, the Tri-Circle-D Ranch features horseback trail riding, a pony ride and a petting zoo for the children”

(Text from reverse side of postcard – printing in blue)

 

This may not be a postcard image that has much going for it at first look, in fact it could, without turning it over to look at the reverse side even be overlooked as a ‘Disney’ card. But I loved this card when I found it because we have visited this ranch and have taken horse rides around the trail laid out from the ranch. But I was interested, and surprised, to find that the ranch featured on a postcard. I suspect that if you searched you probably can find almost every aspect of Walt Disney World depicted on postcard.   

 

 

 

26/06/2016

 

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA – PORTRAIT OF PRINCE ALBERT

OSBORNE HOUSE

ENGLISH HERITAGE

 

REF: KA9897

Portrait of Queen Victoria, 1846 by F.X. Winterhalter, on Sevres porcelain in the Council Room at Osborne. Osborne House was Queen Victoria’s seaside retreat, and has been preserved largely unaltered since her death

 

REF: KA9896

Portrait of Prince Albert, 1846 by F.X. Winterhalter, on Sevres porcelain in the Council Room at Osborne. Prince Albert closely supervised the building of Osborne House, which was Queen Victoria’s favourite home.

 

I bought these two postcards on a visit to Osborne House back in 2002. The house is amazing and I really enjoyed my visit. I am putting together a post around my old and modern Osborne House postcards, matching up old images of rooms with modern photographs, which I will post in the very near future.    

 

 

 

26/06/2016

THE PIER, SOUTHEND ON SEA

“The ‘Jimmy Bigwood’ Southend Series

 

So, here you have a postcard of the Pier from my home town in Essex, which I bought in a collector’s shop on the Isle of Wight (the same shop as mentioned in the posting below) and which was posted from Herne Bay in Kent in 1907. As I have now clearly bought it, it has returned to its point of origin, it’s home town – quite a little journey.

There are lots of view postcards of the pier from this similar angle but this one appealed to me because of the huge number of people that are packed together here by the entrance to the pier. It was more common just to have a few, or no, people so that the scene concentrates more on the buildings and structures, but here that normal policy was abandoned, big time.

 

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

Here you can see the nice large single circle ‘HERNE BAY, KENT’ cancel dated 11th November 1907

 

26/06/2016

CHAIN PIER, SEA VIEW, ISLE OF WIGHT

Excel Series

Real Photograph

 

In 2002 I visited the Isle of Wight for a family holiday. In Newport (at 27a Holyrood Street) I found a collector’s shop called the Keith Shotter Collectors Centre which sold British Colonial, Foreign Coins, Banknotes and Medallions…. And, thankfully, pre 1930 postcards. This postcard here was actually on display in the window of the shop. Because of my home town I have a bit of an affinity with piers, and this image looked interesting, so I bought it.

Now if I am right this is the Seaview Chain Pier which was built in 1881 near Ryde on the Isle of Wight. Construction actually commenced from September 1879 (there is a hand written pencil annotation on the reverse of my copy of this postcards which reads “BUILT IN 1880 – CONDEMNED UNSAFE – DEMOLISHED 1951). The pier was extended in 1889 to 1,050 metres (still much shorter than my home town pier) but it seems that the attendance was poor so they placed amusements on an extended pier head. The pier was closed during the first world war and was commandeered by the Royal Navy during the second. In 1948 the pier became a listed structure but unfortunately became unsafe due to storm damage. This damage resulted in the pier being demolished in, either 1951, if you take the pencil note on the back of my copy, or 1952, on internet history sites.       

 

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

I have shown this because I really like the old fashioned camera that appears in the centre 

 

26/06/2016

 

GROETEN UIT ROTTERDAM

Greetings from Rotterdam

Publisher and Printer not known

 

I visited Rotterdam about three years ago for a water festival which was a smashing day out. I later came across this postcard in a heap box and bought it because of my visit. The images used here on this classic multi-view styled postcard are photographs which have been hand coloured to produce bright colour images. What this has done here is somewhat blurred the realism of the pictures and one could be mistaken for assuming these were paintings rather than photographs. They have also been blurred which also adds a touch of a ‘painting’ look to them. But, I like this look and I think it makes the postcard look more attractive.    

