10/12/2018

TRULY INCREDIBLE

RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! MUSEUM

CONTORTIONIST F. VELEZ CAMPOS IN 1933

Official ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not!’ Museum Postcard

This postcard, and the one below it, as a perforated edge(s) which indicates that it once could be found inside or attached to either a magazine, book or other similar item. I believe these were inside the guide book for one of the many Ripley’s museums. I have a good reason for suspecting this because many years ago, 1993 I believe, I visited the Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum in Orlando. I bought a guide book back then and it did contain two postcards inside, but completely different designs to the ones shown here. I visited the museum again in 2003 and the guide book then did not have any postcards inside, and on further visits, including this year, no further cards have been found contained within the guide books. So, looking at the perforated edges on these two I think they too came from such a guidebook, possibly one from way back in the 1990’s. It could have been the Orlando museum, but as I got these from a contact in Australia, and there is a ‘Ripley’s’ in Surfers Paradise, Australia I suspect there is a strong possibility that they originated from here.  

SEE FOUR YOURSELF!

RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! MUSEUM

LIU CH’UNG WAS BORN WITH DOUBLE PUPILS IN EACH EYE! DESPITE HIS ABNORMALITY, HE BECAME THE GOVERNOR OF SHANSI, CHINA AND MINISTER OF THE STATE. LATER, HIS SON WAS PROCLAIMED HEIR APPARENT OF ALL CHINA…BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Official ‘Ripley’s Believe it or Not!’ Museum Postcard

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Both the above postcards have the same basic reverse layout with the obvious exception of the descriptive text relating to the front image.

10/12/2018

THIS OTHER EDEN

BRITISH PAINTING

QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY

16^TH JULY – 6^TH SEPTEMBER 1998

‘ZEBRA (Detail)’ by George Stubbs 1762 - 63

‘From the greatest collection of British painting outside the United Kingdom

The Paul Mellon Collection at Yale

Published by

AVANTCARD AUSTRALIA

Ref: #2328

Issued 1998

Another nice Avantcard Australia free rack postcard, this one from 1998 (which amazingly now makes this postcard twenty years old!)

10/12/2018

BRITISH RAILWAYS

SOUTHERN REGION

THE DEVON BELLE PULLMAN CAR TRAIN

Painting by

ALAN ANDERSON

Published by

J. SALMON LTD

Ref: 5165

These train paintings published by J. Salmon have always been popular especially the ones published in the 1960’s or earlier. I think they are lovely designs and the earlier issues are already being priced around £2.50 to £3, and I think it will not be long before these are going to be priced by dealers at £5.

10/12/2018

ROTTERDAM

HAVENGEZICHT

Published by

DE MUINCK & CO., AMSTERDAM – C

I like shipping postcards and especially the ones which show basic working vessels in industrial harbours around the world. There is something about the size of these ships and the cranes that are nearly always along the side of the harbour. I like the cranes because for awhile I was a crane driver or handler, but not at a dockside, but on building sites.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

The stamp used here has been cancelled with a ‘ROTTERDAM – HOLLAND FESTIVAL – 15 JUNI – 15 JULI – 16 VI 1966 [16^th June 1966]’ slogan cancel, so this card was posted on the second day of the festival that is advertised. The card was addressed to Zoetermeer and upon arrival received a ZOETERMEER – 3 cancel receiving mark dated 20^th June 1966. This has some nice clean usage so initially looks philatelic, but this would only be the case if there was something important about the postmark used to cancel the stamp. So, unless this is the first day of use of this slogan cancel, I think this may be a genuine non-philatelic use.

