21/12/2017
“DON’T TOUCH THE PRECIOUS THINGS!”
THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN
Published on behalf of
BBC WORLDWIDE
This postcard was released to advertise the DVD for ‘The League of Gentlemen’ television series. The design features the two characters, Edward and Tubbs, who run the local store (or – spoiler alert – did, as in the specials mentioned below the shop has burnt down). I have depicted this postcard here to celebrate the 20th birthday of the series, which is being commemorated with a three-part special which has been on this week. As a big fan of the original series, which was not to everybody’s taste, but still an iconic comedy series, I have collected related postcards, and there have been a few. Let’s hope more programmes are forthcoming on the next anniversary (maybe the 25th)
21/12/2017
TOYS “R” US
E.T. ON VHS & DVD 21 OCTOBER
E.T. TOYS EXCLUSIVE TO TOYS ‘R’ US
Printed on behalf of Toys ‘R’ Us by
GRAPEVINE POSTCARDS
If anyone collects E.T. memorabilia then this is an interesting postcard. But, I have posted it here today because yesterday the toy company ‘Toys ‘R’ Us’ were in the news. Yesterday it was reported that in the UK many branches were to be closed-down, and staff made redundant etc. It also looked so bad that the company could have closed-down completely. The Pension Protection Fund were threatening to block the company’s plan to move forward and resolve their issues by forcing this block. This seemed to come as a bit of shock but as I am writing this news has just been announced that the company has been saved from collapse by the support of creditors who have supported a rescue deal. So, ‘Toys ‘R’ Us’ will, for the moment, continue. As I was reading all about the initial issues yesterday I immediately thought of this postcard, which I believe is the only one I have which has the ‘Toys ‘R’ Us’ logo on the front.
20/12/2017
MERRY CHRISTMAS
“Kerrrching!”
“Bah Humbug”
£9,000 TUITION FEES!
Published by
IPM PROMOTIONS
Photo by Phil Smith
Free Postcard for all visitors to the:
BLOOMSBURY COLLECTORS FAIR
Sunday December 19th 2010
Ref: B301
Not all Christmas cards have to be jolly! This one, a free card to all the visitors attending the promoted fair, makes a comedic jest at the harsh increase in the then student fees tuition costs – an increase to £9,000 (I think from £8,000) – thus an early Xmas present for the government. I believe it was a Tory thing, so Cameron is happy (he was of course Prime Minister at the time, oh how the mighty fall) but it was not a Liberal party thing, but of course the Tory party were in a coalition government with the Liberals as of this year (May 2010), so as it got put through anyway you have Nick Clegg looking glum. So, politics and Christmas, not a happy mix I admit – but a topical cartoon card at the time.
This is the first of my Christmas themed postings, one of many which will appear over the next few days in the lead up to the festive day itself. I promise some of the others will be more 'festive' than this one!!
20/12/2017
YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BLOW
INTO THE RUDDY BREATHALYSER,
SIR!
Published by
BAMFORTH & CO., LTD
Ref: “COMIC SERIES” No. 2492
Cartoon by
FITZPATRICK
Classic Bamforth cartoon (my thanks to David Rye for sending me this one). I remember well the breathalyser as I used them for many years at the start of my career, which is a nice lead in into the fact that today is officially my last day as a police officer. Tomorrow I shall officially be a civilian, my thirty years are up. The job has its ups and downs (fast car chases, although less and less of these, foot chases, unfortunate, sad and sudden deaths and the horrible task of passing on details of these) and its highs and lows (shift work, successful arrests, riots and large scale disturbances, working Christmas – I did 18 without one off at one point - and New Year’s Eve – because I was riot trained I worked most of these for my first 18 years, and all half night shifts – I also missed birthdays, anniversaries and parties), but, I would not have wanted to do any other job at the time. Having said all that, though, I am still happy to retire as thirty years is enough. Time to concentrate on my hobby and spend more time with my postcards.
(p.s. those breathalyser kits were a nightmare to use!)
19/12/2017
POMA CARDS
MISTER ED
TOP
PART 1 / 2
POMA CARDS 83/1977
BOTTOM
PART 2 / 2
POMA CARDS
83/1978
J.v.d. Heyden
Nederland
Two more QSL Radio cards from Poma Cards, again from the Nederland. These two tell the two halves of one story involving a horse jumping competition. Unlike some of the others I have previously posted, these two are from the same sender, so you would need to reach him twice, in-order to receive both halves of the design. The others I have shown have mainly been plain backed but there is some small text area on these – all relating to the radio signal received.