 

26/06/2016

“I HOPE I HAD AS GOOD A TIME AS ME BEER BUDS DID”

“Whitbread Trophy Bitter big enough to satisfy your beer buds”

BEER MAT POSTCARD

 

Not common but they can be found, although not so much these days. Beer Mat postcards are an obvious form of advertising for beer companies, and you will not be surprised to hear that most of these items are alcohol related. Because they are proper beer mats, and used as such in pubs, they are a different shape to normal postcards and are also thicker, like proper beer mats are (which are designed to absorb the spillage – not that many spill much!)

This one here is from a series (I have a full set somewhere – this one here is an odd one I found in a box – but, if I am right, there are six different designs – I think).

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE BEER MAT POSTCARD

Printing in blue

 

26/06/2016

 

20th ANNIVERSARY PH TOPICS

1986 – 2006

Published by (naturally enough)

PH TOPICS

Ref: 441

(Spot-on 1)

 

I was a huge fan of the PH Topics postcard series and had a standing order with Pat who produced the series. I also had many years of corresponding with Pat who was a major promoter of modern postcards. This design here is by Brian Partridge, who was responsible for a number of PH Topics issues. This one celebrates that the publisher had been issuing postcards for twenty years. It is a typical Partridge black and white design and it shows a multitude of different bits and pieces and therefore covers all sorts of themes: Teddy Bears, Concorde (a Partridge regular), Phone Box, Cycles, Toys, Olympics (see card on desk top), Chess, Scouting and Partridges favourite inclusion; the world of Alice in Wonderland.

 

 

26/06/2016

 

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL

FOLKESTONE

Published by

SALMON Cameracolour Post Card

Ref: 2 – 65 – 03 – 24

“The Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel le Ferne near Folkestone was erected under the auspices of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust. It was unveiled on July 9th 1993 by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and commemorates the squadrons of the Royal Air Force who took part in the Battle of Britain in September 1940”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

 

Signed on the front by the late

Tom Dalton Morgan

C.O. 43 Squadron 1940 – 1941

 

THOMAS FREDERICK DALTON – MORGAN DSO, DFC (AND BAR), OBE

(23RD March 1917 – 18th September 2004)

 

Dalton-Morgan was born in 1917 and he accepted a short service commission to the RAF in 1935 and trained as a pilot being confirmed as a pilot officer on 26th August 1936. He was promoted to flying officer in 1938 and later was seconded to the Air Ministry in London.

In April 1940 he asked to return to flying to take part in the war and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on 26th April of that year. As put in the text he wrote under his signature he was appointed to No. 43 Squadron RAF (“The Fighting Cocks”) as a Flight Commander in June 1940. He flew Hawker Hurricanes from RAF Tangmere. His first ‘kill’ (seems such an in-appropriate word, but it was how they were listed) was on the 12th July and is recorded as a shared downing of a Heinkel He 111 bomber.

On the 13th August he himself was shot down but he managed to safely eject himself from his plane and survived with minor injuries only.

He returned to flying and shot down four enemy planes within weeks and then in September shot down three Messerschmitt Me 109’s but, on 6th September was himself badly shot up and suffered face and knee injuries and crash landed his plane.

His first DFC was gazetted on the same day he was shot down and was awarded for his courage and determination against heavy odds.

Despite being wounded he returned to his squadron on 7th September, the next day.       

 

 

26/06/2016

 

BARNACLE GEESE

By

Peter Scott

Published by

The Medici Society Ltd, London

Ref: P.C. 1181

 

Well known for his work with wildlife, including the Slimbridge wildfowl reserve, not so many people know he was quite a successful painter of birds as well. This is but one of many of his wildfowl paintings. A number of these were published as postcards by the Medici Society in the late 1950’s and 1960’s. They are now quite popular and sought by those who collect bird related postcards.   

