28/04/2017
THE FLORAL MUPPET SHOW IN THE PARADE GARDENS,
BATH
Published by
(Photographed and Produced by)
UNICHROME
(71 PRIORY CLOSE, COMBE DOWN, BATH)
Ref: 1161
I have previously depicted a postcard that showed a sand statue scene of the Muppet’s so I thought this one was a natural shoe in. Normally I would not know when this was issued but fortunately the buyer noted the year in pen on the reverse side, I assume to remind them of when they were on holiday there, and this was 1979. This is a good example of how collecting one theme allows you, with an open mind, to buy other styled cards. This one is in my TV collection.
28/04/2017
BRITISH BERLIN TATTOO
Published by
AMK BERLIN
The British Army have a long history with Berlin and this postcard depicts the massed bands performing in what was a previous British Berlin Tattoo. Finding modern army themed postcards from this period can be a challenge but this is a good example.
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
The reverse side of this postcard is in some ways more interesting than the front. It has a nice map printed top left and has a large black text cachet which reads:
BRITISH FIELD POST
ERMASSIGTE GEBUGR
This has been posted from Berlin using a British 3p Machin Queens Head stamp which has been cancelled with a ‘BRITISH FORCES POST OFFICE – BERLIN’ circular hand stamp dated 6th May 1989. This would be a nice item for those who collect British Army modern postal history. This nice card only cost me £1 and was a buy from earlier in the year.
28/04/2017
CHARLES ISHERWOOD (?)
WORLD WAR I
Studio Photograph Postcard
As we know, hundreds of thousands of young men joined up to fight in the First World War. A very large number of these men attended one of the many photographic studios located all around the country, in cities, towns and some larger villages, to have a photograph taken of themselves in their new uniform. These photographs were then turned into postcards which they then sent to family and friends and especially loved ones. Many a girlfriend, Mother, aunt, sister or cousin received such a card as displayed here. So many were produced during the first years of the war that almost every family album, and/or postcard album from this period contains at least one. Because of their commonality they are, outside of a small number of famous soldiers, very cheap to buy. This one here came with a bunch of cheap cards and cost just a few pennies.
This one was not posted but the soldier depicted did sign this copy, I suspect for a relative or friend as the terminology used is a bit more formal than I would expect if this was for a loved one.
I have looked at this signature over many years, and, I have come to the conclusion that the name here is ‘CHARLES ISHERWOOD’, but this obviously not confirmed.
I have checked the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site and there are three Charles Isherwood’s listed as having died during WW1. One died in 1915 but this would pre-date the date which appears to have been written on the reverse side of this postcard, which is 28/06/1916. This leaves two more Isherwood’s killed during this war.
1 – Lance Corporal Charles Isherwood – Date of Death 13/11/1916 – The Kings (Liverpool Regiment)
2 – Private Charles Isherwood – Date of Death 31/07/1917 – Royal Fusiliers
I have checked the cap badges for both these regiments and neither one appears here on the cap being held by the man in this photograph. So, my enquiries into this depicted soldier have come to an end. It may be that he survived the war, but without knowing his regiment, and more details my quest to hunt him down has come to an end. But this is the joy of these cards, where a name is in anyway shown, or where the regiment can be ascertained from badges in the image.
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
These are often simply printed with no printer shown, I suspect because they were locally don, maybe even by the photographer or studio where the photograph was taken, so costs had to be kept low so that more people would participate.
This is where the person has again signed the card and where he has also dated it as stated above – 28/06/17. The lack of printed and written information is what makes this such a difficult card to investigate.
27/04/2017
A BIG HI YA FROM ORLANDO
Published by
THE POSTCARD FACTORY
Ref: PC57G-MC-OR 825
DISNEY FLORIDA SERIES
At first this appears to be a standard ‘Orlando’ Disney elated postcard. It is not an official theme park postcard but one produced for sale outside the parks in other shops and locations. But, there is pictorial content here which is far more interesting than a first glance might appear.
The image is of Mickey Mouse’s home which used to appear in the old ‘Mickey’s Toontown’ area in the Magic Kingdom. This area was closed down on the 11th February 2011, and this structure was taken down and removed. The area later reopened as ‘New Fantasyland but without Mickey’s house. So, this photograph shows you something that is no longer there. Personally, I think this is a bit of a shame as I remember visiting this house and meeting Mickey inside with my children back in 1993 and in 2003. It was an area designed for young children and was very popular.
