02/07/2017

OSCAR THE GROUCH

SESAME STREET

Published by

Producktion & Vertrieb : Fun-Tasia, Koln

SESAMSTRASSE – MUPPETS

Ref: Art. Nr.: SPK 3017

Another of the German issued Sesame street art postcards. I recently posted one which showed characters as the blues brothers but this one is a nice simple one showing my second favourite character (The cookie Monster is my first) – Oscar the Grouch.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This company always, or at least nearly always, use colour on the reverse side which adds interest and makes them look more attractive.

02/07/2017

DON’T FORGET

GREEN VEGETABLES

KEEP YOU FIT

‘NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM’

Printed and distributed by

STAR EDITIONS LTD

Ref: 10327065

Unfortunately, there is no given information on the depicted poster. From the front, I can see two names bottom right; T. Eckersley and E. Lombers. I assume they are the poster artist or artists (one might be a designer or text layout person). No date for the poster is given but to me it has a 1940’s look. Maybe late 1930’s, but, I am thinking this could be a WWII era poster.

So, that was my opinion. I then had a search of the internet and found an entry on the official V&A Museum webpage which gives more information. Tom Eckersley OBE is shown as the designer. But, then Eric Lombers is also shown as the designer, so I assume they worked on this poster together. The museum date this poster as circa 1940’s – 1950’s so I was in the right ball park area. Sometimes it is nice to try and work out details before you look the item up as this gives you some skills in dating items.

02/07/2017

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

PART ONE

Last weekend we visited the British Museum in London. This is a wonderful place for anyone interested in history and the range of exhibits is outstanding. They also have one of the biggest museum shops I have seen. They also, thankfully, still produce a wide range of exclusive postcards (I pictured some of the postcard racks on the websites fakebook page – this where we place photographs of places with interesting postcard racks and signs etc – if you are on fakebook look us up and add us to your friends list and you can see some of these photos and get details of some of the cards being posted that day).

So, here is the first selection of postcards which I bought last week.

TURQUOISE MOSAIC OF A DOUBLE-HEADED SERPENT

From Mexico

Circa. 15^th – 16^th century AD

Ref: E02420

Where better to start than with my favourite single item from the museum’s collection. This is in the South American artefact’s section (far right rear corner of the museum – sometimes missed by visitors who spend most of their time on the left side of the museum where the famous marbles are). But, I have always loved the early South American stuff, with this item being the best item there.

UNDER THE WAVE OFF KANAGAWA (‘THE GREAT WAVE’)

From the series ‘Thirty-six Views of Mt Fuji’, 1831

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849)

Colour woodblock print

Japan

Ref: E03610

There is currently a special exhibition of the work of Hokusai on at the museum and probably this is the most well-known piece in the collection. As the exhibition was on I could not resist buying this card. This image is so famous of course that it appears on many postcards.

HORSE OF SELENE

GODDESS OF THE MOON

From the east pediment of the Parthenon

Pentelic Marble

Circa 438 – 432 BC

The statues and pieces from the Parthenon are better known, and more controversially known, as the Elgin Marbles. The massive hall where these are displayed was specially built and they are a major draw for tourists and it is no surprise that there are a number of postcards depicting items from this collection as well. This was my favourite.

PROCESSION OF THE PANATHENIAC FESTIVAL

From the North Frieze of the Parthenon

Circa 438 – 432 BC

Athens

Ref: E09940

One of the Elgin Marbles (also known as the Parthenon Marbles). This is one of the big blocks, one of many of these big blocks.

HOA HAKANANAI’S

From Rapa Nui,

Easter Island

Circa 1000 AD

Basalt

Ref: E01830

I remember being surprised when I first discovered that the museum had one of these Easter Island heads. There are much bigger ones remaining on the islands but this is still a large piece. As one of the iconic exhibits (in my mind) it is a bonus that it appears on this postcard.