19/12/2017
HRH PRINCE CHARLES
PRESIDENT OF THE APPEAL
Published by
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL SPIRE TRUST
Printed by
JUDGES POSTCARDS LTD (Hastings)
Royalty themed postcards are clearly quite common here in the UK. In certain periods they have been very collectible (The Coronation of QEII, the royal wedding in 1981, all through Princess Diana’s royalty linked era, and more recently with the marriage of William and Catherine and possibly again with the announcement of Prince Harry’s engagement). As a result, of these periods of popularity, many, many postcards have been released. Therefore, collectors try and hunt down the more unusual postcards, those which would have had a less extensive distribution. This is such a card. Produced on behalf of the Salisbury Cathedral Spire Trust this would have had a local distribution and was unlikely to originally be available outside Salisbury. Now, this does not make this a valuable postcard, just an unusual one (value does not always equate to numbers issued or distribution – it is far more complicated than that) but still one which would grace any royalty collection.
HRH PRINCE CHARLES
WITH THE DEAN
Published by
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL SPIRE TRUST
Printed by
JUDGES POSTCARDS LTD (Hastings)
Companion postcard to the above release. There may well have been more issued, I expect there was, but these are the only two which I have. It could of course be that other cards in the series did not depict Prince Charles, but depicted other people or the spire itself etc.
18/12/2017
DISNEY
ALADDIN
THE MUSICAL
ADVERT POSTCARDS
EUROPAPREMIERE
FREDERICIA TEATERS
Published by
FREE CARD
(DENMARK)
This ‘particular’ advert card depicts the two main characters, Aladdin and Jasmine from the stage musical version of the Disney animated feature film. This card is from the free rack company ‘FREE CARD’ based in Denmark.
OPERAEN
19. juli – 20. August
FEDERICIA TEATERS
ALADDIN
THE MUSICAL
Published by
GO-CARD
(DENMARK)
Ref: 13800
Another free advertising postcard for this musical, although this time by another free rack company called GO-CARD. I assume this the Genie from the story, it certainly looks blue enough to be this character.
OPERAEN
19. juli – 20. August
FEDERICIA TEATERS
ALADDIN
THE MUSICAL
Published by
GO-CARD
(DENMARK)
Ref: 13799
This image shows a number of the cast on the stage, and is in some ways the most attractive of the three postcards I have managed to obtain, and which I have depicted here. The musical was first released in 2011 and it has gone on to be shown around the world and is currently showing at the Prince Edward Theatre in London.
The reverse side, except for the reference number, is identical to the above postcard.
18/12/2017
BALLANTINE’S
Scotch whisky
OBSTINEMENT DIFFERENT
(Stubbornly Different)
L’ABUS D’ALCOOL EST DANGEREUX POUR LA SANTE, A CONSOMMER AVEC MODERATION
(Alcohol abuse is dangerous for health, consume in moderation)
Another one for my friend who collects ‘Ghosts’ on postcard. I can see that the joke here is that the centre ghost has a square/cube shaped ‘ball & chain’ – so, being obstinately different…. Not sure I understand the reason why they are ghosts though! But, it certainly makes for an unusual postcard image though. Sometimes the advertising around alcohol products just makes no sense to me, but then does it have to?
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD
This postcard has some unusual usage. The card has been posted from Italy with the stamp being cancelled with a nice pictorial nativity scene ‘NATALE NEL CENTRO STORICO – [Christmas in the Old Town] – MASSAFRA’ special cancellation dated 22/12/2002. As is common with special hand stamps abroad the card has received a second strike of this cancel top left. The card was addressed to KREUZLINGEN, KURZRICKENBACH, Switzerland and upon arrival has received a receiving cancel for KREUZLINGEN, KURZRICKENBACH which appears to be dated 10th March 2003? Where did this card hide for two and half months? Maybe the sender had to send it to a special hand stamping centre/office where it had to wait in a queue for hand stamping before being sent on (or maybe back, as perhaps the sender and receiver was one and the same person – sometimes I have had to wait a month and a half or more for my special hand-stamped items to be returned from a hand stamp centre here in the UK – so maybe that was what happened, the person arranged for the card to be sent to himself from Ital for his collection). Nice cancels though, and an interesting card.
