17/08/2017

KNABENKAPELLE UND,, DEUTSCHES HAUS

(“Chemical Chapel and German House”)

DOHLEN VERLAG DINKELSBUHL

KUNSTLERKARTE Nr. 14

1000 JAHRIGES DINKELSBUHL

Painting by

RUDOLF WARNECKE

This is a lovely paining which is clearly German in content with a military band depicted marching past a very ornate hotel. Dating this unused postcard is a little difficult for me as I am not an expert on this type of card. But, it could easily be from the 1930’s, but then could also be from almost any period between then and the early 1960’s as this type of card remained popular long after the second world war ended, but I believe it is from the earlier section of this period.

The image appears to be of a street located in the town of Dinkelsbuhl which is an historic town in the Central Franconia region, now a part of the state of Bavaria in southern Germany.    

PHOTOGRAPH

This photograph shows the same three buildings which appear in the painting on my postcard. The central building with the small tower on the top is the building on the far-left side of the painting. This means that the second building in on the right side is the hotel which is the central feature of the painting. It is nice to know that not much has changed here (except no marching bands and now the street is full of cars!)

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This postcard has received a cachet in purple (a popular colour for cachets from various European countries as it shows up well against the normal black printing used on cards, although here the printing is in brown). The cachet reads:

Heinrich Kratze(r?)

Metzgerei u. Gastwirtscha(t?)

DINKELSBUH(L?)

Weinmarkt (?)

Henry Kratzer

Butchery & Innkeeper

DINKELSBUHL

Wine market

So, this cachet is like an advert for a person who was both a butcher and an innkeeper, and it seems to be linked to a specific type of event which seems to be a wine market.

17/08/2017

ROBOT

THE GOOD LIFE

Published by

'1973'

Ref: 2254

“This card is printed using vegetable inks on board made from 100% recycled post consumer waste”

Printed in the UK

Copyright 2009

Science Fiction themed postcards have been, and I suspect will be, for a long time, popular. This is one I found at the weekend in a 50p box. The design is simple but who could resist this robot, who looks a little evil with that mouth and the waves of electricity sparking across the antennae on the robot’s head. But, how bad can a robot be that likes cupcakes? Not too bad I think.

The image has been printed on very rough, matt card which actually gives the whole card a very retro appearance and adds to its charm.

17/08/2017

BLACK STAR

A SEASON OF FILM, TELEVISION AND SPECIAL EVENTS

IN CINEMAS NATIONWIDE, ON BFI PLAYER, ON DVD, AT BFI SOUTHBANK

OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2016

BFI BLACKSTAR

When I was in London on this past Sunday I visited the book market area under Waterloo Bridge on the Southbank. It is one of my favourite regular events and I have picked up some great books here (including ‘DODGER’ by Terry Pratchett which came with four free postcards and which I depicted here on a previous blog page). On some of these book stalls you can also find boxes of postcards, mostly priced at 50p each. Regular postcard collectors will probably only find a handful which are worth adding to a collection, but some of these can be very nice. These four postcards shown here were amongst those I bought this time around.

The BFI mentioned on these cards is the BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE and there is a BFI SOUTHBANK from where I suspect these free advertising postcards were obtained, or nearby. The BFI Southbank is a cinema which specialises in classic, independent and non-English language films, with these often shown in specialised seasons, such as the ‘BLACK STAR’ season which these four cards advertise. I would probably of had these for my ‘Film’ collection but as they mention ‘TV’ in the text they will nicely transfer to my favourite collection, ‘TELEVISION’ themed cards.

16/08/2017

ELVIS PRESLEY

Died on the 16^th August 1977

Today is the 40^th Anniversary of the death of Elvis

OFFICIAL ELVIS PRESLEY STAMP BALLOT POSTCARD

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE

In 1992 the US Postal Service was aware that they intended to issue an Elvis Presley stamp in 1993. They decided to give the ‘General Public’ a choice between two different stamp designs. One depicted the singer in his earlier, younger days (Choice A) whilst the other depicted him in his older ‘Las Vegas’ season period (Choice B). An official ‘Ballot’ postcard was produced and was shipped out to post offices where people could collect a copy and make their vote.

Depicted here, is an original Ballot postcard, unused. It shows both options which have a tick box beside each which enabled people to tick their choice.  

The U.S. Postal Service made one error with this publicity and promotion postcard idea, and that was that they greatly underestimated how popular the ballot was going to be. A ‘large number’ of these postcards were shipped out but many areas and individual post offices ran out of these postcards quite quickly. There was not enough time to re-stock and send out more of these ballot cards, so something had to be done. It was approved that local areas could arrange for further postcards could be printed locally thus replenishing the stock.