In 2003 Royal Mail issued a six-stamp set depicting faces from items from the collections held at the British Museum, to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the museum. The 68p stamp from this set depicts this Easter Island head.

PHOTOGRAPH

68p Royal Mail stamp

I will dig out the PHQ stamp card set for this issue and picture them in the future at some point.

HINTON ST. MARY MOSAIC

Centre detail of a mosaic floor.

The monogram (XP) suggests this is a representation of Christ, one of the earliest yet known.

Roman

4^th century AD

From a room in a Roman building at Hinton St. Mary, Dorset

Ref: E01490

Another interesting exhibit and one which is quite large. This is in the Roman exhibit area and is another of the museum’s gems. An interesting card for anyone who collects Christianity as a theme, or religion.

COLOSSAL HUMAN-HEADED WINGED BULL

Stone

From the Palace of Ashurnasirpal

Nimrud, Assyria

Circa 865 BC

This is massive and it has a twin which is beside it at the museum, they stand either side of a small hallway through to more of the collection. Things this big always amaze me. How did they move it across country and across the sea to the UK? The old collectors were determined.

THRONE OF WEAPONS

By

CRISTOVAO CANHAVATO

From

Maputo, Mozambique

AD 2001

Ref: E02370

Not everything from the museum is ancient as museum continues to buy and add new items to its ongoing collection. It may be the older stuff that most people go to see but I also like the unusual modern items like this chair, made from firearm segments. It’s a piece of art really, and one which is interesting.

“WHO PUT ALL THOSE CATS INTO GLASS BOXES?”

From

Ottoline at the British Museum

1987

Sally Craddock 1987 (Writer)

Corinne Perlman 1987 (Illustration)

One of the more unusual postcards from the museum’s range. This is an illustration from a book about a cat that visits the museum. The illustration depicts the cat looking at part of the Egyptian exhibition with cat statues and a mummified cat casket. The Egyptian hall is one of my favourite areas and it was an early visit here, as a young boy, which lead to my fascination in ancient Egyptian history and which lead to me travelling to Egypt and visiting the Valley of the Kings and various temple complexes as an adult. So, this room has a lot to answer for.

THE RHINOCEROS

By

Albrecht Durer (1471 – 1528)

Woodcut

From Germany

AD 1515

Ref: E01250

With my long running interest in wildlife I have been aware of this woodcut since my youth. It is one of the famous early wildlife images.

So, that ends my first selection of postcards acquired a week ago. Another selection will appear here later, at some point. I hope you liked this selection.

01/07/2017

FOR A REAGAN FREE CARIBBEAN

Photomontage by

CATH TATE

Printed by

Blackrose Press (TU), London

During the 1980’s Ronald Reagan made numerous appearances on postcards but it would be fair to say that the ‘clear majority’ of these were not complimentary. This is one of the many Cath Tate photomontage images which Cath Tate produced. Many were personally produced by Cath although she also had some produced on ‘Leeds Postcards’ issues.

01/07/2017

BARRY NORMAN….. RIP

Barry Leslie Norman CBE

21^st August 1933 – 30^th June 2017

Film critic and writer best known for presenting the BBC ‘Film…(year)’ series from 1972 to 1998

THE ABYSS

Film Poster Post Card

Published by

EDITIONS AVANT GARDE

Ref: P1202

For me Barry Norman was the best film critic on television and I used to always watch the ‘Film…’ series whatever year it was and, I learnt to judge if a film was for me or not from how Barry rated it. I have always loved films and Barry’s books and programmes taught me a lot. I am not sure what Barry’s review of ‘The Abyss’ was but really I could have placed almost any modern film poster postcard here.       