MICKEY UNLIMITED
Published by
LAWSON MARDON POST CARD
Under the production title:
A TIME TRAVEL PRODUCT
Ref: (709)
This postcard has a perforated edge down the left side and has been removed from a postcard book. Again, this is not an official theme park issue but another souvenir produced for sale outside the parks. Again, this shows the Mickey Mouse house that used to be. Here you can see the yellow mailbox that was outside the house and which was a common sight on postcards like this one because it’s depiction saved on using front text. The inclusion of both Mickey Mouse and Pluto (both of course residing at this house!) adds a little more interest and collectability to this card. As this is such a basic image it does not have much value, but the knowledge that the house no longer exists, at the Magic Kingdom, does at least give the postcard an interesting back story.
27/04/2017
ANDREW CARTMEL
Autographed Postcard
Doctor who
“ACE”
“Andrew Cartmel with Sophie Aldred (as Ace, in a dress for once) writer Marc Platt, and SFX supreme Mike Tucker in the studio for the classic Doctor Who story ‘Ghost Light’ in 1988.
(Please note: this is a rare archival photograph and the only print we were able to source has some scratches and marks on it)
Photo courtesy of Mike Tucker
This postcard is part of a limited edition of 100. Reference NCGH”
(Text from reverse side of Postcard)
Andrew Cartmel is a British author and journalist who was the former editor of Doctor Who (he is the man standing on the left side of this image). Only 100 of these cards were produced and it is possible that Cartmel signed all of them, although this is not confirmed. For a Dr Who collector like me this is an unusual postcard to pick up, with the bonus that I always liked the companion ‘Ace’.
27/04/2017
BELIEVE!
Published by
paperchase
Ref: FSC C014059
I have previously mentioned my interest in mermaid postcards, and why I started looking out for and collecting them. Here is a recent addition to the collection bought on my last trip to London. This one though appears to be more of a ‘Mercat’, if such a word exists!!
27/04/2017
AN 244 - TONY LE VOI MOTORS
April 1984
Published by
PAMLIN PRINTS
(Croydon)
Ref: M2509
LONDON COUNTRY PAINTED BUS SERIES No. 2
Pamlin Prints issued hundreds (if not thousands) of black and white photographic postcards, many of them with a transport theme. They have been quite collectible and there are some people who specialise in their output. The cards are all golden age size and, as far as I am aware, black and white. This example here is very typical of their output as buses were a common theme, alongside trains.
26/04/2017
JONATHAN DEMME ….. RIP
Robert Jonathan Demme
22nd February 1944 – 26th April 2017
Film Director, Producer and Screenwriter – directed ‘Philadelphia’, ‘Rachel Getting Married’, ‘Married to the Mob’ and won the best director Oscar for ‘The Silence of the Lambs’
Postcard
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Published by
EDITIONS AVANT GARDE
Ref: P1274
Film poster postcard
26/04/2017
SPACE SHUTTLE / SPACELAB
LURABA 1981 LUZERN
Ref: 3/1981
HELVETIA – SWITZERLAND
This is an official postal stationery postcard with a pre-printed stamp on the reverse side. The front image is artwork of the Space Shuttle. Although there is no descriptive text to this image it looks to me as if the shuttle is about to try and launch a satellite.
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
MINT
The 40c pre-printed Space Shuttle stamp design used on this postal stationery post card is only available here on this card, which makes this card a little more special, in my mind at least. Some countries do design stamps which are exclusively printed on postal stationery items. This means that sometimes stamp collectors also want these to have examples of the printed stamps, but not all of them by any means.
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
Whoever put this together used four USA space related stamps and had them cancelled with an American date cancel for the 14th April 1981. The four stamps used are:
1967, 5cent ‘Gemini 4’ over Earth (SG 1312)
1969, 10cent ‘First Man on the Moon’ (SG A1367)
1973, 8cent ‘500th Birth Anniversary of Copernicus (astronomer) (SG 1489)
1969, 6cent ‘Moon flight of Apollo 8’ (SG 1358)
I thought this was unusual when I saw it so bought it. And, if you are interested about the date, the 14th April 1981, this was the day that the first Space Shuttle, Columbia 1 returned to Earth. So it is an appropriate date for the card as well, cracking.