18/12/2017
WALT DISNEY
PRINCESSES
TOP
“BELIEVE IN YOUR DREAMS”
CINDERELLA
Published and Distributed
By
THE POSTCARD FACTORY
Ref: PC57-PR-GEN 001
BOTTOM
“4 EVER & ALWAYS A PRINCESS”
PRINCESS AURORA
(THE SLEEPING PRINCESS FROM THE DISNEY FILM – SLEEPING BEAUTY)
Published and Distributed
By
THE POSTCARD FACTORY
Ref: PC57-PR-GEN 1222
These are popular Disney related postcards which are sold in outlets around the edge of the Walt Disney World theme park area in Florida. These are often much cheaper than the cards found inside the theme parks and as such it is often these which are used to send messages home by tourists visiting the area. Some of these designs have been on sale for many years and have remained extremely obtainable, found in many of the tourist gift shops.
“SENDING YOU A HEARTFELT WISH!”
SNOW WHITE
Published and Distributed
By
THE POSTCARD FACTORY
Ref: PC57-PR-GEN 006
This is a companion card to the two depicted above, and all three postcards are often found in the same shops together in postcard spinners. These can be anything from just 75 cents each to $1 (If you visit here I recommend not paying more than $1 for these as you will probably find them cheaper in another shop nearby – I would check first)
18/12/2017
BRITISH AIRWAYS CONCORDE
Printed by
STAR EDITIONS LTD
For the
BROOKLANDS MUSEUM
Ref: BROOKCON008
By now my interest in the Concorde should have become obvious to readers of this webpage. I suspect that no other airplane has appeared on more postcards (although the Spitfire could perhaps give it a close run). This one here is a photographic postcard and an attractive one as well.
CONCORDE G-BBDG
Printed by and distributed by
STAR EDITIONS LTD
For
DAVE THOMPSON ILLUSTRATION
Ref: THOMPSON289
This image is a painted version of the G-BBDG Concorde that appears on a photographic postcard that appears above (and which is also printed by Star Editions Ltd). The lines used in this image are nice and clear and I think it looks attractive, as a piece of artwork.
17/12/2017
CANVEY ISLAND CHURCH
Anonymous Publisher
Ref: 31388
I worked on Canvey Island for seven years and as a result I have collected related postcards for some time. Canvey is an unusual place as although there has been a lot of construction over the last 15 years, areas of it still have an old feel about them. I worked here in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and on the odd occasions I return I am amazed how some areas have changed so much and yet others so little. My last visit was early December, this was to take some photographs of some landmarks and locations which I have on postcard. The old Canvey Church depicted here was no longer a church even when I started work here in 1988. It was, and is still the ‘Canvey Island Heritage Centre & Museum’.
PHOTOGRAPH
Taken 07/12/2017
The building itself has changed very little since the above postcard photograph was taken but the foliage around it has been cut back a lot. Today you can see far more of the building than you clearly used to be able to. All the trees have gone, and the only remaining greenery appears to be the large bush centre right. The buildings main change is the outside rendering as the original postcard shows that this was wooden boards whilst, as long as I can remember, it has been plaster-coated. The above postcard is a favourite of mine and it is nice to see that the building remains in use, even if it is not as it was originally intended.
17/12/2017
PANDA POSTCARDS
CHINA
Published by
XLCY
(XINOLIN CREATIVITY)
CHINA POST
ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION BRAND
This is a series of panda postcards which I bought this year (again these are cards brought at the shop located in the China area of the World Showcase in the Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World, Florida).
These all depict cartoon images of an adult panda with a young one taking part in different activities. Because of the language issues and lack of knowledge on these illustrations means that I have had to make up titles for these myself.
EATING AND SINGING
REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE FOUR POSTCARDS
I was, at first, only going to show one of these as I initially believed them to be all the same. But, after closer investigation I noticed that the Chinese symbol to the right of the panda’s face in the top right corner was different on each card. It is only a small difference, but it is there – I do not know the relevance of these symbols so would love to hear from anyone who does.
16/12/2017
ROBIN HOOD’S BAY
Published by
RAPHAEL TUCK & SONS
“ROUGH SEA” Postcard
Series 805
I have mentioned before, quite recently (24/11/2017 – ‘November 2017 Blog 3’ tab) the Victorian craze for “Rough Sea” images. Having explained how I could not see the fascination I remembered that I had more than one of these myself, this one, like the other, was bought because you could see seagulls flying in the sky. It was a way of adding different postcards to my then animal only collection – I have since moved on (obviously!). The location depicted here is in North Yorkshire.