01/07/2017

UPPER SILESIA

(POLISH LANGUAGE TEXT)

POSTAL STATIONERY POST CARD

15PF Value

COMMISSION OF GOVERNMENT

HAUTE-SILESIE

A very simple design, which is plain backed, but I could not find any reference to it in the Higgins & Gage ‘Poland’ listing. But, there was a good reason for this as some further research around the stamp itself showed that this is from Upper Silesia (SG 5), issued in 1920. I then went to the Upper Silesia section of Higgins & Gage and found the card there. As they only appear to have issued four cards in all it was easy to find. This is Ref 2 from the first issue (1920 again), 15pf violet on greenish grey card. The 1970’s catalogue value for a mint card was £3 (It might have gone up a little bit but, I suspect not much). What I thought at first was a rather uninteresting and plain card turned out, after research, to be more interesting than I thought and from an unusual location, I suspect this may be my only Upper Silesia card. In 1921 a plebiscite was held and the country was split between Germany and Poland. So, it did not last long as a stamp and post card issuing country – less than two years.     

30/06/2017

SWITZERLAND

POSTAL STATIONERY POST CARD

Used in 1988

Finding genuine used postal stationery post cards is always nice and the more un usual that use then the better the item. This card was sent from Switzerland to Western Australia and required an additional postage stamp to be applied alongside the unique pre-printed postage stamp which was on the card already. This may not be a valuable card but it is certainly one which has travelled some distance as it went from Switzerland to Australia where it remained until earlier this year when it was sent to me here in the UK in a bundle of postcards someone sent me. That’s some mileage!

30/06/2017

KA-CHOW!

THE WORLD OF CARS

(Disney – PIXAR)

Published by

THE POSTCARD FACTORY

Ref: PC57-CR-GEN 477

This is a lovely card depicting the animated Pixar film character ‘Lightning McQueen’ from the animated films. My grandson is a big fan and he is staying at ours this weekend and he mentioned that he is looking forward to the new ‘Cars 3’ movie and it reminded me of this postcard that I picked up in Florida on one of my recent holidays. So, I decided it would be one of tonight’s postings

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This is another example of work being done to make the back of the card attractive as well with a faded background image.

30/06/2017

WISHIN’ YOU WAS HERE

ORLANDO

THE WORLD OF CARS

(Disney – PIXAR)

Published by

THE POSTCARD FACTORY

Ref: PC57G-CR-OR 860

This is not a companion card to the above issue but is by the same publisher and has the same faded reverse set up as appears above. It certainly goes well with the above postcard although this one is different because it has glitter mixed into the red surround of the image, it’s not clear in this scan but if you look closely you can see small white dots which is some of this glitter sparkling.

The image depicts the character ‘Mater’ who is best buddies with Lightning McQueen.

28/06/2017

ROSE BOWER IN SHRUBBERY

SOUTHEND ON SEA

The Rose Bower appears on a large number of postcards for Southend and it must have been a popular local attraction as it seems to appear on many postcards around the turn of the 1900’s. Later photographs show this bower covered in flowers.

This is typical of a type of postcard that only really has local interest. This cards image would obviously be of interest to people like me who live in Southend and collect its history. But, outside of Southend I suspect this card would be almost worthless.

The building that can be seen in the background is the Palace Hotel, which is still there. The Palace Hotel also appears on a large number of postcards and has made appearances here on my webpage before.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

ENLARGEMENT OF SECTION OF THE REVERSE SIDE

This is the logo of the company that issued this postcard although I do not know who they were

28/06/2017

MICHAEL BOND ….. RIP

Thomas Michael Bond CBE

13^th January 1926 – 27^th June 2017

English author who will be best remembered for his Paddington the Bear books, of which over 35 million have been sold.

PADDINGTON AND FRIENDS

Published by

JUDGES OF HASTINGS

Ref: C7446X

Autographed on the front by

MICHAEL BOND

When I heard today of the sad death of Michael Bond I immediately knew which postcard would top my posting for this evening. This one here was in my collection for a number of years. It was a prized card because Michael Bond had signed the card in the bottom left corner. I was a massive fan of the Paddington books when I was young and read them all. So, when I saw this card I had to have it. It had been in my collection a long time when in 2014 Royal Mail issued a set of Children’s Television themed stamps including one which was the same image as used on this postcard. I took a chance, because items can get lost or miss-cancelled, and sent my signed card off for a first day of issue cancellation on the 1^st Class Paddington stamp. Thankfully it did come back and I have ended up with what could very well be a unique item. I love this one and the picture is the Paddington from the animated television series  so it fits nicely into my main theme.