25/04/2017
THE POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY
26TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OCTOBER 1ST TO OCTOBER 5TH – 1970
The Dolphin and Anchor Hotel, Chichester, Sussex
CHICHESTER POSTMARK SELECTION
Postmark postcards like this, from all over the UK, and other locations, have a very solid collectors base. This one is from 1970 and was issued for the 26th Annual Conference of The Postal History Society, which was held in Chichester, thus the depicted Chichester postmarks
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
Here a 1970 issued Penny Black 5d ‘Philympia 1970’ stamp has been cancelled with a special hand stamp for the conference which depicts yet another Chichester postmark, a numbered duplex styled one. This one is dated for the 3rd October, which was three days into the conference.
It is addressed to Frank W. Staff Esq, I believe in his own hand as I recognise the writing as Frank Staff is a well-known philatelic celebrity.
24/04/2017
THE BRAT PACK
Postcard given away free with the magazine – TV HITS MAGAZINE
EMILIO ESTEVEZ – KIEFER SUTHERLAND – RIVER PHOENIX – PATRICK SWAYZE
ROB LOWE – RALPH MACCHIO – COREY FELDMAN – COREY HAIM
Some of these look very young in these photographs, and there some interesting actors depicted as well. The age of some of these people now is worrying for those amongst us who remember their earlier films; Estevez 54yrs, Sutherland 50yrs, Lowe 53yrs, Macchio 55yrs (best remembered of course as the Karate Kid), and Feldman 45yrs. Sadly of course some are no longer with us. Corey Haim passed away in 2010 (officially from pneumonia but he apparently also had an addition to painkillers). River Phoenix died way back in 1993, aged just 23, from a drugs overdose. When he collapsed outside a nightclub and passed away the same night in hospital it was front page news. Patrick Swayze died aged 57 in 2009 after a very public and brave fight against pancreatic cancer.
All were of course very popular at the time this postcard was given away but they had some ups and downs with their star status, and, in some cases, especially with their private lives. A 50p -£1 valued card.
23/04/2017
MISHA
also known as
MISHKA
also known as
THE OLYMPIC MISHKA
Misha, as I remember the name, was the mascot for the Russian held Olympic Games in 1980. The bear character was designed by children’s book illustrator Victor Chizhikov. Misha was probably the first ‘really’ successful, on a commercial basis, mascot. Many, many bear dolls and other products were sold and the character also appeared in a ‘short animated’ film, and, more importantly to my own collecting interest, a television series (animated by ‘Nippon Animation’ – it aired in Japan between 6th Oct 1979 and 5th April 1980). Amongst the many items released there were of course a wide range of official postcards. This one here is technically a postal stationery post card as it has a printed stamp on the reverse side. This one is quite typical of the output.
ROYAL GUARDS
Published by
LAGOM DESIGN
Design by Paul Thurlby (2016)
Ref: 1554
Having bought the London Zoo design I felt this one also needed to come my way (again at £1.50). Again, a fox appears in the picture and I wonder if it is a motif of the artist.
I bought both of these cards in Carnaby Street in London, (which partially explains their cost) but I think they are delightful.
22/04/2017
DIE NAHE
Published by
CRAMERS KUNSTANSTALT DORTMUND
(CEKADE)
Ref: Nah 501 78/21
Nahe is a region of Germany known for its quality wines. It is based around the river Nahe in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This is a nice map postcard which shows the river Nahe and the locations along its banks. This postcard could be sold at any of the locations shown on this map and as such could have had a reasonable circulation. It is a lovely card but one with not a lot of value as at the moment, for some reason, the collecting of map postcards is not that popular (which is a vast difference to the 1990’s when the subject was extremely popular and every dealer had a map section in their stock – I suspect that in the future the theme could again pick up, who knows)
22/04/2017
FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM
YEOVILTON
(No printer or publisher details – official museum postcard)
Although untitled this clearly depicts the Concorde, apparently, according to the details on the stairs, this was the ‘002’ designated model. I like this one because most postcards either show the Concorde with her nose down or her cockpit raised. This one shows her with her smooth edged pointed front which was never a popular image to sell.