10/12/2018

HMS ARK ROYAL

Painting by

BERNARD W. CHURCH

Published by

J. SALMON LTD (SEVENOAKS)

Ref: 6 – 45 – 47 – 57

This is a modern issue, larger and with a blue boarder, of an original J. Salmon issued postcard. The company did this with many of their transport issues and collectors can build up a nice collection of these, issued down through different decades, for very little money. The original issues were of course smaller, in the traditional ‘golden age’ size, the size of the image on this card without the blue boarder.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

The red Machin Queen’s head 1^st class stamp has been cancelled with a special pictorial hand stamp:

50^th Anniversary – Loss of ARK ROYAL

In the Mediterranean

14 NOVEMBER 91

BIRKENHEAD

10/12/2018

PUSH STARTING THE SNOWDON MOUNTAIN RAILWAY ON A COLD MORNING

“GREETINGS FROM WALES”

Design by

RUPERT BESLEY

Published by

J. ARTHUR DIXON

Ref: PHU/24608

A classic and very popular ‘Besley’ comic postcard design. Besley is one of my favourite modern postcard artists. His postcards are much collected here in the UK

Reverse side of above postcard

Rather appropriately this Snowdon themed postcard was posted at the summit of Mount Snowdon. It has the SNOWDON MOUNTAIN RAILWAY cinderella label applied top left which has been cancelled with the circular ‘SNOWDON SUMMIT – 1085 METRES ABOVE SEA LEVEL – COPA R WYDDFA’. The written message is dated the 26^th June 1990, which I assume, logically, was the day the sender reached the summit and posted the card. The 20p black Machin Queen’s head postage stamp (which was issued to commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the original Queen Victoria Penny Black stamp) has been cancelled with a red wavy-line machine cancel (red was used partially as a celebration of the old red cancels used on the penny blacks) dated 29^th June 1990. This card has been nicely used.  

10/12/2018

Count Down to Christmas

It’s now the 10th of December, and beyond, and Jo has put our Christmas decorations up, so I have decided it’s time to start my Christmas Postcard countdown – I shall depict at least one ‘Xmas’ themed postcard each day until we reach Christmas Day itself.   

HO HO HODOR

SNOWDOR

Artwork by

CHARLY CLEMENTS

Published by

BRAIN BOX CANDY

Ref: BCP263

So, to start with we have a Christmas postcard with a television theme! Yes, anyone who has either watched the television series ‘Game of Thrones’ or read the books will know of the character ‘Hodor’, a simpleminded servant of the House of Stark. Throughout the series all the character says is ‘Hodor’. This snowman cartoon takes these references, and the characters costume from the TV series, and makes up this comic postcard design.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

Unknown Publisher – Probably American

A nice black and white cat postcard design posted in America during the very early years of the last century.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Although I can not make out the year of posting I think this card was posted on the 24^th December!

09/12/2018

“SHOWING PART OF OUR LOVELY GARDENS

AND RECEPTION OFFICE AT CAISTER HOLIDAY CAMP”

Published by

VALENTINE’S

Ref: L.9416

This is now a Haven Holiday Park which is mostly now filled with caravans, but Caister is the oldest holiday park in the country having first opened way back in 1906 when J. Fletcher Dodd pitched a few tents in the large garden of his home and invited his socialist friends to stay (Dodd was a founder member of the Independent Labour Party). The camp then grew-in-size and crossed to the other side of the road from Dodd’s premises (Hill House). Then chalets slowly replaced the original tents and the camp took on more of a holiday camp feel but was still run by Dodd who did not allow any drinking, gambling or talking after 11pm (so perhaps not so much of a Holiday feel after all at this time!)

When Dodd died in the 1950’s the camp was sold to new owners who allowed alcohol for the first time.

It was in the 1960’s that the Caister Group took over ownership of the camp, but only until 1971 when it was sold to Ladbrokes. Haven took over in 1990.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This one was posted on the 27^th May 1961, so early on in the Caister Group running of this holiday camp.  

09/12/2018

THE CAPITOL AT NIGHT

Published by

THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

WASHINGTON D.C.