Although this option did solve the issue of those who wanted to vote but had not been able to grab one of the early official printed cards, it did produce another point of interest to collectors. This was the fact that the various, and many printers that were used up and down America resulted in the postcard being printed in different sizes, print tones and quality. This did not matter too much to those who were ticking their choice and posting the cards. But for collectors it meant that technically you could put together a selection of different printings, sometimes with ‘quite obvious’ variating quality.

NON-OFFICIAL (but Authorised)

LOCAL AREA PRINTING VERSION

ELVIS PRESLEY STAMP BALLOT POSTCARD

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE

I was fortunate to obtain one of the official printed initial ballot postcards not long after they were issued. I later read about the situation where further copies were printed all over America in local areas thus producing further copies of the ballot card in various levels of quality.

I wanted to obtain at least one copy of a later printed version, and preferably one which could clearly be seen to be of a lesser quality (something which did not matter to those using the cards for the ballot). Eventually I was offered this postcard here.

Hopefully you can see that the quality here is greatly reduced with the images being slightly blurred and there is a boarder down the right side and across the top which shows that this is a poor reproduction of the official postcard. The difference between this and the official version is clear and I was pleased to obtain it.

Inevitably a massive number of these cards were used for the ballot and I believe that no officially used copies exist as these were destroyed by the US Postal Service after they were counted and the ballot result was known. But, gladly, a number of mint copies were also kept by people, as souvenirs, and it can be assumed that possibly this was one of the reasons why post offices ran out of the initial official cards. So, if anyone wants one of these they are available and when I checked eBay today one seller has three copies up for sale at £2.90 each. These all appear to be official cards and I have long suspected that the later locally produced versions are far scarcer. This card here is also slightly smaller in size to the above official issue, only a couple of millimetres, but still smaller..

PHOTOGRAPH

U.S.A POSTAL SERVICE

ELVIS PRESLEY STAMP

1993

(SG 2769)

If you were wondering which stamp won out in the ballot, well, it was option A, the earlier, younger image of Elvis in his younger days. Apparently, it won by quite a considerable margin, but I doubt that was much of a surprise.

Depicted here is a used block of four of the stamps from my collection and which were bought to go with my ballot postcards.

The stamp was issued again later in 1993 as part of the ‘Rock and Rhythm and Blues Music’ stamp set although here the stamp has his full name on the front, so ELVIS PRESLEY rather than just ELVIS as appears on these stamps and the postcards. This later stamp can be found with no frame (SG 2823) and with a frame (SG 2830).

PHOTOGRAPH

This is the later printing of the stamp with the full name inserted

REVERSE SIDE OF BALLOT POSTCARD

I always quite liked the fact that the return address for this ballot was in Memphis. When the postcards were later printed locally by different companies the reverse side remained the same as depicted here, although again, the quality of the printing could vary immensely.

15/08/2017

FELICITY JONES

(born 1983)

Photograph by Laura Pennock

2016

C-Type Colour Print

Published by

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

At the weekend, I paid yet another trip to the National Portrait Gallery shop, a place I am very fond of and from where I have obtained some attractive postcards. The shop does have its standard postcard images but every few months new issues appear. Some do not last long and these are the ones to pick up when you see them. This is often because the depicted person or persons come to a sudden ascendency and then their reason for popularity or notoriety changes or fades, as an example the Nigel Farage postcard I depicted earlier in the year has already disappeared from the shelves, also the James Bond character photographs I depicted last year were only on sale for a brief period.

This postcard here depicts the actress Felicity Jones and when I saw this postcard I knew it was one I had to obtain to add it to one of my favourite themed collections, my ‘Star Wars’ one for Felicity Jones played the main character Jyn Erso in the 2016 feature film ‘Rogue One’, which is a prequel story to the first Star Wars film. I suspect this will be a postcard that will be sought after by Star Wars collectors in the future as it will likely be one that many will be unaware of, at this current time.