 

26/06/2016

 

SNAKE PARK

PORT ELIZABETH

Printed in copyright to – Port Elizabeth Museum

 

Connected with the Port Elizabeth Museum this snake park was opened when the museum moved to a new site in Bird Street in 1919 and more space was available. This snake park was the very first of its kind and demonstrations by the snake handler Johannes were very popular and he appeared on postcards, like this one, which were sold at the museum. Johannes was on the staff for 30 years and was only bitten, on average, once a year (or so the story goes) – he died of old age and not from any snake poison. I assume this postcard was bought as a souvenir of a visit to this unusual attraction.

 

25/06/2016

THE FUNNY SIDE OF LIFE

Distributed by

J. SALMON LTD

Ref: Good Sports 8-10-02-02

 

Posted In Celebration of

EURO 2016 (Football Tournament)

 

The football tournament is in full swing and although I am not really a football fan I am aware that England are still in, as are Northern Ireland and Wales (and NI and Wales are playing as I write this and it is Nil-Nil at half time).

So in celebration of all this football (despite the fact that I am not watching any of it) I depict here an amusing cartoon depicting a local ‘Sunday League’ styled amateur football match – let’s hope that no goalkeeper does this to Wayne Rooney!

 

 

25/06/2016

 

The UK Referendum

 

On Thursday (23/06/2016) the UK went to the polls to vote to either stay in or leave the EU (European Union). We woke up on Friday morning (yesterday) to discover that more had voted to leave than stay, over a million more, apparently. My personal opinions aside, this outcome will have major effects on the future of the UK and all the other countries who are still in the UK (although at the time of writing the vote to leave seems to have had far more wide-ranging effects than just an immediate de-valuation of the pound). The ‘Brexit’ campaign (those pushing for the UK to Leave the UK) won, and now there is no going back, England will leave the EU and plans on how this will come about will be discussed over the coming two years.

 

POSTCARD

“Your Parliament in Europe”

POLLING DAY

For 81 UK Members

THURSDAY JUNE 15

 

I have picked this postcard out of my collection of political postcards. It is an advert postcard for the European Parliament Elections held in 1989. Today as I look at this design it is almost ironic, it is now certainly an historic postcard and something which can be truly considered a thing of the past.

 

 

 

The ‘Leave Vote’ win at the above mentioned referendum had a number of circumstances, and one of these was the resignation of David Cameron as Prime Minister.

I have therefore picked out this much earlier postcard which kind of depicts the other end of Cameron’s leadership tale:

CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP ELECTION 2005

Published by

PH Topics

Ref: No. 438

(Part-Political 12 by Brian Partridge)

“After only two years in office Michael Howard resigned and on 6 December 2005, after a closely fought campaign, 39-year old Old Etonian David Cameron eventually won a decisive Leadership victory over David Davis in a ballot of Conservative Members”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

 

I wonder if there will be a postcard issued to cover the resignation of Cameron? I think there might be at least one – if I come across one I will let you all know. Working as I do, as a PC, I have no love for Cameron and what he has done to my working world, but, I am truly worried about the list of those who are being considered as his replacement.    

 

 

25/06/2016

 

THE FUNNY SIDE OF LIFE

Distributed by

J. SALMON LTD

Ref: Good Sports 8-10-09-02

 

If you are not into football, then maybe Tennis is your thing. If it is then I am sure you will be looking forward to the traditional world of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Wimbledon commences in just two-days time, on the 27th July, and runs through to the 10th July. Hopefully this well-loved event will finally take everyone’s mind off of the referendum result!

Hopefully the serving in the mixed doubles will be a bit better than depicted here on this comic postcard – although it could be amusing if it was not…

 

25/06/2016

 

DAN DARE

DAN DARE PLANET GUN

Published by

ROBERT OPIE – THE COLLECTION

Ref: 01GM 13

GAMES SERIES SPACE

“The Eagle comic was launched in 1950 with the Adventures of Dan Dare, pilot of the future, on the cover each week

BOXED TOY, C1953”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

 

I can forgive Robert Opie his ongoing campaign to rule the UK’s museum and specialist shop postcard world when he issues postcards like this. This is a cracker, and as Dan Dare related postcards are not common anyway, it is also a nice and unusual design.