Ref: K-15374

“A night view of the East Front of the Capitol taken during a concert by the United States Marine Band”

I did not get to see the Capitol building at night on my visit to Washington D.C. in October of this year, but I did get to see it during the day. It was one of the buildings on my must-see list before we left. It is one of the iconic American buildings and an important one in their political history. I found this postcard in a box of smaller sized cards which I had in storage until recently. I happened to look through this box after returning from my trip, so when I saw this card, I pulled it out immediately for placing here on the webpage.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

I like the feint image of the Capitol building which appears on the left side here. Its things like this which I think make postcards more interesting.

09/12/2018

THERE MUST BE FAIRIES HERE

By

MARGARET W. TARRANT

Published by

THE MEDICI SOCIETY LTD., LONDON

Ref: Pkt. 164

This is an older Medici issued postcard, 1950’s (possibly late 1940’s, but my money is on the 1950’s), but they were still publishing Margaret Tarrant postcards into the 1990’s and beyond, and on greetings cards to this day. These older postcards are the ones to look out for though.

09/12/2018

NORTH NORFOLK COAST

OVERY STAITHE – SALTHOUSE BEACH

CLEY MILL

WELLS-NEXT-THE-SEA  -  BLAKENEY QUAY

Published by

J. SALMON LTD

Ref: 1 – 29 – 00 – 01

This postcard was posted in 1983 as a competition entry postcard, although I think this card was available in the late 1970’s. Although a basic postcard, and one considered to have little to no catalogue value, I have visited Wells-Next-The-Sea several times, and am already booked to return here next year, so the area is one I know well and really like. I also the windmill depicted in the central photograph.

09/12/2018

POLLUTION

Illustration by

B. BELLAC

Published by

EDITION DES ESCARGOPHILES

Ref: Collection 1992 No 110

Limited Edition of 300 Postcards

A nice limited-edition French postcard from the long running ‘Edition Des Escargophiles’ issued in 1992.

09/12/2018

A LONDON POLICEMAN

From an Oil-Painting by

JOHN GILROY

Published by

ROYLE PUBLICATIONS LTD., LONDON

Ref: PC.241

This card was on a dealers stall priced at £3, but I think this was a reasonable price for a 1960’s issued postcard, especially one which has such a great image. As a collector of police related postcards this image was always going to appeal, but I think it is such a good image it would also be appreciated by other collectors. For some reason, which I cant explain, this card has a thin white strip across the bottom (that’s not my poor scanning….for once).

09/12/2018

LOADED AMPHIBIOUS TRUCK

GREETINGS FROM FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA

U.S, SIGNAL CORPS PHOTO

Distributed by

W. R. THOMPSON & CO (RICHMOND, VIRGINIA)

This is another of the postcards I picked up from an antiques shop in Flagstaff, Arizona on my last trip to the U.S. This card is circa World War II and has a hand-written date on the reverse side of 6^th February 1945, which helps to confirm my dating of the card.  

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

09/12/2018

GRAF ZEPPELIN FLOWN CARD

Official Postcard

I have scanned onto my computer the postcards in my collection which have been flown on the Graf Zeppelin, Graf Zeppelin II and Hindenburg Zeppelin Airships. The good thing about these items is that there is a lot of printed information relating to them which allows me to give you detailed write-ups on these items:

1931 GRAF ZEPPELIN FLIGHT FROM

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND TO FRIEDRICHSHAFFEN, GERMANY

Special Printed Flight Postcard

This postcard has two of the special overprinted stamps issued by Iceland for use with this flight. Both stamps bear the overprint:

Zeppelin

1931

The two stamps applied to this card are the King Christian X stamps (which in their original format, without overprint, were issued in 1920):

1) 30 aur green and red with overprint (SG 179)

2) 1 Krona brown and blue with overprint (SG 180)

Both stamps have been cancelled with a REYKJAVIK double ring date stamp dated 30^th June 1931. The Graf Zeppelin flight from Reykjavik to Friedrichshafen which took off on the 30^th June 1931 arrived at Friedrichshafen on 3^rd July where this card received a FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (BODENSEE) arrival cancellation. The card also received the special green triangular shaped flight cachet ‘LUFTSCHIFF GRAF ZEPPELIN ISLANDFAHRT 1931’.