CLOSE UP OF THE SECTION OF THE POSTCARD WHERE MICHAEL BOND HAS SIGNED HIS AUTOGRAPH

Michael Bond always signed with a very small signature which is quite compacted

GREETINGS

PADDINGTON BEAR

Royal Mail PHQ Stamp Card

Ref: GS 2(j)) 2/94

This card has the 1^st class Paddington Bear stamp placed in the bottom left corner. This is the same image that appears on this respective Stamp Card. The stamp was cancelled with a special Rupert the Bear first day of issue hand stamp dated 1^st February 1994.

I then have later taken this card from my collection and placed the 2014 issued Paddington Bear stamp in the bottom right corner and had this cancelled first day of issue – 7^th January 2014.

This is another unusual postcard from my collection and another which may be unique.

PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR.

THANK YOU

Published by

CHARACTER GIFTS

Head Office Lakefield Marketing Ltd

SPECIAL HANDSTAMP

“A BEAR CALLED PADDINGTON – LONDON W10 – 10^TH JANUARY 2006”

Circular hand stamp

On

2006 1^st Class ‘ANIMAL TALES’ Paddington Bear stamp (SG 2592)

This philatelic usage of the postcard with the Paddington stamp and special first day of issue Paddington Bear hand stamp was produced by a company called ‘Norvic’ who produced this with two different hand stamps – see below. These are great items and if you can find either one of these then you can expect to pay around £6 each for them.

PLEASE LOOK AFTER THIS BEAR.

THANK YOU

Published by

CHARACTER GIFTS

Head Office Lakefield Marketing Ltd

SPECIAL HANDSTAMP

“PADDINGTON – LONDON W2 – 10^TH JANUARY 2006”

Boxed hand stamp

On

2006 1^st Class ‘ANIMAL TALES’ Paddington Bear stamp (SG 2592)

This is my favourite of the two cards as the hand stamp is a different shape to the normal circular design and it depicts Paddington carrying the suitcase the postcard design shows him sitting on.   

27/06/2017

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

VISITORS CENTRE – RAF CONINGSBY

LINCOLNSHIRE

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting this superb location which is basically the hanger where the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight aircraft are stored and worked on. On my visit the Lancaster was absent, it was at Duxford, but I have previously been onboard this fantastic aircraft and had a guided tour over it given to me by the pilot when it was at Southend Airport waiting to take part in one of the Southend Air Show’s (which now sadly no longer run). I was policing the airport at the time and guarding the planes so got unrestricted access to them. But, even with the Lancaster Bomber absent we still got to look around the range of Spitfires and Hurricanes present, along with a green coloured Dakota. If you get the chance to visit here it is well worth the trip (which was four hours each way for us travelling up from Essex). If you have the right contacts you can pre-book a visit where they allow you to walk down the centre of the Hanger and be amongst the actual planes on a guided tour, thankfully the Essex Police Military History Club have such a contact and we did get to be in amongst the planes and got to see the main Hurricane fighter plane start up and travel away from the hanger to the runway. Standing close to one of these historic planes when they start up the engine is an experience. Even if you can only access the tour which is roped off down one side of the hanger (the normal tour) this is well worth doing and gives you a view of the engineers and technicians working on the planes.  