I am too young to know about the initial impact of Dan Dare, and The Eagle’ comic, but someone bought me a book which collected together some of the Dan Dare comic stories when I was younger and I loved them. The character also re-surfaced in the pages of a comic called 2000AD which I did read when I was young.

 

 

25/06/2016

 

MESSAGE NOVELTY CARD

“PULL OUT”

Published by

THE PHOTOCHROM Co, Ltd – London and Tunbridge Wells

“Ryde has many attractions. This is one, and there are twelve others inside.”

 

A ‘Pull Out’ postcard is a postcard which has either a little flap, or a removable section, under which is a strip of black and white photographs which can be pulled out and looked at. These have always been popular and designs can be found incorporating all sorts of clever ideas for the tab. This one here is one of my favourites as the entire seated female folds down to reveal the photograph strip.

The design used here will probably be found with a different location at the top because if you look closely you will see that ‘Ryde’ has been added in a different font and style – this area is actually left blank when the card is produced and printed so that the basic design can then be overprinted with any location. Obviously if it is a different location it will have a different strip of images inside (obvious I know, but I mention it anyway)

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This particular copy was posted in 1912 (3rd Sept) from RYDE

As you can see this only cost me £1.50 – and it was every penny of that, and more!

Although knocked about a little this survived the post really well considering it opens up.

 

 

ABOVE POSTCARD

Image depicting the postcard with the shaped lady in chair section folded downwards to reveal the location of the photograph strip

 

 

ABOVE POSTCARD

This image shows some of the twelve photographs pulled out (others are still tucked underneath – but this selection gives you an idea of what the strip looks like)

As a collector of novelty postcards (which has been mentioned many times before) I really like these cards and I think this is one of the more unusual ‘Pull Out’ postcard options I have come across.   

 

 

25/06/2016

 

THE LILLIPUT DOLL & TOY MUSEUM, BRADING, ISLE OF WIGHT

DIANA – PRINCESS OF WALES

AND BRIDESMAID, CLEMENTINE HAMBRO 1981

(Made by June Gale, Member of B.D.A. Association)

Published by

J. ARTHUR DIXON POSTCARDS

But printed by

JOHN HINDE (U.K.) Ltd (Cornwall)

Ref: L6/SP 7241

 

Nothing enhances a collector’s collection of modern postcards more than travel. Holidays have allowed me to seek out unusual and local postcards in places where postcards are issued that I would otherwise (even with the world of eBay) not find or see. This here is a very good example of such a card. I have a very specialized, and quite large, collection of 1981 Royal Wedding related postcards (and this was of course the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles – and despite, and perhaps because of, subsequent events, postcards related to this Royal Wedding have remained very collectible) but I was unaware of this excellent postcard until I actually visited the Lilliput Doll & Toy Museum on the Isle of Wight. And surprisingly for a doll this one actually does look like the person it was designed to be – Princess Diana herself. A lovely, unusual, locally issued, and only available in this one location, postcard addition to my collection (does anyone know if they still sell this card as it has been 15 odd years since I visited and obtained mine?).       

 

 

24/06/2016

GERONIMO

1829? – 1909

Published by

Kustom Quality, El Paso, Texas

In a series titled

OLD WEST COLLECTORS SERIES

Ref: 6a

 

“Apache Indian name Gokhlayeh. Embittered by the murder of his family by Mexican troops in 1858. Geronimo and his guerrilla bands ferociously fought and terrorized intruders entering the Apache lands of the Southwest. Surrendering in 1886, Geronimo was exiled to Florida, then to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma where he died (Photo: Circa 1886)”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

 

Another postcard in the same series as the Custer postcard I have previously posted. Again the text on the reverse side gives a nice potted history but I think Geronimo is better known through the mainly false representations depicted on film.

If you are interested in the ‘Old West’ then this series of postcards is superb – the cards all have rounded corners which are not always obvious on these scans.

 

24/06/2016

 

ANN RUSNAK

“WATCH MY DUST PHILEAS FOGG!”