08/12/2018

GRAF ZEPPELIN FLOWN CARD

Plain Postcard

I have scanned onto my computer the postcards in my collection which have been flown on the Graf Zeppelin, Graf Zeppelin II and Hindenburg Zeppelin Airships. The good thing about these items is that there is a lot of printed information relating to them which allows me to give you detailed write-ups on these items:

FOURTH 1932 SOUTH AMERICA FLIGHT

Card flown onboard the Fourth 1932 South America flight. Postcard franked with a German 2 Reichsmark zeppelin stamp, and an additional stamp, and posted and cancelled in Berlin and sent registered via special connecting flight to Friedrichshafen and has the special circular red cachet for this connecting flight. The card was then carried onboard the Graf Zeppelin to Rio Janeiro receiving the special red flight cachet which features a map of South America and the Graf Zeppelin (applied bottom left corner of card). This card was ‘Returned to Sender’ on 23^rd May 1932 and arrived in Leipzig on the 9^th June. Postcard has a ‘Retour a l’envoyeur’ [Back to Sender] black text cachet and a large black ‘Zuruck’ [which means ‘to go back’] which, as with the previous cachet, is a ‘Return to Sender’ mark. This is a bit of a messy looking card, but it has really travelled far and has some fascinating cancels and cachets.    

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

With South American receiving marks

08/12/2018

CHURCH OF MOUNT TABOR

Unknown Publisher / Printer

The full correct name for this pictured church is the Church of the Transfiguration, a Franciscan church which is located, as stated in the title, on Mount Tabor, which is in Israel. The architect was Antonio Barluzzi and I was surprised to discover that it was finished in 1924 as looking at the cards reverse side I would have thought the card was a bit older than this, but as the church seems to be completed in this image I have to assume this card came out after this year, but I suspect not long after.

The site of Mount Tabor is accepted as the location of the Transfiguration of Jesus, as reported in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1 – 9, Mark 9:2 – 8 and Luke 9:28 – 36). The Transfiguration, during which Jesus became radiant and was called ‘Son’ by God, placed Jesus above the two preeminent figures of Judaism of the time, Moses and Elijah.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/12/2018

YORK

Map Postcard

Published by

J. SALMON LTD

Ref: 4633

Another map postcard in the popular style of a design with lots of little illustrations. I have mentioned before that these have dropped out of popularity with collectors, but I think they will become popular again at some future point because they are delightful cards. This one is from the 1950’s/1960’s era and can be dated to this time because of the reverse layout, which was the one used in this period.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/12/2018

CARNABY ST

(City of Westminster)

LONDON

Published by

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC GREETING CARD CO. LTD., LONDON

Ref: 1333

(C24373)

This photograph was taken during the 1960’s (I think the late 1960’s) when Carnaby Street was the place to be seen and where to get the cloths which made this decade. I have visited here many times over the past few years and the shops here are still very clothing based. My copy here was posted 22^nd February 1970. This is one of the better London topographical view modern postcards, and one worth looking out for.    

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/12/2018

“MY PLACE IS IN THE FIRING-LINE”

By

A. A. NASH

(Reproduction Postcard)

Published by

HALCYON CARDS

(WEM SHROPSHIRE, ENGLAND)

Ref: Series HC1009/3 ‘IN PRAISE OF NURSES’

(1 in a series of 18 WW1 Nurses postcards reproduced by Halcyon Cards)

Halcyon Cards produced a range of reproduction postcards from the WW1 era. This one here was posted in 1994 during a period when a number of companies were riding the ‘nostalgia train’ by reproducing old postcard images. Although this did bring some of these designs to the attention of the general public I have always worried that some unscrupulous people could try and off these as originals, although any regular collector would instantly tell these are modern from the reverse side, but you do need to see the reverse side.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

08/12/2018

“I WANT THE MAN I MARRY TO BE A HERO!”