22/04/2017
RADIO WALDORP
H. DE GRAAF HZ
SCHAGERBRUG. TEL 26
ELECTRO TECHNISCH BUREAU
SCHAGERBRUGGER
RADIO-CENTRALE
This is an early Dutch advertising postcard which is in a ‘postal stationery’ style, i.e. plain backed, but which does not have a printed postage stamp on it. Difficult to date this without some knowledge of the age of the depicted radio, but I think this is sometime either just prior to WWII or not long afterwards.
22/04/2017
DISNEY’S CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
Official Disney Postcard
(Original cost 50cents)
This is another postcard which came in the ‘Disney’ charity bundle I have previously mentioned which arrived over a week ago now. I have previously seen this on eBay and it is rarely a cheap card – quite often £5+, sometimes £10+. So, again I was pleased to get an excellent mint example of the postcard via a much cheaper means.
The Disney California Adventure is the second park area to open in the Anaheim area of California. It opened in 2001 with previews etc (it officially opened on the 8th February 2001). Apparently, it had bad reviews initially and the expected visitor numbers were not reached. Subsequent expansions have helped to turn this around and the opening of ‘Cars Land’ has been very popular (and has resulted in the release of a ‘number’ of ‘Cars Land’ themed postcards). I have a feeling that this postcard is quite an early one, it is certainly a popular one.
22/04/2017
WALL – E
DISNEY – PIXAR
Blueray
2 -DISC SET
I recently showed the card content from the DVD box set of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. But, this was far from being the only exclusive cards from a film pack. This one here is from my favourite of the Pixar animated films, Wall-E.
I saw this blueray set on eBay and it came with exclusive Artcards (as previously mentioned on the previous posting these are often called artcards, are often plain backed, but are collectible, and in my opinion are best kept with the original film box).
PHOTOGRAPH
WALL – E
Original blueray box
This has a sticker on the front which mentions the free Artcards.
These appear to have been an HMV Store exclusive
21/04/2017
“THE RAIDER”
PUBLICATION SANCTIONED BY OFFICIAL PRESS BUREAU
REAL PHOTO POSTCARD
World War I German Zeppelin
During the period that Zeppelin’s were bombing London there was a big interest in these flying machines and many postcards were published and sold. A ‘number’ of these postcards depict a Zeppelin caught in searchlights, most often over London. This one is typical of the type. With this one though there is added history and interest provided by the written message on the reverse side.
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
The message reads as follows:
“Dear Nells, Katy & Jinks – We duly arrived safely here altho we began to think we should be held up on the road as the Guard kept on coming round and seeing that all blinds were down. We had just got home & to bed when Alan called us out to say Zepps were here & we ran into his room & saw it somewhere to the S.E. of us. Guns & bombs were going. There was nothing in this mornings paper”
What a cracking message. Full of history and detail. The blinds needing to be down, probably on a bus or tram. The Zepps (zeppelins) being seen by the sender and that the fact was not printed in the next day’s papers (possibly censorship in action). The card was probably sent under separate envelope cover, which was not unusual. It is the message which makes this card extra special to me.
21/04/2017
LOVE FROM LONDON
Published by
PAPERCHASE
Ref: FSC C014059
This one is not only available from ‘paperchase’ branches but has also been published by them so is an exclusive to them design. Does anyone else think that although this one is different in technique this goes well with the London bus postcard previously posted.
I bought this one because it depicts the Post Office Tower (which is how I remember this being called, although today most know it as the Telecom Tower, which is its current name). The Tower is strongly connected to the world of television via satellite television which is transmitted, or channelled out from here. As a ‘result’ of this connection I have collected postcards depicting the tower for many years, art or photographic.
21/04/2017
UNTITLED
“LONDON”
(LONDON BUS)
Published by
PAPER PLANES
U STUDIO DESIGN
Ref: PAP 110
I do like art designs which are a bit imaginative and attractive, and which come with matching cards in what could be considered a set (see below).
These two postcards are available from branches of 'paperchase'
UNTITLED
“NYC”
(NEW YORK CITY)
(NYC YELLOW TAXI)
Published by
PAPER PLANES
U STUDIO DESIGN
Ref: PAP 108
This time you have another iconic form of transport, the yellow New York taxi. This is to New York City what the red London Bus is to London. The two cards fit nicely together (but I do wonder what the card reference number PAP 109 depicts….is it another iconic city transport? Has anyone got a copy of whatever it is? )