Published, and drawn by Ann Rusnak – issued 1981

(This has been hand coloured by the artist herself)

Although no quantity is shown it is suspected that this was issued in a low number.

 

“Could Phileas Fogg have gone around the world in 80 days as Jules Verne wrote? New York reporter Nellie Bly followed his route in just 72 days, returning to New York Jan 25, 1890.”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

 

I thought it was time for another Ann Rusnak postcard (see previous postings) and this one is a cracker and is about an unusual lady I suspect not often depicted, or mentioned on postcard: Nellie Bly.

She was born as Elizabeth Cochran on 5th May 1864 in Pennsylvania and worked as a journalist for ‘The Pittsburgh Dispatch’ in 1885. In 1887 she moved to New York and commenced work for the ‘New York World’. She became famous after going undercover on an assignment on Blackwell’s Island posing as a mental patient and writing an expose on this experience. And, of course, there was the round the world trip which commenced in 1889. Bly died on 27th January 1922 in New York, aged 57.

 

 

PHOTOGRAPH

This is a photograph of the Journalist Nellie Bly

 

24/06/2016

 

JERSEY MILKMAID

No Publisher or Printer given

Novelty Postcard – real Felt applied images

 

Clearly this is a postcard from the island of Jersey, in the Channel Islands, but there are no details on the card and in fact the title shown top left is the only text on the entire card. The reverse side just has a partial centre dividing line and three address lines (two long and one short – all comprised of small dots). As a fan of novelty cards I could not resist this one as the milkmaid and the cow are made up of applied coloured pieces of felt, which makes the card sort of ‘furry’ to the touch. This is not the first felt card I have posted but this is better than the soldier one previously posted.

 

24/06/2016

 

INDIAN POSTAL STATIONERY POSTCARD

1951 – 9 pies bright green on yellow card

Heading in Hindi (it had previously been released in EnglishPOST CARD – ADDRESS ONLY)

Additional advert applied in red print

 

This unusual postcard has some sort of advert printed on it in both the front left half and on the entire reverse side, in red print. Unfortunately, I do not read Hindi so I am not sure what it is advertising but it has been applied a little out of quilter!

The green 9 pies stamp (pre-printed on the card) has been cancelled with a MADANGANJ KISHANGAHH date cancel dated 10 – 11 – 56 (1956). Although this address is interesting it was actually the other side that caught my eye.

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

(POSTAL STATIONERY CARD)

 

Again red ink printing has been used to apply this advertisement(?). What caught my eye here were the swastika’s depicted each side of the elephant and god image top centre. We now of course identify the swastika with the Nazi party from the 1930’s and 1940’s and as such the symbol has become in the western world a symbol of hatred and fascism. But the Nazi’s hijacked the swastika, as it was a much older symbol, it actually goes back to the second century BC, and the swastika is a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Its appearance here, on this card, is because it was still considered auspicious by Hindu’s, and they clearly still wanted to use it. This card was posted just eleven years after the end of the Second World War but in India they were determined to repossess their symbol of good luck – I don’t think they succeeded but I am glad they still tried (so let’s remember the swastika for its pre-Nazi good luck symbolism and through this deny fascists its use)

 

ANY TRANSLATION WOULD BE APPRECIATED

 

24/06/2016

 

THE OVALTINE FACTORY

AND FARMS, KING’S LANGLEY, HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND

Privately Produced Postcard – Printer and Publisher not listed

 

Originally a small factory was built, in 1913, in Kings Langley with an original workforce of just 13 but the buisness of making Ovaltine (actually the product originated in Switzerland where it was known as Ovomaltine – the story goes that when the substance was exported to England in 1909 there was a spelling mistake on the trademark registration document – and we thus ended up with Ovaltine as a name instead) soon expanded and throughout the 1920’s the factory grew to the size of the building depicted here on this postcard. The company also purchased two farms in 1930 which became the dairy and poultry farms which are depicted in the bottom two images.  