“DON’T WORRY LASS – HE WILL BE!”

Cartoon by

FITZPATRICK

Published by

BAMFORTH & CO., LTD (Holmfirth)

Ref: No. 1173

In their:

“COMIC” Series

A traditional seaside comic cartoon postcard.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

A traditional BAMFORTH reverse

08/12/2018

NON-POSTCARD ITEM

INVITE CARD

PEMBROKE DOCK POLICE

“PEACE” OUTING

29^TH JUNE 1919

Every so often I receive something different which I can add to my collection as an ‘Aside’, something which sits beside cards in one of my collected themes. I recently received this card/ticket from my friend David who noticed that it was police related and he knows this is one of my themes.

This ticket is topical of course as it relates to an event in 1919 which was organised to celebrate the end of hostilities, or as we now know it, the end of World War 1. This is a great item (many thanks David) 

08/12/2018

UNITED STATES POST OFFICE

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNA

Published by

WESTERN PUBLISHING & NOVELTY CO.,

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

(C.T. ART-COLORTONE)

Ref: 858

(OB-H901)

I always try and visit post offices when I travel, both here in the UK and especially abroad. Post Offices are of course intrinsically linked to the ‘Postcard’ story and my interest in them comes from my general interest in postal history.

I found this postcard in an antiques shop in Flagstaff on my last visit to the US. This type of linen printed postcard is I think pretty much unique to North America. I also love the old cars parked up outside.     

06/12/2018

FISCHER AIR

BOEING 737 – 300 OK-FAN

Photograph

ADOLF ZIKA

Official Fischer Air Postcard

Airline company postcards seem to have dropped off the radar completely these days, but there was a time when you could pick them up for almost every airline that was flying. This is a good example of the type.  

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

GB AIRWAYS

BOEING 737-200 “GIBEL TARIK”

POWERED BY TWO PRATT AND WITNEY JT8D JET ENGINES.

RANGE 1,700 MILES.

CRUISING SPEED 480 M.P.H.

Official GB AIRWAYS Postcard

Printed in England

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

ESTONIAN AIR

BOEING 737-500

DIRECT FLIGHTS FROM TALLINN TO:

COPENHAGEN, FRANKFURT, KIEV, LONDON, STOCKHOLM

Official Estonian Air Postcard

Published by ESTONIAN AIR in 2002 – DESIGN DIVISION

Printed by

PRISMA PRINT

As with the two postcards above, this was a free postcard and has NOT FOR SALE printed on the reverse side

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

06/12/2018

FORT BOYARD

SQUARE SHAPED POSTCARD

Photograph by

H. MARCOU

Published by

EDITIONS D’ART JACK

In their:

COLLECTION CADRES ET DECOUVERTES

Ref: R 548

This is not the first postcard depicting this French landmark (or should that be ‘Sea-Mark’) to appear on the webpage, and I doubt very much it will be the last as I have nearly 00 postcards showing this sea fort. I liked this one because of its unusual shape

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

06/12/2018

HORRIBLE HISTORIES EXHIBITION

At IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM NORTH

2008 – 2009

“NOSES ARE RED

MY FEET ARE BLUE,

THERE’S LICE IN MY PANTS,

AND THE RATS ATE THE STEW”

Published by

BOOMERANG (MEDIA)

I have always thought this was a fantastic postcard. My kids loved the ‘Horrible Histories’ books when they were younger, and I will admit that I read them as well and laughed. This image and the rhyme are typical of how the books were. In this, the 100^th anniversary year of the end of the first world war I think this card has again become topical.

05/12/2018

MUNCHEN

‘Munich’

MARIENSAULE MIT GLOCKENSPIEL

Published by

POSTKARTEN GROBHANDLUNG M. SEIDLEIN, MUNCHEN

Ref: FOTO. M. SEIDLEIN Nr. 460

A nice deckle-edged postcard from Germany posted in 1956. The column in the foreground is the ‘Mary’s Column’ which was erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years War’. Although this photograph is in black and white the statue of Mary is in gold. The area depicted here is the Marienplatz (Mary’s Square) and it is a central square in the city centre of Munich, and it has been the city’s main square since 1158.