Attached to this centre is a nice souvenir shop where you can buy a packaged set of postcards which celebrated the 2007 50^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. The cards are ‘really’ nice and eight cards for just £2 is a real bargain as well. The cards are all depicted below:

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

1 of 8

“Avro Lancaster PA474 ‘Phantom of the Ruhr”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

2 of 8

“Spitfire Mk Vb. AB910 and Hurricane Mk IIc. LF363”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

3 of 8

“Hurricane Mk IIc. PZ865 and Spitfire Mk IIa. P7350”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

4 of 8

 “Dakota DC3. ZA947 and Spitfire Mk PR. XIX. PS915”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

5 of 8

“A Members Day Flypast”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

6 of 8

“Hurricane MkIIc. LF363 (The last Hurricane to enter R.A.F. service)”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

7 of 8

“Avro Lancaster PA474 “City of Lincoln””

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

2007 50^TH ANNIVERSARY POSTCARD SET

8 of 8

“De Havilland Chipmunk WG486”

A lovely set of postcards and a nice souvenir of a visit to this historic collection of aircraft

AVRO LANCASTER B1 PA474

“CITY OF LINCOLN”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL FLIGHT

ROYAL AIR FORCE CONINGSBY

Published by

LANCASTER ASSOCIATION

(www.lancasterassociation.co.uk)

Photograph by

Paul Clavel LBIPP LMPA

This was a single postcard which was also on sale in the souvenir shop attached to the hanger. This postcard was 50p. If you do visit here please do also go into the Tea Shop which is beside the shop and which has been made out to look like an old 1940’s tea room (the cakes are superb)  

MINISTRY OF FOOD

RATION BOOK

1944-45

Published by

ROBERT OPIE

Ref: 01WT19

There were two Robert Opie postcards on sale as well in this souvenir shop, less than Robert’s normal incursion, but they both were relevant and worth buying here, especially as this one was on sale for just 30p (I have jokingly, well semi-jokingly, mentioned before how Robert Opie has been slowly, although he is almost there surely, been taking over the postcard racks and selections in museums up and down the country. It is hard these days to visit a museum shop and not find any of his cards on sale – but, then, his selection of postcards is superb, but I just wish that more places issued cards of their own exhibits and pieces rather than just using Roberts standard images – although standard is a badly used word here as his selection of postcard images is eclectic and covers all periods of advertising history – I just think local postcards would have more interest and would be more selective and topical. Having said all that though, you still have got to give it to Robert that in an age where postcards are produced less and less he still manages to maintain an extensive output, and for that we should be glad)

LET’S GO

WINGS FOR VICTORY

Published by

ROBERT OPIE

Ref: 01WR13

This RAF themed pilot poster design is an ideal image to be sold in a museum shop like the one attached to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. This card was 50p.

27/06/2017

NICK’S POSTCARDS AND CARTOPHILIA PRESENTS

THE 1^ST

POST & CIGARETTE CARD

EXHIBITION FAIR & AUCTION

4^TH April 1982

Interesting Australian advert postcard for a related fair in 1982. A nice card design with a couple of interesting adornments but which mainly uses text to advertise the event. I have previously stated that postcard fair and event postcards were once highly collected, but that the interest has slacked off over the past ten years. Even so, this is an unusual one.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

If I am right this was posted in 1983 (the year after the event the card advertises was held, so, I believe this was used as a throw-away card) and it was used to inform someone that their postal auction bid had been unsuccessful. The stamp used is a 1981 wildlife issue 50c stamp depicting a Leadbeater’s possum (SG 796)

27/06/2017

CONCORDE G-BBDG

1975

Published by

PAMLIN PRINTS (Croydon)

Ref: AM721

Issued 1976

This is a nice early Concorde postcard which has a very nice photograph on it which was used by courtesy of British Airways. This card is easily worth £3 so if you find it cheaper it is good value.

27/06/2017

GOOD LUCK

FROM

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA

Published by

VALENTINE & SONS LTD

Ref: G6018

Another of the many postcards issued with this same little kitten photograph at the centre. This one is another from my home town although this one proports to depict night-time views, although these could just as easily be, and probably are, normal daytime photographs artificially coloured in and darkened to appear like night images. It is none the less and interesting local view card and one more for my home town collection.