The Art Deco styled main factory building was used right through to the year 2002 when production here ceased. The factory is a listed building so still remains as a major landmark in the area although it has been redeveloped into luxory apartments.

The farms were also sold off and the dairy farm is now largely occupied by the M25 motorway from which you can see the first wind turbine visible from the M25 and which is located on land previously occupied by the Poultry (Egg) farm (land now occupied by ‘Renewable Energy Systems Ltd – thus the wind turbine)  

 

 

23/06/2016

INTERNATIONALE AUTOMOBIL – UND

MOTOOAD – AUSSTELLUNG BERLIN 1937

 

INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE AND MOTOR ROAD EXHIBITION

BERLIN 1937

 

This is a postcard depicting a motor car exhibition in Berlin in 1937. You can see signs hanging up for ‘MERCEDES-BENZ’ and ‘OPEL’ and f you look closely you can see some engines on display and also, naturally enough, a number of cars. This is an official postcard which show a packed exhibition. By 1937 of course the Nazi Party were in power, and had been for a number of years and although at first this picture does not seem political if you look closely there is a German Sailor in full uniform looking into the car that is centre front. There is also a fully dressed German officer (I believe) standing centre bottom right. Both are clear to be seen, the officer especially so and as a result I suspect this is a staged image (although I cannot obviously confirm this but as history has taught us the Nazi’s left little up to fate, and they were masters of the use of propaganda in every arena).

 

 

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

 

Posted using a President Von Hindenburg 85th Birthday 15pf stamp which has been cancelled with a ‘BERLIN – CHARLOTTENBURG 2’ single ring slogan cancel dated ‘4 – 3 – 37’. The sender (Sid) writes in their message that ‘this is a general view of the Berlin Show’, he also says that he hopes to bring back some stamps for someone, so he clearly knew a stamp collector.

 

23/06/2016

 

HAD TELEVISION FROM THE COAST YESTERDAY. WAS THIS YOU?

Donald McGill

XI Series, London

Ref: No A 2036

 

As a television collector I am always looking out for early postcards that make reference to ‘Television’. This one here uses the word in the joke line whilst the picture is in the typically iconic Donald McGill style which is famous, especially when used as here on a saucy seaside design.

This is an early use of the word television as this particular copy was posted from Leicester in 1933 (Aug 6th). Donald McGill is a famous comic postcard artist and his designs are very collectible, although not often very expensive as they were mass produced and, with a few exceptions, relatively easy to pick up. But, having said that, for a Television collector this design here is a ‘must have’ item. 

 

 

23/06/2016

 

15pf BAYERN Postal Stationery Postcard

BAYERN pre-printed stamp crossed through and new postal stamp imprint applied:

30pf DEUTSCHES REICH (Germany)

 

Normally I would supply all sorts of information around such an item but unfortunately I do not have access to the German section of the Higgins & Gage catalogue (the copies that I do have access to have this bit missing – along with all countries beginning with A…. for some reason). So, all I do know is what is obvious and what I can find in the stamp catalogue and that is that the DEUTSCHES REICH blue stamp that has been printed on this card is a design called ‘Germania’ and that it was first issued as an individual stamp in 1902 (it was previously released in 1899 but with REICHSPOST along the bottom instead of DEUTSCHES REICH – was appeared on these, as stated, in 1902). The actual design as shown here in blue and with straight fully clear edges around the portrait appeared in 1916. So, I believe, despite this looking like an older item, this blue stamp was printed on in or after 1916 (but I would love to hear from anyone who can give me all the correct details for this item)   

 

 

21/06/2016

 

NORWAY

Aurora Borealis – The Northern Lights

Published by

‘Snorre’

Photo by C. Salomonsen

Ref: SD723

 

In 2014 Jo and I went on a Disney Cruise across the Mediterranean. On a Disney cruise you are allocated a table with a group of other people and your group remains together throughout the cruise, moving restaurants each night. This can be a good thing or a difficult situation depending on the other people you share your table with. For us it was a joy because we met Les and Arlene who are a delightful couple with whom we have maintained contact. Although that 2014 cruise was, so far, our only Disney cruise Les and Arlene have been on others and recently cruised around Norway. Both Les and Arlene are aware of my ‘slight’ postcard addiction and this glorious long, and colourful, postcard was kindly sent to me from their most recent tour.