This is a nice card, but it is something on the reverse side which I really wanted to bring to your attention, or more precisely the story behind something on the back.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

This postcard, although depicting a scene from Munich, was posted from Nuremberg and the two stamps have been cancelled with a ‘NURNBERG [Nurenberg] BPA slogan cancel dated 13^th February 1956. This one caught my eye because of the small blue ‘NOTOPFER [roughly translates as DISASTER VICTIMS] 2 BERLIN STEUERMARKE’ [Tax Stamp] stamp, which was a postal tax stamp meant to raise revenue to pay for the support of West Berlin during its isolation inside East Germany. These small blue stamps are often called ‘Blue Fleas’. These small stamps were initially used in the American and British Zones from 1^st December 1948. In 1949 they were also used in the French Zone. The stamps usage was extended to the whole of West Germany on 1^st January 1950 and lasted until 31^st March 1956, so the usage here is very late, towards the end. This is a Tax stamp and not a true postage stamp and as such was required to be used on all mail originating from the occupied zones and travelling to any other part of West Germany, until its use was extended across West Germany. The money raised from these stamps went towards the rebuilding of West Germany (the stamp was not compulsory on mail to the Russian Zone or on foreign mail, although sometimes it was applied). Although not a postage stamp it was sold by the post office and it had no other use other than on mail items.

The stamp is extremely common as many copies were printed over the years of its use, although there are a range of different issues, and types of this stamp with just a very small number of high catalogued flawed issues, but the vast-majority of these tax stamps are inexpensive to buy.

My copy here is almost certainly a cheap common issue, but it has been nicely used and despite its commonality the story behind its issue and use is fascinating.  

05/12/2018

GRUSS VOM REGIMENT

“Greetings from the Regiment”

JN DER KOLONE!

“In the Colony”

POSTEN VOR GEWEHR

“Posts before Gun”

ERHOLUNG

“Recreation”

Published by

KUNSTVERLAG J. GOLDINER, BERLIN

Ref: Dessin 8 [Drawing 8]

This is an early undivided back German military postcard from the turn of the last century. I love the idea that ‘Erholung’ [Recreation] seems to involve lots of alcohol! I also like the single horseman with his old styled (Sherlock Holmes like) pipe.

I have now been in Nuremberg over 24 hours (with lots of facebook posts) and all three of the cards I have posted on the webpage whilst I have been here have had a German connection. I do like to wrap the webpage content around my travels and current interests as this makes the site more personal to me. If you like my approach let me know by sending me an email to the address shown at the bottom of this page. I would like to know what you all think of the webpage and my often-unusual approach to what I depict on it.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

05/12/2018

EINE CONCORDE NACH DEM START

IAPC

TAG DER AEROPHILATELIE 1972

(Concorde after its start –

Day of Aerophilately)

Official IAPC (?) Postcard 

This is a German plain backed card which was posted in 1986 (using a German definitve issue). I assume it was issued for an Aerophilately Day for a fair of some sort held in 1972, one connected with an organisation titled IAPC (I have been unable so far to identify this, but it could be something like ‘International…A(?)…Philatelic….Club(?)). My interest in this was the depiction of Concorde, something which people by now will have realised I collect.

04/12/2018

CASEMATE GATE

NURNBERG

Published in the UK by

SHUREY’S PUBLICATIONS

I am currently sitting in my hotel room in Nuremberg, or Nurnberg as it appears here on this old postcard. So, this is a relevant postcard for todays posting, although it is also of interest as SHUREY’S PUBLICATIONS produced hundreds of these free postcards, all of which were exclusive to the company. The advertised the companies small novels and magazines. More information is given on the reverse side.

REVERSE SIDE OF ABOVE POSTCARD

Posted in the UK in 1926