14/08/2017

MILITARY & FIGHTING MACINES SHOW

MALDON, ESSEX

12^TH AUGUST 2017

POST CARD BOOK

I attended this military show on Saturday and although I did not expect to buy or even find any postcards here I was pleasently surprised. I bought a few postcards, one of which has already been depicted. But, without a doubt my best find, and buy, of the event was this POST CARD BOOK depicted here. Initially it looks a bit tatty, and to be fair the words on the cover are a bit feint. It was inside a small clear plastic bag. I found it on a stall which was covered in all sorts of military paraphenalia, but this was the only postcard related item they had. Jo, who was with me says she still does not know how I spotted it (but, then she does say that I have a kind of ‘Postcard Radar’, as I find postcards in all sorts of unusual places and locations in which she says I should not be able to find any postcards).

Anyway, I saw this and took it out of the bag and was astounded to find it contained 24 world war two warplane postcards. With two exceptions these are paintings by A.F.D. BANNISTER, and they are well known images which have been reproduced several times, although these ones here were originals. Now, I knew what these were immediately and was aware that they are normally catalogued between £3 and £5 each. So, saying £3 each that makes £72, but I was seriously looking at a price around £80 for the lot.     

With some trepidation, and much interest I asked the stall holder how much he wanted for the collection. He replied £15. Jo, who was with me asked me if this was alright. Alright? I couldn’t pay the money fast enough!. Thus this became mine.

I have not yet removed these from the pages of this booklet so what you have here are photographs of the cards as they appear in the book. Here I only give you the name of the plane depicted.

With one exception all of these postcards are published by SALMON

SPITFIRE “FIGHTERS”

A.F.D. BANNISTER

TOP

HAWKER HURRICANE

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BOTTOM

REPUBLIC THUNDERBOLT

A.F.D. BANNISTER

HAWKER TYPHOON

A.F.D. BANNISTER

HAWKER TEMPEST

                                                                A.F.D. BANNISTER

FAR LEFT

FAIREY FULMAR

A.F.D. BANNISTER

NEAR LEFT

GRUMMAN WILDCAT

A.F.D. BANNISTER

FAR LEFT

FAIREY FIREFLY

A.F.D. BANNISTER

NEAR LEFT

FAIREY BARRACUDA

A.F.D. BANNISTER

DE HAVILLAND MOSQUITO

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BRISTOL BEAUFIGHTER

Different artist – Mr Davies

TOP

VICKERS-ARMSTRONG WELLINGTON II

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BOTTOM

MARTIN MARAUDER II

A.F.D. BANNISTER

TOP

DOUGLAS DAKOTA

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BOTTOM

LOCKHEED LIGHTNING

A.F.D. BANNISTER

TOP

SHORT STIRLING

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BOTTOM

BOEING FORTRESS II

A.F.D. BANNISTER

TOP

HANDLEY PAGE HALIFAX

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BOTTOM

THE LANCASTER BOMBER IN FLIGHT

FIGHTERS AND BOMBERS IN COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY

COPYRIGHT

THE PHOTOCHROM CO, LTD

LONDON

TOP

AVRO LANCASTER II

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BOTTOM

CONSOLIDATED LIBERATOR II

A.F.D. BANNISTER

TOP

CONSOLIDATED CATALINA

A.F.D. BANNISTER

BOTTOM

SHORT SUNDERLAND

A.F.D. BANNISTER

(One of my favourite aircraft)

GENERAL AIRCRAFT HAMILCAR

A.F.D. BANNISTER

12/08/2017

PARIS

CHAPELLE EXPIATOIRE

CHAPELLE EXPIATOIRE DE LOUIS XVI

RUE PASQUIER

EXPIATORY CHAPEL OF LOUIS XVI

Published in France

By unknown publisher

I bought this postcard today on a stall at the ‘Military & Flying Machines’ show. It cost me £4 but it was not the front image that caught my eye. It was something applied to the reverse side that I found most interesting.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

When I saw this card, it was in a sleeve with this side visible. I immediately saw the blue boxed cachet and was intrigued:

HOPITAL TEMPre No 38

Ste FEYRE (Creuse)

Although the spelling is missing the ‘S’ I think this is clearly a cachet for a ‘Temporary Hospital’. The location is given as Sainte Feyre, with a secondry location of Creuse in brackets after it. Sainte-Feyre is located in the Creuse, Limousin region of France (apparently now part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region).

I have tried, but have only had an hour or two so far, to look into this hospital but all I can find is references to a Sanitary Hospital No 38 being located in Sainte Feyre in 1918, but this looks anything but temporary in the images I can find for this hospital which appears to be very permanent structure, a building in fact. Two images I have found seem to indicate that this was a red cross run establishment, possibly even run by the American Red Cross. Whatever the facts are I shall continue to look into this cachet, and the story behind it. It is this type of study that makes the collecting of older postcards so interesting.