Many thanks Les and Arlene

 

21/06/2016

LISA SIMPSON

“Howl of the Unappreciated” by Lisa Simpson

Published by

SPLASH MANCHESTER LTD

Ref: X834

 

Without adornments this is a 50p postcard and it is easily found in dealer’s stocks and on the internet. This copy though is a little bit more special.

The character Lisa Simpson is voiced by Yeardley Smith, a French-American actress. At some point someone arranged for Yeardley to sign 1000 (one thousand) copies of this postcard. The cards were then individually hand numbered – mine is number 213/1000 (see bottom right corner). The autograph appears to the right of Lisa Simpson in the middle. Obviously as 1000 were produced these are not exactly scarce and you can pick up a copy for around £10 -£15 (perhaps cheaper, if you are lucky – although the only copy on eBay as we speak is priced at £29.99). But for any Simpson collector or fan it is a lovely little item.     

 

PHOTOGRAPH

YEARDLEY SMITH

 

21/06/2016

 

GARDEN PARTY TO WOUNDED SAILORS AND SOLDIERS AT NORTH LEIGH, NORTH END

JULY 20, 1916 – GIVEN BY DR. R. J. LYTLE AND MRS. LYTLE OF S’SEA

S. CRIBB Photo S’ SEA

 

This is a lovely World War I era postcard locally produced and photographed and depicting wounded soldiers and sailors, although they all appear to be smiling and enjoying this event, which appears to be a competition relating to carrying something in the hand and on something attached to the top of the head. Whatever he is carrying the man in the foreground is clearly concentrating on it.

The location is actually in Southsea (which is what the S’SEA stands for). For any local collector who specializes in the Southsea area history this is a delightful card and is probably worth a bit more than the paltry price I paid for it. For me it was the military connection which appealed, especially in this year which is the 100th anniversary of this particular card.     

 

 

20/06/2016

ANTON YELCHIN ….. RIP

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin

11TH March 1989 – 19th June 2016

Film and Television actor best known for playing the character Pavel Chekov in the recent Star Trek movies (2009, 2013 and 2016)

Star Trek World Tour Postcard (copyright 1998 – postcard from a series of 16) – “STARFLEET COMMAND”

 

 

PHOTOGRAPH

 

20/06/2016

FATHER’S DAY 2016

 

Yesterday was of course Father’s Day in the UK and my daughter Rebecca had bought some postcards for me on a recent trip to Amsterdam in a shop called ‘bpd’ (By Popular Demand).

Here are the five postcards which came with my present:

 

LAGOM DESIGN

Designs by Yago Partal

Dressed Animals

 

Ref: 3004 (The Squirrel one) – Copyright 2013

Ref: 3065 (The Emperor Tamarin one) – Copyright 2015

 

I love these designs and think they are very clever and live up to a European tradition of dressed animals (although these appear to be released by a UK company). My favourite of all four of the designs (see the two below) is the squirrel one.

 

 

LAGOM DESIGN

Designs by Yago Partal

Dressed Animals

 

Ref: 1568 (The Goat one) – Copyright 2016

Ref: 1566 (The Bongo Calf one – yes, Bongo) – Copyright 2016

 

Two more recent designs, one of which depicts a Bongo which is an unusual animal to find on postcard. Now, I have looked closely at these and I think the red squirrel, above, is painted and the same may be true of the Tamarin as well, but not so sure here. The goat and the bongo definitely appear to be photographs. I think, as mentioned above, that these are clever and delightful postcards which fit nicely into my animal collection (although they could equally fit into my ‘Unusual’ theme as well)

 

 

ORYCTES NASICORNIS

Otherwise known as the Rhinoceros Beetle

Published by

IMAGE REPUBLIC

DESSINS – ILLUSTRATIONS – PHOTOGRAPHIES

 

A nice simple but attractive postcard – and I have a small collection of insect cards

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