16/12/2017
YEAR OF THE THREE KINGS
SOUVENIR OF 1936
H.M. KING GEORGE V – H.M. KING GEORGE VI – H.M. KING EDWARD VIII
Published by
VALENTINE’S
Ref: K10
1936 was an unusual, and sad year for the royal family. King George V died on 20th January thus making his son Edward king. On the 11th December Edward then abdicated over his relationship with Mrs Simpson, a divorcee. This brought his brother George to the throne – three kings in one year. Several postcard publishers produced postcards which made mention of this unusual occurrence and of course it also gave them the opportunity to depict all three kings on one single card. I believe the cards were very popular, this despite a general uproar at the abdication of Edward.
16/12/2017
LADYBIRD BOOK COVER POSTCARDS
From the boxed set of 100 Ladybird Book Covers
Used on the front with a Royal Mail ‘Ladybird Books’ Stamp 2017
Cancelled with a special AUTUMN STAMPEX 2017 special hand stamp.
‘PEOPLE AT WORK’
THE POLICEMAN
Another one which was always going to be used and placed into my collection. I am due to officially retire next week, just before Christmas, but because of the time I have spent doing this job I suspect I will retain an interest in Police related postcards. This is also the only postcard from this selection that I attached two of the stamps on before having them cancelled first day of issue. This was my special souvenir of my stampex visit. It was also the first card I thought of this morning when I woke up as last night was my ‘Leaving Do’ when I met up with friends I have worked with over all- of my thirty years. It was a great night and now it is time for a change of lifestyle.
15/12/2017
JOHN WAYNE
IWO JIMA
Published by
Editions ZREIK
In their:
Coll. Telerama, La memoire du cinema
Ref: 166 – Stands of Iwo Jima – 1949
Superb John Wayne film poster for the 1949 feature film ‘Sands of Iwo Jima’. In this film Wayne plays Marine Sgt. John Stryker who leads his marines in the fierce fighting for the Battle of Iwo Jima, a Japanese held Pacific island. Many of you will know the photograph of the marines raising the US flag on the mount which overlooked the island, it is a famous photograph, and the flag raising makes an appearance here on this film poster. Looking at this poster there is no questions about who is the star of this feature!
15/12/2017
CINDERELLA CASTLE
WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT
MAGIC KINGDOM PARK
Official theme park postcard
This postcard can only be bought within the Walt Disney World official theme park outlets and shops. It depicts the Cinderella Castle, located in the Magic Kingdom Park, in its winter lights. I visited Walt Disney World in November 2016 for the first time in the official winter season and I can say that the Castle never looked better than when I saw it lit up like this, it really is impressive. Although the castle is only illuminated in this way during the winter celebrations the postcard here is on sale all year round (I believe).
15/12/2017
“IF YOU’LL BE READY FOR ME – I’LL COME ALONG FIRST THING IN THE MORNING
AND YOU CAN SAFELY LEAVE THE ERECTION TO ME!”
Published by
BROOK PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD
Ref: 12029
Another ‘Double entendre’ saucy seaside comic postcard. This is a classic of the style used during the post WWII period and these were very popular at that time.
I like this one because of the television theme behind it. It is also a nice because it references the old aeriels that were required to pick up television transmissions and send them down to the TV sets.
15/12/2017
RONNIE CORBETT (1930 – 2016)
By
Debra Hurford Brown
2006
Bromide print
Published by
THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
I was a massive ‘Two Ronnies’ fan and even got to see them recording live one of their Christmas specials at the BBC studios, they were even funnier live, especially when things went wrong, and they went ‘off-script’. Now that they have both passed away I look for related postcards to remind me of them. I am also quite pleased that I have both of their autographs in my collection as well.
I visited the Galleries shop on Saturday and this postcard was no longer on sale, and I only bought it from here in the summer - this why I always pay this shop a visit every time I am in this part of London. I bought some new postcards at the weekend and will post these some time in the near future.
15/12/2017
ROYAL CASTLE HOTEL, LYNTON
500FT ABOVE SEA-LEVEL
Unknown (possibly local) Publisher/Printer
This lovely black and white postcard may well have been sold at the hotel itself. It would certainly have been a good form of promotion. If you looked at this postcard you would be expected to receive a fantastic view from any room facing outwards and down upon the town Lynmouth which can be seen below.
This copy here was posted from Lynton, Devon on 25th October 1960.