27/06/2017

BOOMERANG

“CINEMA IN CARDS”

SERIES

Time for some more of this very large series of cards which depict a phrase or quote from a specific film. Some of these are easy to work out, some from the fact that the quote is famous, some from the design of the card and others from personal fandom for that film.  

“YOU WERE ONLY SUPPOSED TO BLOW THE BLOODY DOORS OFF!”

Published by

BOOMERANG

In their:

“CINEMA IN CARDS”

Series

Ref: No 130

One of Michael Caine’s famous lines from this iconic crime caper movie. Who could possibly get this one wrong?... The Italian Job.

“I NEVER KNEW IT COULD BE LIKE THIS”

Published by

BOOMERANG

In their:

“CINEMA IN CARDS”

Series

Ref: No 68

The pictures show that iconic beach kiss between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, which alone should give film buffs enough to name this film, which is of course …. From Here to Eternity

“WELL, HERE’S ANOTHER NICE MESS YOU GOT ME INTO”

Published by

BOOMERANG

In their:

“CINEMA IN CARDS”

Series

Ref: No 121

The characters depicted are iconic enough in the film world to be named with ease, they are of course Laurel and Hardy. But, which film does the well-known quote come from? It is from the 1933 film ‘Sons of the Desert’. Laurel and Hardy are quite collectible and anything that depicts them is picked up by the dedicated band of fans, so this card would have added value and interest beyond many of the other cards in this series.

“HAVE YOU TRIED NOT BEING A MUTANT?”

Published by

BOOMERANG

In their:

“CINEMA IN CARDS”

Series

Ref: No 105

The clue here is in the use of the word ‘Mutant’. Although there are a few films it could have come from, but it is of course from the very first, the 2000 release ‘X-MEN’.

“THAT’S NOT A KNIFE…NOW THAT’S A KNIFE!”

Published by

BOOMERANG

In their:

“CINEMA IN CARDS”

Series

Ref: No 81

This is from a favourite film of mine and the image shows the outline of the titular character, for whom the film is named. It is of course, Crocodile Dundee.   

26/06/2017

NOVI SAD - 4. 12. 1990

JUGOSLAVIJA

(JUGOSLAVIA)

Set of Chess Competition Postcards

Plain backed – but they have a full postcard print on the one printed side

I found all of these postcards, separately, in a dealer’s cheap box at Woking. In the postcard world ‘Chess’ is not a massive theme, although there are some collectors. This is not the case in the stamp world where ‘Chess’ has a massive following with stamps, covers and postal stationery cards, like these, being very popular indeed. So, these cards here would probably be more sort after by a philatelist. But, I found them first. The blue card shows the events logo whilst each of the other cards shows a different chess board layout with the number of moves required for ‘mate’. I think these are interesting but then I like unusual things.

TOP - Brown coloured card

BELOW - Green coloured card

Red (or pinkish red - possibly called 'rose' by the printers)

Orange card (I believe this is called 'Buff' by printers)

26/06/2017

HARRY POTTER THE EXHIBITION

YOUR TICKET TO HOGWARTS

19 NOVEMBER 2011 – 18 MARCH 2012

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #15803

Issued 2011

This is a really ‘interesting’ Harry Potter postcard because the red wax seal, with the ‘H’, for Hogwarts, stamped in it, is embossed, so, raised up from the card. This adds a little extra to the overall feel and look of this card. This is an advert card issued as publicity for a Harry Potter exhibition held at the Powerhouse Museum, which is in Sydney, during 2011 and 2012. It was originally a free postcard but will cost at least £1 from any dealer now.

Harry Potter is back in the news, at this very moment, as we are celebrating its 20^th anniversary. A lot has happened in that 20 years what with the books and the films, the play, the theme parks, Exhibitions and the new ventures into the world of Harry Potter. As a fan, I am happy to add any related postcards to my collection.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

You can just about see the reverse side of the embossed Hogwarts seal