12/08/2017

BARRY WEEKLEY ART

I met Barry Weekley today at the ‘Military & Fighting Machines’ show at Maldon, Essex on his stall. Although Barry did not have any postcards he did have some postcard sized greetings cards which displayed some of his artwork. I was very taken with these and picked out three which really appealed to me. The first I saw depicted the Concorde, which as you will know is a specialist subject of mine. So, I decided to buy this one. I also bought two others as well (see below). I then asked Barry if he would mind signing these for me which he was very pleased to do. His signature was applied top left

CONCORDE

GREETINGS CARD

(POSTCARD SIZED)

Autographed on the front by artist

BARRY WEEKLEY

PHOTOGRAPH

Barry Weekley and me with the signed Concorde greetings card between us

SPITFIRE

GREETINGS CARD

(POSTCARD SIZED)

Autographed on the front by artist

BARRY WEEKLEY

I think this is a smashing painting and Barry has really caught the spirit of the ‘Spitfire’ fighter plane, flying low over the British countryside. This one had to come my way, and again Barry nicely signed it for me top left.

PHOTOGRAPH

This photograph depicts me by a Spitfire on display at today’s event

PHOTOGRAPH

This is the stall that Barry manned at today’s event

SPITFIRE, LANCASTER BOMBER and HURRICANE

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

GREETINGS CARD

(POSTCARD SIZED)

Autographed on the front by artist

BARRY WEEKLEY

Here Barry has depicted the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flying over the city of London and the River Thames with the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye in the background behind them. This was my third and last greetings card that I bought here. Again, Barry kindly signed this across the top left corner.

So, three very nice items, which I accept are not postcards, but which I think will make a fantastic side addition to my collection. At just £2 each these were reasonably priced and with the added signatures on the front also unique and a superb souvenir from a smashing day out.

BARRY WEEKLEY ART

Information card with details for Barry’s buisness

11/08/2017

HOPE AND OPTIMISM/NAMIBIA

1984

JOHN N. MUAFANGEJO

NAMIBIA SUPPORT COMMITTEE

Published by

LEEDS POSTCARDS

Ref: L282

“After decades of colonial rule and years of political and military domination by South Africa, the peoples of Namibia are at last starting to decide their own future”

(Text from reverse side of postcard)

BLACK PRINT VERSION

This is another really good example of how LEEDS POSTCARDS re-release their postcards, with the same reference number, but with little changes which make each release collectible in its own right. It also means that if you are collecting the cards of this company by reference number only then you will miss out on what are very different front images.

This one here was the re-release and came out after the postcard depicted below.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

(note the new logo which appears in the stamp box area)

HOPE AND OPTIMISM/NAMIBIA

1984

JOHN N. MUAFANGEJO

NAMIBIA SUPPORT COMMITTEE

Published by

LEEDS POSTCARDS

Ref: L282

BROWN PRINT VERSION

(This one does not have the reverse side text which is mentioned on the above postcard)

This brown print version came out before the all black one which appears above. Of the two I prefer this one but, it seems strange to me that the company decided to take this very attractive brown printed image and then later release it as a totally black image, and then, to give it the same reference number as this brown print issue. These certainly make collecting this company’s cards more interesting.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

With the earlier ‘Boxing Glove’ LEEDS POSTCARDS logo. If I remember correctly the company changed their logo every ten years, but I could be wrong.

10/08/2017

9 MINERS RESCUED!

JULY 27 – 28, 2002

QUECREEK MINE, PENNSYLVANIA

Published and Drawn by

RICK GEARY

Rick Geary has often produced postcard which celebrate or commemorate events and incidents in modern USA. This one here relates to the rescue of trapped miners who became trapped after the mine they were digging in became flooded after they accidentally dug through into an abandoned poorly documented mine shaft. They became trapped on the 24^th July 2002 and were 240 feet underground. The 9 trapped miners used the mines phone system to tell other miners in another shaft to evacuate which they successfully did, this left the remaining nine trapped but those who got out raised the alarm.