LYNMOUTH FROM ROYAL CASTLE HOTEL
Published by
F. FRITH & CO., LTD., REIGATE
No 63844 (I think this was their phone number rather than a reference number for the card)
FRITH’S SERIES
And, just by chance, here is the view that you would have got if you had booked into the above hotel. This is an older card, but the view has not changed greatly. The trees are a bit higher and the road can-not be so clearly seen, also the view below of the town of Lynmouth changed quite drastically after a terrible flood ripped through the valley in 1952 (I have previously posted a card which shows the damage caused by this flood – I also gave details of what occurred that night). So, the view here is not exactly what you would have seen if you were around to buy the postcard above – but still, what a view.
14/12/2017
I have been waiting until today to post these cards as the new Star Wars film – STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – is released today, and I could think of no better cards to post. This is a great set.
“STAR WARS”
ROYAL MAIL PHQ STAMP CARD SET
PHQ Set 435
(postcards that reproduce the Royal Mail’s stamp releases)
Stamps issued – 12TH October 2017
(As always, I have my copies used with the appropriate stamp applied to the front of the card and cancelled first day of issue with a special hand stamp)
Published by
ROYAL MAIL
After the immense popularity of the first Star Wars stamp set a couple of years ago, which made Royal Mail a lot of money, I suppose a second set was inevitable, although it has caused consternation with the traditional stamp collectors up and down the country. They consider its release to just be a money-making marketing ploy. They might be correct (well, yes, OK, they are right), but as I am a big Star Wars fan, I don’t care and have welcomed this set with open arms (and at least they were all just 1ST CLASS stamps).
MAZ KANATA
1st CLASS STAMP
Ref: PHQ 435 (1) 10.17
This is a character from the 2015 film release ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who knows if she has appeared on a postcard before, because I suspect this may be her first postcard outing. She is an important character in the film as she has in her possession a very important artifact which she hands to Rey.
CHEWBACCA
1st CLASS STAMP
Ref: PHQ 435 (2) 10.17
Chewie was an obvious omission from the 2015 10 stamp set, although he did appear in the background on the Han Solo stamp. So, it was nice to see him get his own stamp in this set (and pre-advertising for this year’s set states that it was issued to complete the character run – although I still believe some are missing even now, after this second set – like Padme Amidala, Darth Maul [although there was a proof version with Darth Maul which Royal Maul printed on a sheet which went out to Royal Mail subscribers as a Christmas Gift in 2015], Jar Jar Binks [no, I’m kidding], Mace Windu… and what about Lando Calrissian? And, Po Dameron from The Force Awakens?). Chewie though, He was always one of my favourite characters as well.
PORG
1st CLASS STAMP
Ref: PHQ 435 (4) 10.17
I believe, having seen loads of cuddly stuffed versions of these creatures in the shops in Disney World, Florida last month, that these are new creatures which are found on the planet where Luke Skywalker has been hiding out and that they make their appearance in the new ‘The Last Jedi’ film. Again, I shall know more when I watch the film next month, when it is released. They do look cute though.
BB-8
1st CLASS STAMP
Ref: PHQ 435 (5) 10.17
A very popular robot that made HIS first appearance in the 2015 film ‘The Force Awakens’. He did not get a stamp of his own in the 2015 stamp set, but he did appear on the ‘Rey’ stamp, in the background. But, here he gets a stamp all of its own, and, it is a cracker. It should also be noted that robots make up half of the characters depicted in this set.
R2-D2
1st CLASS STAMP
Ref: PHQ 435 (6) 10.17
The two-main original ‘Droids’ were missing from the first stamp issue, as major depictions, despite being major, and important characters in all of the films. In fact, I believe they appear in more films than any of the other characters. To be fair R2 did appear in the background of the Princess Leia stamp from the original 2015 stamp set, but like Chewbacca he probably deserved his own stamp back then. But R2’s omission is made up for by what I believe is one of the best of the subsequent stamp designs. I love this one.
C-3PO
1st CLASS STAMP
Ref: PHQ 435 (7) 10.17
You could not depict R2-D2 and leave out his companion C-3PO, who also only appeared in the background of the 2015 Princess Leia stamp in the original stamp issue. Here he has his own stamp which also features a small image of Jabba the Hut, from the film ‘Return of the Jedi’ in which C-3PO is forced to work for Jabba as a translator.
K-2SO
1st CLASS STAMP
Ref: PHQ 435 (8) 10.17
K-2SO should be honoured, as he is the only new character to appear in either of the two sets (obvious for the 2015 set as he had not appeared yet, I know) from the 2016 Star Wars film ‘Rogue One’ (properly titled ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’). It was nice to see someone from this film appear on one of the stamps, and he fits in well with R2 and C-3PO, not to mention BB-8.
Did we need another Star Wars stamp set? Who cares, when it is a cracker.