Eventually, some days later between the 27^th and 28^th July the remaining nine miners was extracted through a shaft which was dug down to them. This was no simple matter as the water level in the mine had to dealt with and water pumped out. As they dug down, by drilling, they had to take care not to break through without equalising the pressure between the tunnel and the flooded shaft as this would immediately flood the shaft and drown the trapped miners. The process was complicated but eventually successful although all nine miners were suffering from the freezing conditions in the water, but they all recovered. This postcard manages to capture the success without using many words, an art Rick is well known for.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

PHOTOGRAPH

Here is an image of the rescue pod sent down into the drilled shaft to individually bring up the trapped nine miners. This is the main content of Ricks design

10/08/2017

CLANDESTIENE PRENTBRIEFKAART

UITGAVE VAN HET ILLEGALE TROUW IN 1944

COLL. VERZETSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM

CLANDESTINE PRINTED CARD

EXPORTS OF THE ILLEGAL WOMAN IN 1944

Published by

ART UNLIMITED AMSTERDAM

Ref: A 5749

This is an interesting modern postcard which depicts a WW11 underground resistance organised propaganda card. Anyone found with such an image would, by 1944, if not before, face possibly death as a member of the resistance, or they would be suspected of being as such. Actual copies of such a card would be very valuable and expensive so for me this is the best way of obtaining the Anti-Nazi design.

10/08/2017

UNTITLED

Published by

Paperchase

Ref: FSC C104990

NOVELTY SHAPED POSTCARD

I bought this postcard this year in a branch of the ‘paperchase’ stationery shops. As you know I like shaped postcards and this is one of the strangest shaped ones I have recently found. It is a lovely card but I do wonder if anyone has actually ever posted one.

Also the two flower like shapes at the bottom of the design either side of the girl are made of glitter stuck down onto the card (an extra piece of novelty).

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

10/08/2017

GLEN CAMPBELL ….. RIP

Glen Travis Campbell

22^ND April 1936 – 8^th August 2017

American singer, songwriter, musician, television host and actor

PATHE – PATHE MARCONI EMI - 1932

Poster Design by the Artist

‘CASSANDRE’

Published by

NOUVELLES IMAGES

Ref: CP 622

10/08/2017

HARUO NAKAJIMA ….. RIP

1^ST January 1929 – 7^th August 2017

Japanese actor who is without a doubt best known for being the first person to don the Godzilla costume and appearing in the very first Godzilla film in 1954. Nakajima went on to appear as Godzilla in the next eleven consecutive Godzilla films. He also played other monsters in Kaiju films including the giant Moth called Mothra. He also played a small role in the Akira Kurosawa classic feature film ‘Seven Samurai’.

GODZILLA

Published by

LUDLOW SALES (fotocard)

NEW YORK

Ref: FC-182

A classic image of the monster called Godzilla, as portrayed by Haruo Nakajima who first wore this suit. When I saw recently that Nakajima had passed away I did wonder how many people would have known who he was just from the name. I was one who did, probably because I am a big fan of the Japanese monster movies and because I have Nakajima’s autograph on a large photograph which depicts him wearing the Godzilla suit in a very well-known scene from the original movie.

PHOTOGRAPH

Haruo Nakajima

08/08/2017

WONDERGROUND GALLERY

WALT DISNEY WORLD

FLORIDA

Original Artwork of

“SOME IMAGINATION”

By Artist

Jerrod Maruyama

Time for another ‘Disney Wonderground’ issue. This one is a bit of a cute one and depicts Mickey Mouse in his Sorcerer’s Apprentice guise surrounded by some of the Disney baddies. Those amongst you who have been to Disney World in Florida and seen the night-time ‘Fantasmic’ show in the ‘Hollywood Studios’ theme park will immediately realise that this design is based on that show (definitely a postcard for the ‘Disney World’ fanatics).

08/08/2017

GRYFF

NATIONAL GARDEN FESTIVAL 1992

EBBW VALE

OFFICIAL QUESTIONNAIRE CARD

Gryff was the official mascot character for the 1992 National Garden Festival which was held in Ebbw Vale, Wales. This was perhaps the last of the National Garden Festivals to be highly collected postcard wise. There were many cards for this event, both official and non-official cards were produced and many people, myself included, tried to put together full collections.

The card depicted here shows the mascot character Gryff and someone, a philatelic dealer called Arthur Roberts as it happens, applied a Welsh definitive Queen Elizabeth Machin head 24p stamp (note the dragon top left) top right and had this cancelled with an EBBW VALE, GWENT - 1^ST MAY 1992 double circle cancellation (Ebbw Vale of course being the location for this National Garden Festival). This date is an important one as this was the first day of the festival.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE CARD

As you can see this is a questionnaire card and not a true postcard, although with the application of the stamp on the other side there is a philatelic connection. I suspect many of these cards were available and used at the festival but, I doubt too many were kept and as such I think these might be quite hard to find now. Certainly, for this event, this is one of the harder card items to obtain.